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Sciences 
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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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D 


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D 
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n 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
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I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicu!6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


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I — I    Only  edition  available/ 


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Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

J 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'exemplaire  fiim6  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
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Bibiiothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
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other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
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right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet6  de  l'exemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  filmds  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  compurte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  fiSmds  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — *-  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmds  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  cliche,  ii  est  filmd  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 


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32X 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


BY 


ANTHONY  TEOLLOPE, 

Ik 

AxrrnoB  op 

'THE  WEST  INDIES  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN,"  "THE  THREE  CLERKS," 

♦'  THE  STRUGGLES  OF  BROWN,  JONES,  AND  ROBINSON," 

"DOCTOR  THORNE,"  "FRAMLEY  PARSONAGE," 

"ORLEY  FARM,"  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 


\    '  J 


i 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FBAMELIN    BQUABE. 

18  6  2. 


a^o^o 


By  Anthony  Trollope. 


11 


The  objection  urged  of  old  time  against  novels,  that  they  give  false  views  of  life, 
does  not  apply  to  Mr.  Trollope'a  bookt).  They  are  characterized  by  a  fidelity  to 
Nature,  and  a  skill  In  seizing  and  transferring  her  salient  points,  which  make 
them  strike  home  to  the  consciousness  of  his  reader,  and  commend  themsclvea  to 
his  judgment.  Without  much  sentiment,  or  ideality,  or  poetry,  there  is  a  healthy 
common  sense  which  goes  straight  to  the  mark. 

Mr.  Trollope's  characters  are  drawn  with  an  outline  firm,  bold,  strong.  Ilia 
side-thrusts  at  some  of  the  lies  which  pass  cui'rcut  in  society  are  very  keen. — Bos- 
ton CongregatioiwXiat. 


North  America.    Large  12mo,  Cloth,  60  cents.  ' 

The  West  Indies  and  the  Spanish  Main.     12mo,  Cloth, 

$100. 

Orley  Farm.    Illustrated  by  J.  E.  MillaiS.    (In  course  of  pub- 
lication in  Uabfeb's  Magazine.) 

Tales  of  all  Countries.    {In  Press.) 

The  Struggles  of  Brown,  Jones,  and.Robinson.    By  One 

OF  TUB  FiBM.    8vo,  Paper,  25  cents. 

Framley  Parsonage.    With  Illustrations  by  Millais.    12mo, 

Cloth,  $1 00. 

The  Three  Clerks.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

Doctor  Thome.    12mo,  Cloth,  %\  00. 

The  Bertrams.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

Castle  Richmond.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

Published  by  HAEPER  &  BROTHERS, 

Prakklin  Squabe,  New  Yoee. 


'  Hakfeb  &  Beothkbs  will  send  either  of  the  above  Works  by  Mail,  postage 
prepaid  (for  any  distance  in  the  United  States  under  3000  miles),  on  receipt  of 
the  Price. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

VAQH 

Introduction I 

CHAPTER  II. 

NEWPORT — RHODE    ISLAND. 

Boston — Proposed  Termination  of  the  War — Command  of  the  Missis- 
sippi— Newport — Ehodc  Island 15 

CHAPTER  III. 

MAINE,  NEW   HAMPSHIRE,  AND   VERMONT. 

Railway  Cars — Portland — The  White  Mountains — American  Hotels — 
New  Hampshire 28 

CHAPTER  IV. 

LOWER     CANADA. 

Canada — Quebec — Roman  Catholics — Montmorency — Lower  Canada 
— Canadian  Mails — The  Owl's  Head — Canadian  Inn — Canada  Grand 
Trunk  Railway — Montreal 43 

CHAPTER  V. 

UPPER     CANADA. 

Seat  of  Government  for  the  Canadas — Ottawa — Lumbering — Free  and 
Equal— Toronto 60 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  CONNEXION  OP  THE   CANADAS  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

British  Troops  in  Canada — Colonial  Dependence — Federal  Government 
— ^Why  does  Great  Britain  keep  her  Colonies? — What  shall  Canada 
do  with  herself? 75 

CHAPTER  VII. 

NIAGARA. 

Niagara 88 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

NORTH    AND    WEST. 

Division  of  the  States — Population — General  Fremont — The  Northern 
Army— General  Maclellan— The  Morrill  TarilF 99 


l\f^ 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM  NIAGAUA  TO  THE   MISSISSirPI. 

PAQH 

Railway  Beds — Railway  Luggage — Detroit — Grand  Haven — Milwaukee 
— American  Cities — American  Laborers — Frontier  Men — Soldiers  at 
Milwaukee — Settlement  of  New  Lands — The  Frontier  Man Ill 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE    UPPER   MISSISSIPPI. 

Soldiers  from  Minnesota — Boats  on  the  Mississippi — The  Upper  Missis- 
sippi— St.  Paul — St.  Anthony — Wood-cutters  on  the  Mississippi 129 

CHAPTER  XI. 

CERES   AMERICANA. 

English  Vegetables — Price  of  Corn — Breadstuffs  at  Buffalo — Chicago — 
An  Illinois  Prairie — American  Patriotism — Chicago— Cleveland — 
Buffalo — Grain  Elevators 145 

CHAPTER  XII. 

BUFFALO  TO  NEW   YORK. 

Trenton  Falls— West  Point 162 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

AN  APOLOGY   FOR  THE   WAR. 

An  Apology  for  the  War 172 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

NEW   YORK. 

New  York — American  Physiognomy — Omnibuses — American  Women 
— American  Men — Institutions  of  New  York — New  York  Schools — 
New  York — The  Central  Park — Railways 182 

CHAPTER  XV w 

THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    STATE   OF   NEW   YORK. 

Constitutions  of  different  States — The  Constitution  of  New  York — The 
Legislature  of  New  York — The  Executive — Absence  of  Responsibility 
— State  Legislatures 209 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

BOSTON. 

Connecticut  —  Mr.  Emerson  —  American  Lectures  —  Mr.  Everett — Mr. 
Wendell  Phillips — liCxington  and  Concord — The  Boston  Library — 
Social  Life  in  Boston — Anger  against  England — Mason  and  Slidell 
— Mr.  Seward i 217 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

CAMBRIDGE   AND   LOWELL. 

Harvard  College — Cambridge — Lowell 240 


CONTENTS. 


.^1 


CITAPTEU  XVIII. 

Tin:   KIGllTS    OF    WOMKN. 

rAQB 

Rights  of  Women — Mrs.  Dall — Women's  Work — Condition  of  Women 
—Political  Kiglits  of  Women 253 

CIIArTER  XIX. 

EDUCATION   AND   RELIGION. 

American  Insolence — Cost  of  Education — Education — Educational  En- 
actments— Schools  in  Boston — Sale  of  Books  in  liailvvay  Cars — Intel- 
ligence of  tho  People — licligion 2G2 

CHAPTER  XX. 

FROM  BOSTON  TO  WASHINGTON. 

Mr.  Buchanan  —  Tho  Crittenden  Compromise  —  What  Mr.  Lincoln 
should  have  done — Slidell  and  Mason — ^ProbabiHty  of  War  witli  En- 
gland— Philadelphia — Crossing  the  Susquehanna — Maryland — Balti- 
more    278 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

■WASHINGTON. 

Washington — The  Capitol — Pennsylvania  Avenue — Tho  Post-Office — 
Tho  Patent  Office — President's  Square — ^The  Washington  Obelisk — 
Arlington  Heights — General  Washington — Mount  Vernon — Alexan- 
dria— Members  of  the  Cabinet — Society  in  Washington 300 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

CONGRESS. 

The  House  of  Representatives — The  Senate — Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason 
— Captain  Wilkes — Mr,  Charles  Sumner — International  law — The 
Senate — The  President's  Ministers — Congress  and  the  Army 324 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   CAUSES   OF  •THE   WAR*. 

Causes  of  the  War— Abolition 338 

CHAPTER  X:XIV.      ' 

WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 

Leaving  Washington — Profit  made  on  the  purchase  of  Ships — The  Cap- 
ital of  Pennsylvania — Railway  Accident — Pittsburg — Cincinnati — 
Kentucky — Lexington — Kentucky  Slaves — Daniel  Boone — River  dif- 
ficulties   358 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

MISSOURI. 

St.  Louis — The  War — ^Political  dishonesty — Martial  Law — Benton  Bar- 
racks—The Army  at  Rolla— The  Men  of  the  West 379 


I    ^11 


"4' 


Vi 


CONTENTrf. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CAIUO   AND   CAMP    WOOD. 


PAUB 


Cairo — The  Oim-!)oatfi — Mortnr-bouts — The  banks  of  the  Ohio — Leav- 
ing Cairo — Kentucky — Our  Journey  to  Camp  Wood — American  Court- 
esy— The  Grceu  liiver — Camp  Wood — German  Abolitionists 300 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE    AUMY   OF   TUB   NORTH. 

Pay  of  the  Soldiers — Causes  for  Enlistment — Military  Passes — Tho 
Army  of  the  Potomac — Virginian  Farmers — Health  of  the  Army — 
Stiite  of  the  Army — Cost  of  the  Army — Absence  of  Military  Disci- 
pline— General  <|ualities  of  American  Soldiers — (>ouragc  of  tiie  Amer- 
ican Soldiers — Tho  Van  Wyck  Report — Army  and  Navy  Contracts...  415 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

BACK   TO   noSTON. 

Effect  of  American  Railroads — Loafing — Nature  of  T'olitical  Opinion  in 
the  States — Baltimore — State  of  Opinion  in  Maryland — Dirt — Mr. 
Seward — Successes  of  the  Northern  Army — Northern  Ambition — Tho 
probable  Fate  of  the  South — Return  to  Boston — What  Boston  has 
done 441 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE   CONSTITUTION    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  Articles  of  Confederation — The  Constitution — The  Senate — Repre- 
sentation— Political  corruption — Exclusion  of  Ministers  from  Con- 
gress— Taxation — Suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas 
Corpus — Election  of  the  President — Miscellaneous  Articles  of  the  Con- 
stitution— Success  of  the  Constitution — Amendments  necessary — Mode 
of  choosing  a  President — Instructions  to  Senators 459 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE   GOVERNMENT. 

Absence  of  Foreign  Relations — Power  of  tho  President — The  Presi- 
dent's Ministers — English  and  American  Ministers — Position  of  the 
President's  Ministers — Committees  of  the  Two  Houses — Executive 
Powers  of  the  Senate — Great  Men  needed  for  the  Government 495 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE   LAW  COURTS   AND  LAWYERS   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

As  to  the  purity  of  the  Bench — Legal  Proceedings  in  the  United  States 
— Position  of  Lawyers  in  the  States — Distinct  Position  of  Federal  and 
State  Tribunals — Jurisdiction  of  the  National  Courts — The  Supremo 
Court  at  Washington — Appointment  of  the  States  Judges — Low  Con- 
dition of  the  Bench 510 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

CIIAl'TEU  XXXII. 

THE   FINANCIAL    rOSITION. 

1>AUE 

Objects  for  which  the  Monoy  hns  been  Spent — Will  the  United  States 
Tny? — The  E.Kcisc  Unties — Diiuct  Taxation — Amount  of  the  Debt 
— Immediate  Pressure — Can  the  Burden  bo  borne? 520 

CIIArTEU  XXXIII. 

TIIK    POST-OFFICE. 

Deficiencies  in  the  Post-OfRcc  System — Amount  of  Correspondence — 
Post-Officc  difficulties — Post-Office  Uovenuc — Tlic  Franking  Privilege 
— Rotation  of  Office — Use  of  Patronage — Post-Office  Mileage — Post- 
Offico  Extravagance 537 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

AMERICAN    HOTELS. 

Hotels 552 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

LITERATURE. 

Literature... 5G5 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

Conclusion 577 

APPENDICES. 

A.  Declaration  of  Independence 603 

B.  Articles  of  Confederation 606 

C.  Constitution  of  the  United  States 613 


m 


1 


\. 


\ 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i'' 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTllODUCTION. 


It  has  been  the  ambition  of  my  literary  life  to  write  a  book 
about  the  United  States,  and  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  visit 
the  country  with  this  object  before  the  intestine  troubles  of  the 
United  States  Government  had  commenced.  I  have  not  al- 
lowed the  division  among  the  States  and  the  breaking  out  of 
civil  war  to  interfere  witii  my  intention ;  but  I  should  not  })ur- 
posely  have  chosen  this  period  either  for  my  book  or  for  my 
visit.  I  say  so  much,  in  order  that  it  may  not  be  supposed  that 
it  is  my  special  purpose  to  write  an  account  of  the  struggle  as 
far  as  it  has  yet  been  carried.  My  wish  is  to  describe  as  well 
as  I  can  the  present  social  and  political  state  of  the  country. 
This  I  should  have  attempted,  with  more  personal  satisfaction 
in  the  work,  had  there  been  no  disruption  between  the  North 
and  South ;  but  I  have  not  allowed  that  disruption  to  deter  me 
from  an  object  which,  if  it  were  delayed,  might  probably  never 
be  carried  out.  I  am  therefore  forced  to  take  the  subject  in  its 
present  condition,  and  being  so  forced  I  must  write  of  the  war, 
of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  it,  and  of  its  probable  termina- 
tion. But  I  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  it  was  not  my  se- 
lected task  to  do  so,  and  is  not  now  my  primary  object. 

Thirty  years  ago  my  mother  wrote  a  book  about  the  Ameri- 
cans, to  which  I  believe  I  may  allude  as  a  well  known  and  suc- 
cessful work  without  being  guilty  of  any  undue  family  conceit. 
That  was  essentially  a  woman's  book.  She  saw  with  a  woman's 
keen  eye,  and  described  with  a  woman's  light  but  graphic  pen, 
the  social  defects  and  absurdities  which  our  near  relatives  had 
adopted  into  their  domestic  life.  All  that  she  told  was  worth 
the  telling,  and  the  telling,  if  done  successfully,  was  sure  to  pro- 
duce a  good  result.  I  am  satisfied  that  it  did  so.  But  she  did 
not  regard  it  as  a  part  of  her  work  to  dilate  on  the  nature  and 
operation  of  those  political  arrangements  which  had  produced 
the  social  absurdities  which  she  saw,  or  to  explain  that  though 
such  absurdities  were  the  natural  result  of  those  arrangements 

A 


NOETH   AMERICA. 


in  their  newness,  the  defects  would  certainly  pass  away,  while 
the  political  arrangements,  if  good,  would  remain.   Such  a  work 
is  fitter  for  a  man  than  for  a  woman.    I  am  very  far  from  think- 
ing that  it  is  a  task  which  I  can  perform  with  satisfaction  either 
to  myself  or  to  others.     It  is  a  work  which  some  man  will  do 
who  has  earned  a  right  by  education,  study,  and  success  to  rank 
himself  among  the  political  sages  of  his  age.    But  I  may  per- 
haps be  able  to  add  something  to  the  familiarity  of  Englishmen 
with  Americans.     The  writings  which  have  been  most  popular 
in  England  on  the  subjec*^  of  the  United  States  have  hitherto 
dealt  chiefly  with  social  details ;  and  though  in  most  cases  true 
and  useful,  have  created  laughter  on  one  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  soreness  on  the  other.     If  I  could  do  anything  to  mitigate 
the  soreness,  if  I  could  in  any  small  degree  add  to  the  good  feel- 
ing which  should  exist  between  two  nations  which  ought  to  love 
each  other  so  well,  and  which  do  hang  upon  each  ;^ther  so  con- 
stantly, I  should  think  that  I  had  cause  to  be  proud  of  my  work. 
But  it  is  very  hard  to  write  about  any  country  a  book  that 
does  not  represent  the  country  described  in  a  more  or  less  ri- 
diculous point  of  view.     It  is  hard  at  least  to  do  so  in  such  a 
book  as  I  must  write.    A  De  Toco  leville  may  do  it.    It  may 
be  done  by  any  philosophico-political  or  politico-statistical,  or 
statistico-scientific  writer ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  done  by  a  man 
who  professes  to  use  a  light  pen,  and  to  manufacture  his  article 
for  the  use  of  general  readers.     Such  a  writer  may  tell  all  that 
he  sees  of  the  beautiful ;  but  he  must  also  tell,  if  not  all  that  he 
sees  of  the  ludicrous,  at  any  rate  the  most  piquant  part  of  it. 
How  to  do  this  without  being  offensivo  is  the  problem  which  a 
man  with  such  a  task  before  him  has  to  solve.    His  first  duty 
is  owed  to  his  readers,  and  consists  mainly  i'^,  this :  that  he 
shall  tell  the  truth,  and  shdl  so  tell  that  truth  that  what  he  has 
written  may  be  readable.    But  a  second  duty  is  due  to  those 
of  whom  he  writes ;  and  he  does  ^ot  perform  that  duty  well  if 
he  gives  oflfence  to  those,  as  to  whom,  on  the  summing  up  of 
the  whole  evidence  for  and  against  them  in  his  own  mind,  he 
intends  to  give  a  favourable  verdict.    There  are  of  course  those 
against  whom  a  writer  does  not  intend  to  give  a  favourable 
verdict; — people  and  places  whom  he  desires  to  describe  on 
the  peril  of  his  own  judgment,  as  bad,  ill-educated,  ugly,  and 
odious.    In  such  cases  his  course  is  straightforward  enough. 
His  judgment  may  be  in  great  peril,  but  his  volume  or  chapter 
will  be  easily  written.     Ridicule  and  censure  run  glibly  from 
the  pen,  and  form  themselves  into  sharp  paragraphs  which  are 
pleasant  to  the  reader.    Whereas  eulogy  is  commonly  dull,  anr- 


INTRODUCTION. 


8 


too  frequently  sounds  as  though  it  were  false.  There  is  much 
difficulty  in  expressing  a  verdict  which  is  intended  to  be  favour- 
able ;  but  which,  though  favourable,  shall  not  be  falsely  eulogist- 
ic ;  and  though  true,  not  offensive. 

Who  has  ever  travelled  in  foreign  countries  without  meeting 
excellent  stories  against  the  citizens  of  such  countries  ?  And 
how  few  can  travel  without  hearing  such  stories  against  them- 
selves ?  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  avoid  telling  of  a  very  ex- 
cellent gentleman  whom  I  met  before  I  had  been  in  the  United 
States  a  week,  and  who  asked  me  whether  lords  in  England 
ever  spoke  to  men  who  were  not  lords.  Nor  can  I  omit  the 
opening  address  of  another  gentleman  to  my  wife.  "  You  like 
our  institutions,  ma'am  ?"  "  Yes,  indeed,"  said  my  wife, — not 
with  all  that  eagerness  of  assent  which  the  occasion  perhaps  re- 
quired. "  Ah,"  said  he,  "  I  never  yet  met  the  down-trodden 
subjeci  of  a  despot  who  did  not  hug  his  chains."  The  first 
gentleman  was  certainly  somewhat  ignorant  of  our  customs, 
and  the  second  was  rather  abrupt  in  his  condemnation  of  the 
political  principles  of  a  person  whom  he  only  first  saw  at  that 
moment.  It  comes  to  me  in  the  way  of  my  trade  to  repeat 
such  incidents ;  but  I  can  tell  stories  which  are  quite  as  good 
against  Englishmen.  As  for  instance,  when  I  was  tapped  on 
the  back  in  one  of  the  galleries  of  Florence  by  a  countryman 
of  mine,  and  asked  to  show  him  where  stood  the  medical  Venus. 
Nor  is  anything  that  one  can  say  of  the  inconveniences  attend- 
ant upon  travel  in  the  United  States  to  be  beaten  by  what  for- 
eigners might  truly  say  of  us.  I  shall  never  forget  the  look  of 
a  Frenchman  whom  I  found  on  a  wet  afternoon  in  the  best  inn 
of  a  provincial  town  in  the  "ivest  of  England.  He  was  seated 
on  a  horsehair-covered  chair  in  the  middle  of  a  small  dingy  ill- 
furnished  private  sitting-room.  No  eloquence  of  mine  could 
make  intelligible  to  a  Frenchman  or  an  American  the  utter 
desolation  of  such  an  apartment.  The  world  as  then  seen  by 
that  Frenchman  offered  him  solace  of  no  description.  The  air 
without  was  heavy,  dull,  and  thick.  The  street  beyond  the 
window  was  dark  and  narrow.  The  room  contained  mahog- 
any chairs  covered  with  horsehair,  a  mahogany  table  ricketty 
in  its  legs,  and  a  mahogany  sideboard  ornamented  with  invert- 
ed glasses  and  old  cruet-stands.  The  Frenchman  had  come  to 
the  house  for  shelter  and  food,  and  had  been  asked  whether  he 
was  commercial.  Whereupon  he  shook  his  head.  "Did  he 
want  a  sitting-room  ?"  Yes,  he  did.  "  He  was  a  leetle  tired 
and  vanted  to  sect."  Whereupon  he  was  presumed  to  have 
ordered  a  private  room,  and  was  shown  up  to  the  Eden  I  have 


V^ 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


described.  I  found  him  there  at  death's  door.  Nothing  that 
I  can  say  with  reference  to  the  social  habits  of  the  Americans 
can  tell  more  against  them  than  the  story  of  that  Frenchman's 
fate  tells  against  those  of  our  country. 

From  which  remarks  I  would  wish  to  be  understood  as  dep- 
recating offence  from  my  American  friends,  if  in  the  course  of 
my  book  should  be  found  aught  which  may  seem  to  ai*gue 
against  the  excellence  of  their  institutions,  and  the  grace  of 
their  social  life.  Of  this  at  any  rate  I  can  assure  them  in  sober 
earnestness  that  I  admire  what  they  have  done  in  the  world 
and  for  the  world  with  a  true  and  hearty  admiration ;  and  that 
whether  or  no  all  their  institutions  be  at  present  excellent,  and 
their  social  life  all  graceful,  my  wishes  are  that  they  should  be 
so,  and  my  convictions  are  that  that  improvement  will  come  for 
which  there  may -perhaps  even  yet  be  some  little  room. 

And  now  touching  this  war  which  had  broken  out  between 
the  North  and  South  before  I  left  England.  I  would  wish  to 
explain  what  my  feelings  were ;  or  rather  what  I  believe  the 
general  feelings  of  England  to  have  been,  before  I  found  myself 
among  the  people  by  whom  it  was  being  waged.  It  is  very 
difficult  for  the  people  of  any  one  nation  to  realize  the  political 
relations  of  another,  and  to  chew  the  cud  and  digest  the  bear- 
ings of  those  external  politics.  But  it  is  unjust  in  the  one  to 
decide  upon  the  political  aspirations  and  doings  of  that  other 
without  such  understanding.  Constantly  as  the  name  of  France 
is  in  our  mouth,  comparatively  few  Englishmen  understand  the 
way  in  which  France  is  governed ; — that  is,  how  far  absolute 
despotism  prevails,  and  how  far  the  power  of  the  one  ruler  is 
tempered,  or,  as  it  may  be,  hampered  by  the  voices  and  influ- 
ence of  others.  And  as  regards  England,  how  seldom  is  it  that 
in  common  society  a  foreigner  is  met  who  comprehends  the  na- 
ture of  her  political  arrangements !  To  a  Frenchman, — I  do 
not  of  course  include  great  men  who  have  made  the  subject  a 
study, — but  to  the  ordinary  intelligent  Frenchman  the  thing  is 
altogether  incomprehensible.  Language,  it  may  be  said,  has 
much  to  do  with  that.  But  an  American  speaks  English ;  and 
how  often  is  an  American  met,  who  has  combined  in  his  mind 
the  idea  of  a  monarch  so  called,  with  thtit  of  a  republic,  proper- 
ly so  named ; — a  combination  of  ideas  which  I  take  to  be  neces- 
sary to  the  understanding  of  English  politics?  The  gentleman 
who  scorned  my  wife  for  hugging  her  chains  had  certainly  not 
done  so,  and  yet  he  conceived  that  he  had  studied  the  subject. 
The  matter  is  one  most  difficult  of  comprehension.  How  many 
Englishmen  have  failed  to  understand  accurately  their  own 


i^\ 


INTRODUCTION.  O 

constitution,  or  the  tnio  bearing  of  their  own  politics !  But 
when  this  knowledge  has  been  attained,  it  has  generally  been 
filtered  into  the  mind  slowly,  and  has  come  from  the  uncon- 
scious study  of  many  years.  An  Englishman  handles  a  news- 
paper for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  daily,  and  daily  exchanges  some 
lew  words  in  politics  with  those  around  him,  till  drop  by  drop 
the  pleasant  springs  of  his  liberty  creep  into  his  mind  and  water 
his  heart ;  and  thus,  earlier  or  later  in  life  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  his  intelligence,  he  understands  why  it  is  that  he  is  at 
all  points  a  free  man.  But  if  this  be  so  of  our  own  politics ;  if 
it  be  so  rare  a  thing  to  find  a  foreigner  who  understands  them 
in  all  their  niceties,  why  is  it  that  we  are  so  confident  in  our 
remarks  on  all  the  niceties  of  those  of  other  nations? 

I  hope  that  I  may  not  be  misunderstood  as  saying  that  wo 
should  not  discuss  foreign  politics  in  our  press,  our  parliament, 
our  public  meetings,  or  our  private  houses.  No  man  could  be 
mad  enough  to  preach  such  a  doctrine.  As  regards  our  Par- 
liament, that  is  probably  the  best  British  school  of  foreign  pol- 
itics, seeing  that  the  subject  is  not  there  often  taken  up  by  men 
who  are  absolutely  ignorant,  and  that  mistakes  when  made  are 
subject  to  a  correction  which  is  both  rough  and  ready.  The 
press,  though  very  liable  to  error,  labours  hard  at  its  vocation 
in  teaching  foreign  politics,  and  spares  no  expense  in  letting  in 
daylight.  If  the  light  let  in  be  sometimes  moonshine,  excuse 
may  easily  be  made.  Where  so  much  is  attempted,  there  must 
necessarily  be  some  failure.  But  even  the  moonshine  does 
good,  if  it  be  not  offensive  moonshine.  What  I  would  depre- 
cate is,  that  aptness  at  reproach  which  we  assume ; — the  readi- 
ness with  scorn,  the  quiet  words  of  insult,  the  instant  judgment 
'  and  condemnation  with  which  we  are  so  inclined  to  visit,  not 
the  great  outward  acts,  but  the  smaller  inward  politics  of  our 
neighbours. 

And  do  others  spare  us,  will  be  the  instant  reply  of  all  who 
may  read  this.  In  my  counter  reply  I  make  bold  to  place  my- 
self and  my  country  on  very  high  ground,  and  to  say  that  we, 
the  older  and  therefore  more  experienced  people  as  regards  the 
United  States,  ?nd  the  better  governed  as  regards  France,  and 
the  stronger  as  regards  all  the  world  beyond,  should  not  throw 
mud  again  even  though  mud  be  thrown  at  us.  I  yield  the 
path  to  a  small  chimney-sweeper  as  readily  as  to  a  lady ;  and 
forbear  from  an  interchange  of  courtesies  with  a  Billingsgate 
hercine,  even  though  at  heart  I  may  have  a  proud  conscious- 
ness that  I  should  not  altogether  go  to  the  wall  in  such  an  en- 
counter. 


t» 


■I 


6 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i: 
I 

1.!:, 


I  left  England  in  August  last — August  1861.  At  that  time, 
and  for  some  months  previous,  I  think  that  the  general  English 
feeling  on  the  American  question  was  as  follows.  *'  This  wide- 
spread nationality  of  the  United  States,  with  its  enormous  terri- 
torial possessions  and  increasing  population,  has  fallen  asunder, 
torn  to  pieces  by  the  weight  of  its  own  discordant  parts, — ao 
a  congregation  when  its  size  has  become  unwieldy  will  sepa- 
rate, and  reform  itself  into  two  wholesome  wholes.  It  is  well 
that  this  should  be  so,  for  the  people  are  not  homogeneous,  as 
a  people  should  be  who  are  called  to  live  together  as  one  na- 
tion. They  have  attempted  to  combine  free-soil  sentiments 
with  the  practice  of  slavery,  and  to  make  these  two  antago- 
nists live  together  in  peace  and  unity  under  the  same  roof;  but, 
as  we  have  loTg  expected, they  have  failed.  Now  has  come 
the  period  for  separation ;  and  if  the  people  would  only  see 
this,  and  act  in  accordance  with  the  circumstances  which  Prov- 
idence and  the  inevitable  hand  of  the  world's  ruler  has  pre- 
pared for  them,  all  would  be  well.  But  they  will  not  do  this. 
They  will  go  to  war  with  each  other.  The  South  will  make 
her  demands  for  secession  with  an  arrogance  and  instant  press- 
ure which  exasperates  the  North ;  and  the  North,  forgetting 
that  an  equable  temper  in  such  matters  is  the  most  powerful 
of  all  weapons,  will  not  recognize  the  strength  of  its  own  posi- 
tion. It  allows  itself  to  be  exasperated,  and  goes  to  war  for 
that  which  if  regained  would  only  be  injurious  to  it.  Thus 
millions  on  millions  sterling  will  be  spent.  A  heavy  debt  will 
be  incurred ;  and  the  North,  which  divided  from  the  South 
might  take  its  place  among  the  greatest  of  nations,  will  throw 
itself  back  for  half  a  century,  and  perhaps  injure  the  splendour 
of  its  ultimate  prospects.  If  only  they  would  be  wise,  throw 
down  their  arms,  and  agree  to  part !     But  they  will  not." 

This  was,  I  think,  the  general  opinion  when  I  left  England. 
It  would  not,  however,  be  necessary  to  go  back  many  months 
to  reach  the  time  when  Englishmen  were  saying  how  impossi- 
ble it  was  that  so  great  a  national  power  should  ignore  its  own 
greatness,  and  destroy  its  own  power  by  an  internecine  separa- 
tion. But  in  August  last  all  that  had  gone  by,  and  we  in  En- 
gland had  realized  the  probability  of  actual  secession. 

To  these  feelings  on  the  subject  may  be  added  another, 
which  was  natural  enough  though  perhaps  not  noble.  "  These 
western  cocks  have  crowed  loudly,"  we  said,  "  too  loudly  for 
the  comfort  of  those  who  live  after  all  at  no  such  great  distance 
from  them.  It  is  well  that  their  combs  should  be  clipped. 
Cocks  who  crow  so  very  loudly  are  a  nuisance.    It  might  have 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

gone  BO  far  that  the  clipping  would  become  a  work  necessarily 
to  be  done  from  without.  But  it  is  ten  times  better  for  all 
parties  that  it  should  be  done  from  within  ;  and  as  the  cocks 
are  now  clipping  their  own  combs,  in  God's  name  let  them  do 
it  and  the  whole  world  will  be  the  quieter."  That,  I  say,  was 
not  a  very  noble  idea ;  but  it  was  natural  enough,  and  certain- 
ly has  done  somewhat  in  mitigating  that  grief  which  the  hor- 
rors of  civil  war  and  the  want  of  cotton  have  caused  to  us  in 
England. 

Such  certainly  had  been  my  belief  as  to  the  country.  I  speak 
here  of  my  opinion  as  to  the  ultimate  success  of  secession  and 
the  foily  of  the  war, — repudiating  any  concurrence  of  my  own 
in  the  ignoble  but  natural  sentiment  alluded  to  in  the  last  par- 
agraph. I  certainly  did  think  that  the  Northern  States,  if  wise, 
would  have  let  the  Southern  States  go.  I  had  blamed  Buchan- 
an as  a  traitor  for  allowing  the  germ  of  secession  to  make  any 
growth ; — and  as  I  thought  him  a  traitor  then,  so  do  I  think 
him  a  traitor  now.  But  I  had  also  blamed  Lincoln,  or  rather 
the  government  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  in  this  matter  is  no  more 
than  the  exponent,  for  his  efforts  to  avoid  that  which  is  inevi- 
table. In  this  I  think  that  I — or  as  I  believe  I  may  say  we,  we 
Englishmen — were  wrong.  I  do  not  see  how  the  North,  treat- 
ed as  it  was  and  had  been,  could  have  submitted  to  secession 
without  resistance.  We  all  remember  what  Shakespere  says 
of  the  great  armies  which  were  led  out  to  fight  for  a  piece  of 
ground  not  large  enough  to  cover  the  bodies  of  those  who 
would  be  slain  in  the  battle;  but  I  do  not  remember  that 
Shakespere  says  that  the  battle  was  on  this  account  necessarily 
unreasonable.  It  is  the  old  point  of  honour,  which,  till  it  had 
been  made  absurd  by  certain  changes  of  circumstances,  was  al- 
ways grand  and  usually  beneficent.  These  changes  of  circum- 
stances have  altered  the  manner  in  which  appeal  may  be  made, 
but  have  not  altered  the  point  of  honour.  Had  the  Southern 
States  sought  to  obtain  secession  by  constitutional  means,  they 
might  or  might  not  have  been  successful;  but  if  successful 
there  would  have  been  no  war.  I  do  not  mean  to  brand  all  the 
Southern  States  with  treason,  nor  do  I  intend  to  say  that  hav- 
ing secession  at  heart  they  could  have  obtained  it  by  constitu- 
tional means.  But  I  do  intend  to  say  that  acting  as  they  did, 
demanding  secession  not  constitutionally  but  in  opposition  to 
the  constitution,  taking  upon  themselves  the  right  of  breaking 
up  a  nationality  of  which  they  formed  only  a  part,  and  doing 
that  without  consent  of  the  other  part,  opposition  from  the 
North  and  war  was  an  inevitable  consequence. 


ii 


8 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


It  is,  I  think,  only  necessary  to  look  back  to  the  revolution 
by  which  the  United  States  separated  themselves  from  England 
to  see  this.  There  is  hardly  to  be  met,  here  and  there,  an  En- 
glishman who  now  regrets  the  loss  of  the  revolted  American 
colonies ; — who  now  thinks  that  civilization  was  retarded  and 
the  world  injured  by  that  revolt;  who  now  conceives  that  En- 
gland should  have  expended  more  treasure  and  more  lives  in 
the  hope  of  retaining  those  colonies.  It  is  agreed  that  the  re- 
volt was  a  good  thing ;  that  those  who  were  then  rebels  became 
patriots  by  success,  and  that  they  deserved  well  of  all  coming 
ages  of  mankind.  But  not  the  less  absolutely  necessary  was  it 
that  England  should  endeavour  to  hold  her  own.  She  was  as 
the  mother  bird  when  the  young  bird  will  fly  alone.  She  suf- 
fered those  pangs  which  Nature  calls  upon  mothers  to  endure. 

As  was  the  necessity  of  British  opposition  to  American  in- 
dependence, so  was  the  necessity  of  Northern  opposition  to 
Southern  secession.  I  do  not  say  that  in  other  respects  the 
two  cases  were  parallel.  The  States  separated  from  us  because 
they  would  not  endure  taxation  without  representation — in  oth- 
er words  because  they  were  old  enough  and  big  enough  to  go 
alone.  The  South  is  seceding  from  the  North  because  the  two 
are  not  homogeneous.  They  have  different  instincts,  different 
appetites,  different  morals,  and  a  different  culture.  It  is  well 
for  one  man  to  say  that  slavery  has  caused  the  separation ;  and 
for  another  to  say  that  slavery  has  not  caused  it.  Each  in  so 
saying  speaks  the  truth.  Slavery  has  caused  it,  seeing  that 
slavery  is  the  great  point  on  which  the  two  have  agreed  to  dif- 
fer. But  slavery  has  not  caused  it,  seeing  that  other  points  of 
difference  are  to  be  found  in  every  circumstance  and  feature  of 
the  two  people.  The  North  and  the  South  must  ever  be  dis- 
similar. In  the  North  labour  will  always  be  honourable,  and 
because  honourable  successful.  In  the  South  labour  has  ever 
been  servile, — atjeast  in  some  sense,  and  therefore  dishonour- 
able ;  and  because  dishonourable  has  not,  to  itself,  been  success- 
ful. In  the  South,  I  say,  labour  ever  has  been  dishonourable ; 
and  I  am  driven  to  confess  that  I  have  not  hitherto  seen  a  sign 
of  any  change  in  the  Creator's  fiat  on  this  matter.  That  la- 
bour will  be  honourable  all  the  world  over,  as  years  advance 
and  the  millennium  draws  nigh,  I  for  one  never  doubt. 

So  much  for  English  opinion  about  America  in  August  last. 
And  now  I  will  venture  to  say  a  word  or  two  as  to  American 
feeling  respecting  this  English  opinion  at  that  period.  It  will 
of  course  be  remembered  by  all  my  readers  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  Lord  Russell,  who  was  then  in  the  lower  house, 


; 


'7 


INTRODUCTION.  0 

declared  as  Foreign  Secretary  of  State  that  England  would  re- 
gard the  North  and  South  as  belligerents,  and  would  remain 
neutral  as  to  both  of  them.  This  declaration  gave  violent  of- 
fence to  the  North,  and  has  been  taken  as  indicating  British 
sympathy  with  the  cause  of  the  seceders.  I  am  not  going  to 
explain — indeed  it  would  be  necessary  that  I  should  first  un- 
derstand— the  laws  of  nations  with  regard  to  blockaded  ports, 
privateering,  ships  and  men  and  goods  contraband  of  war,  and 
all  those  semi-nautical  semi-military  rules  and  axioms  which  it 
is  necessary  that  all  Attorneys-General  and  such  like  should  at 
the  present  moment  have  at  their  fingers*  end.  But  it  must 
be  evident  to  the  most  ignorant  in  those  matters,  among  which 
large  crowd  I  certainly  include  myself,  that  it  was  essentially 
necessary  that  Lord  John  Russell  should  at  that  time  declare 
openly  what  England  intended  to  do.  It  was  essential  that 
our  seamen  should  know  where  they  would  be  protected  and 
where  not,  and  that  the  course  to  be  taken  by  England  should 
be  defined.  Reticence  in  the  matter  was  not  within  the  power 
of  the  British  Government.  It  behoved  the  Foreign  Secretary 
of  State  to  declare  openly  that  England  intended  to  side  either 
with  one  party  or  with  the  other,  or  else  to  remain  neutral  be- 
tween them. 

I  had  heard  this  matter  discussed  by  Americans  before  I 
left  England,  and  I  have  of  course  heard  it  discussed  very  fre- 
quently in  America.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  front  of 
the  oflence  given  by  England  to  the  Northern  States  was  this 
declaration  of  Lord  John  Russell's.  But  it  has  been  always 
made  evident  to  me  that  the  sin  did  not  consist  in  the  fact  of 
England's  neutrality, — in  the  fact  of  her  regarding  the  two 
parties  as  belligerents, — but  in  the  open  declaration  made  to 
the  world  by  a  Secretary  of  State  that  she  did  intend  so  to  re- 
gard them.  If  another  proof  were  wanting,  this  would  afford 
another  proof  of  the  immense  weight  attached  in  America  to 
all  the  proceedings  and  to  all  the  feelings  of  England  on  this 
matter.  The  very  anger  of  the  North  is  a  compliment  paid 
by  the  North  to  England.  But  not  the  less  is  that  anger  un- 
reasonable. To  those  in  America  who  understand  our  consti- 
tution, it  must  be  evident  that  our  Government  cannot  take 
official  measures  without  a  public  avowal  of  such  measures. 
France  can  do  so.  Russia  can  do  so.  The  Government  of  the 
United  States  can  do  so,  and  could  do  so  even  before  this  rup- 
ture. But  the  Government  of  England  cannot  do  so.  All 
men  connected  with  the  Government  in  England  have  felt 
themselves  from  time  to  time  more  or  less  hampered  by  the 

A2 


t^ 


w 


V- 


I 


10 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


!'  Ml 


necessity  of  publicity.  Our  statesmen  have  been  forced  to 
fight  their  battles  with  the  plan  of  their  tactics  open  before 
their  adversaries.  But  we,  in  England,  are  inclined  to  be- 
lieve, that  the  general  result  is  good,  and  that  battles  so  fought 
and  so  won  will  be  fought  with  the  honestest  blows,  and  won 
with  the  surest  results.  Reticence  in  this  matter  was  not  pos- 
sible, and  Lord  John  Russell  in  making  the  open  avowal  which 
gave  such  offence  to  the  Northern  States  only  did  that  which, 
as  a  servant  of  England,  England  required  him  to  do. 

"  What  would  you  in  England  have  thought,"  a  gentleman 
of  much  weight  in  Boston  said  to  me,  "  if  when  you  were  in 
trouble  in  India,  we  had  openly  declared  that  we  regarded 
your  opponents  there  as  belligerents  on  equal  terms  with  your- 
selves ?"  I  was  forced  to  say  that,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  there 
was  no  analogy  between  the  two  cases.  In  India  an  army  had 
mutinied,  and  that  an  army  composed  of  a  subdued,  if  not  a 
servile  race.  The  analogy  would  have  been  fairer  had  it  re- 
ferred to  any  sympathy  shown  by  us  to  insurgent  negroes. 
But,  nevertheless,  had  the  army  which  mutinied  in  India  been 
in  possession  of  ports  and  sea-board ;  had  they  held  in  their 
hands  vast  commercial  cities  and  great  agricultural  districts ; 
had  they  owned  ships  and  been  masters  of  a  wide-spread  trade, 
America  could  have  done  nothing  better  towards  us  than  have 
remained  neutral  in  such  a  conflict,  and  have  fegarded  the  par- 
ties as  belligerents.  The  only  question  is  whether  she  would 
have  done  so  well  by  us.  "  But,"  said  my  friend  in  answer  to 
all  this,  "  we  should  not  have  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  we 
regarded  you  and  them  as  standing  on  an  equal  footing." 
There  again  appeared  the  true  gist  of  the  offence.  A  word 
from  England  such  as  that  spoken  by  Lord  John  Russell  was 
of  such  weight  to  the  South,  that  the  North  could  not  endure 
to  have  it  spoken.  I  did  not  say  to  that  gentleman, — but  here 
I  may  say,  that  had  such  circumstances  arisen  as  those  con- 
jectured, and  had  America  spoken  such  a  word,  England 
would  not  have  felt  herself  called  upon  to  resent  it. 

But  the  fairer  analogy  lies  between  Ireland  and  the  South- 
ern States.  The  monster  meetings  and  O'Connell's  triumphs 
are  not  so  long  gone  by  but  that  many  of  us  can  remember  the 
first  demand  for  secession  made  by  Ireland,  and  the  line  which 
was  then  taken  by  American  sympathies.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  America  then  believed  that  Ireland  would  secure 
secession,  and  that  the  great  trust  of  the  Irish  repealers  was  in 
the  moral  aid  which  she  did  and  would  receive  from  America. 
"  But  our  Government  proclaimed  no  sympathy  with  Ireland," 


!:       H 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


said  ray  friend.  No.  The  American  Government  is  not  call- 
ed on  to  make  such  proclamations ;  nor  had  Ireland  ever  taken 
upon  herself  the  nature  and  labours  of  a  belligerent. 

That  this  anger  on  the  part  of  the  North  is  unreasonable  I 
cannot  doubt.  That  it  is  unfortunate,  grievous,  and  very  bit- 
ter I  am  quite  sure.  But  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  in  any  de- 
gree surprising.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  did  I  belong  to 
iBoston  as  I  do  belong  to  London,  I  should  share  in  the  feel- 
ing, and  rave  as  loudly  as  all  men  there  have  raved  against  the 
coldness  of  England.  When  men  have  on  hand  such  a  job  of 
work  as  the  North  has  now  undertaken  they  are  always  guided 
by  their  feelings  rather  than  their  reason.  What  two  men 
ever  had  a  quarrel  in  which  each  did  not  think  that  all  the 
world,  if  just,  would  espouse  his  own  side  of  the  dispute? 
The  North  feels  that  it  has  been  more  than  loyal  to  the  South, 
and  that  the  South  has  taken  advantage  of  that  over-loyalty 
to  betray  the  North.  "We  have  worked  for  them,  and  fought 
for  them,  and  paid  for  them,"  says  the  North.  "  By  our  la- 
bour we  have  raised  their  indolence  to  a  par  with  our  energy. 
While  we  have  worked  like  men,  we  have  allowed  them  to 
talk  and  bluster.  We  have  warmed  them  in  our  bosom,  and 
now  they  turn  against  us  and  sting  us.  The  world  sees  that 
this  is  so.  England,  above  all,  must  see  it,  and  seeing  it  should 
speak  out  her  true  opinion."  The  North  is  hot  with  such 
thoughts  as  these,  and  one  cannot  wonder  that  si  j  should  be 
angry  with  her  friend,  when  her  friend,  with  an  expression  of 
certain  easy  good  wishes,  t)ids  her  fight  out  her  own  battles. 
The  North  .has  been  unreasonable  with  England ; — but  I  be- 
lieve that  every  reader  of  this  page  would  have  been  as  un- 
reasonable had  that  reader  been  born  in  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  are  the  dearly  beloved  friends  of  my  fam- 
ily. My  wife  and  I  have  lived  with  Mrs.  Jones  on  terms  of 
intimacy  which  have  been  quite  endearing.  Jones  has  had  the» 
run  of  ray  house  with  perfect  freedom,  and  in  Mrs.  Jones'  draw- 
ing-room I  have  always  had  my  own  arm-chair,  and  have  been 
regaled  with  large  breakfast-cups  of  tea,  quite  as  though  I  were 
at  home.  But  of  a  sudden  Jones  and  his  wife  have  fallen  out, 
and  there  is  for  a  while  in  Jones'  Hall  a  cat  and  dog  life  that 
may  end — in  one  hardly  dare  to  surmise  what  calamity.  Mrs. 
Jones  begs  that  I  will  interfere  with  her  husband,  and  Jones 
entreats  the  good  offices  of  my  wife  in  moderating  the  hot  tem- 
per of  bis  own.  But  we  know  better  than  that.  If  we  inter- 
fere, the  chances  are  that  ray  dear  friends  will  make  it  up  and 
turn  upon  us.    I  grieve  beyond  measure  in  a  general  way  at 


t 


i 


12 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


ill! 


iilisl 


the  temporary  break  up  of  the  Jones'  Ilall  liappiness.  I  ex- 
press general  wishes  tliat  it  may  l)c  temporary.  But  as  for 
saying  wliich  is  right  or  wliich  is  wrong, — as  to  expressing 
special  sympathy  on  either  side  in  such  a  quarrel, — it  is  out  of 
the  question.  "  My  dear  Jones,  you  must  excuse  me.  Any 
news  in  the  City  to-day  ?  Sugars  have  fell ;  how  are  teas  ?" 
Of  course  Jones  thinks  that  I'm  a  brute ;  but  what  can  I  do  ? 

I  have  been  somewhat  surprised  to  lind  the  trouble  that  has 
been  taken  by  American  orators,  statesmen,  and  logicians  to 
prove  that  this  secession  on  the  part  of  the  South  has  been  rev- 
olutionary;— that  is  to  say,  that  it  has  been  undertaken  and 
carried  on  not  in  compliance  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  but  in  defiance  of  it.  This  has  been  done  over  and  over 
again  by  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  North,  and  has  been 
done  most  successfully.  But  what  then  ?  Of  course  the  move- 
ment has  been  revolutionary  and  anti-constitutional.  Nobody, 
no  single  Southerner,  can  really  believe  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  as  framed  in  1787,  or  altered  since,  in- 
tended to  give  to  the  separate  States  the  power  of  seceding  as 
they  pleased.  It  is  surely  useless  going  through  long  argu- 
ments to  prove  this,  seeing  that  it  is  absolutely  proved  by  the 
absence  of  any  clause  giving  such  licence  to  the  separate  States. 
Such  licence  would  have  been  destructive  to  the  very  idea  of  a 
great  nationality.  Where  would  New  England  have  been  as 
a  part  of  the  United  States,  if  New  York,  wnich  stretches  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  borders  of  Canada,  had  been  endowed  with 
the  power  of  cutting  off  the  six  Northern  States  from  the  rest 
of  the  Union  ?  No  one  will  for  a  moment  doubt  that  the  move- 
ment was  revolutionary,  and  yet  infinite  pains  are  taken  to 
prove  a  fact  that  is  patent  to  every  one. 

It  is  revolutionary,  but  what  then?  Have  the  Northern 
States  of  the  American  Union  taken  upon  themselves  in  1 80  ^ 
^o  proclaim  their  opinion  that  revolution  is  a  sin  ?  Are  they 
going  back  to  the  divine  right  of  any  sovereignty  ?  Are  they 
going  to  tell  the  world  that  a  nation  or  a  people  is  bound  to 
remain  in  any  political  status,  because  that  status  is  the  recog- 
nized form  of  government  under  which  such  a  people  have 
lived  ?  Is  this  to  be  the  doctrine  of  United  States'  citizens, — 
of  all  people  ?  And  is  this  the  doctrine  preached  now,  of  all 
times,  when  the  King  of  Naples  and  the  Italian  dukes  have  just 
been  dismissed  from  their  thrones  with  such  enchanting  non- 
chalance, because  their  people  have  not  chosen  to  keep  them  ? 
Of  course  the  movement  is  revolutionary ;  and  why  not  ?  It 
is  agreed  now  among  aU  men  and  all  nations  that  any  people 


INTRODUCTION. 


18 


may  change  its  form  of  government  to  any  other,  if  it  wills  to 
do  so, — and  if  it  can  do  so. 

There  are  two  other  points  on  which  these  Northern  states- 
men and  logicians  also  insist,  and  these  two  otiier  points  are 
at  any  rate  better  worth  an  argument  than  that  which  touches 
the  question  of  revolution.  It  being  settled  that  secession  on 
the  part  of  the  Southerners  is  revolution,  it  is  argued,  firstly, 
that  no  occasion  for  revolution  had  been  given  by  the  North 
to  the  South ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  South  has  been  dishonest 
in  its  revolutionary  tactics.  Men  certainly  should  not  raise  a 
revolution  for  nothing ;  and  it  may  certainly  bo  declared  that 
whatever  men  do,  they  should  do  honestly. 

But  in  that  matter  of  the  cause  and  ground  for  revolution,  it 
is  so  very  easy  for  either  party  to  put  in  a  plea  that  shall  be  sat- 
isfactory to  itself!  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  each  had  a  separate  sto- 
ry. Mr.  Jones  was  sure  that  the  right  lay  with  him :  but  Mrs. 
•Tones  was  no  less  sure.  No  doubt  the  North  had  done  much 
for  the  South ; — had  earned  money  for  it ;  had  fed  it ; — and  had 
moreover  in  a  great  measure  fostered  all  its  bad  habits.  It  had 
not  only  been  generous  to  the  South,  but  over-indulgent.  But 
also  it  had  continually  irritated  the  South  by  meddling  with 
that  which  the  Southerners  believed  to  be  a  question  absolute- 
ly private  to  themselves.  The  matter  was  illustrated  to  me  by 
a  New  Hampshire  man  who  was  conversant  with  black  bears. 
At  the  hotels  in  the  New  Hampshire  mountains  it  is  customary 
to  find  black  bears  chained  to  poles.  These  bears  are  caught 
among  the  hills,  and  are  thus  imprisoned  for  the  amusement  of 
the  hotel  guests.  "  Them  Southerners,"  said  my  friend,  "  are 
jist  as  one  as  that  *ere  bear.  We  feeds  him  and  gives  him  a 
house  and  his  belly  is  oilers  full.  But  then,  jist  becase  he's  a 
black  bear,  we're  oilers  a  poking  him  with  sticks,  and  a'  course 
the  beast  is  kinder  riled.  He  wants  to  be  back  to  the  mount- 
ains. He  wouldn't  have  his  belly  filled,  but  he'd  have  his  own 
way.    It's  jist  so  with  them  Southerners." 

It  is  of  no  use  proving  to  anv  man  or  to  any  nation  that  they 
have  got  all  they  should  want,  if  they  have  not  got  all  that  they 
do  want.  If  a  servant  desires  to  go,  it  is  of  no  avail  to  show 
him  that  he  has  all  he  can  desire  in  his  present  place.  The 
Northerners  say  that  they  have  given  no  offence  to  the  South- 
erners, and  that  therefore  the  South  is  wrong  to  raise  a  revolu- 
tion. The  very  fact  that  the  North  is  the  North,  is  an  offence 
to  the  South.  As  long  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  were  one  in  heart 
and  one  in  feeling,  having  the  same  hopes  and  the  same  joys,  it 
was  well  that  they  shoSd  remain  together.    But  when  it  is 


i 


14 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


II 


;i     'I 


proved  that  they  cannot  bo  live  without  tcarin/:^  out  each  oth- 
er's cyea,  Sir  Crosswcll  Cresswell,  the  revolutionary  institution 
of  domestic  life,  interferes  and  separates  thetn.  Tiiis  is  the  ago 
of  sucli  separations.  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  North  should 
use  its  logic  to  show  that  it  has  received  cause  of  oftenco  but 
given  none.  But  I  do  think  that  such  logic  is  thrown  away. 
The  matter  is  not  one  for  argument.  The  South  has  thought 
that  it  can  do  better  without  the  North  than  with  it;  and  if  it 
has  the  power  to  separate  itself,  it  must  be  conceded  that  it  has 
the  right. 

And  then  as  to  that  question  of  honesty.  Whatever  men  do 
they  certainly  should  do  honestly.  Speaking  broadly  one  may 
say  that  the  rule  applies  to  nations  as  strongly  as  to  individu- 
als, and  should  be  observed  in  politics  as  accurately  as  in  other 
matters.  Wo  must,  however,  confess  that  men  who  arc  scru- 
pulous in  their  private  dealings  do  too  constantly  drop  those 
scruples  when  they  handle  public  affairs, — and  especiallv  when 
they  handle  them  at  stirring  moments  of  great  national  changes. 
The  name  of  Napoleon  III.  stands  fair  now  before  Europe,  and 
yet  ho  filched  the  French  empire  with  a  falsehood.  The  union 
of  England  and  Ireland  is  a  successful  fact,  but  nevertheless  it 
can  hardly  be  said  that  it  was  honestly  achieved.  I  heartily 
believe  that  the  whole  of  Texas  is  improved  in  every  sense  by 
having  been  taken  from  Mexico  and  added  to  the  Southern 
States,  but  I  much  doubt  whether  that  annexation  was  accom- 
plished with  absolute  honesty.  We  all  reverence  the  name  of 
Cavour,  but  Cavour  did  not  consent  to  abandon  Nice  to  France 
with  clean  hands.  When  men  have  political  ends  to  gain  they 
regard  their  opponents  as  adversaries,  and  then  that  old  rule 
of  war  is  brought  to  bear,  Deceit  or  valour, — either  may  be 
used  against  a  foe.  Would  it  were  not  so  I  The  rascally  rule 
— rascally  in  reference  to  all  political  contests — is  becoming 
less  universal  than  it  was.  But  it  still  exists  with  sufficient 
force  to  be  urged  as  an  excuse ;  and  while  it  does  exist  it  seems 
almost  needless  to  show  that  a  certain  amount  of  fraud  has  been 
used  by  a  certain  party  in  a  revolution.  If  the  South  be  ulti- 
mately successful,  the  fraud  of  which  it  may  have  been  guilty 
will  be  condoned  by  the  world. 

The  Southern  or  democratic  party  of  the  United  States  had, 
as  all  men  know,  been  in  power  for  many  years.  Either  South- 
ern Presidents  had  been  elected,  or  Northern  Presidents  with 
Southern  politics.  The  South  for  many  years  had  had  the  dis- 
position of  military  matters,  and  the  power  of  distributing  mil- 
itary appliances  of  all  descriptions.    It  is  now  alleged  by  the 


NEWPORT — RHODE   ISLAND. 


15 


North  that  a  conspiracy  had  long  boon  hatching  in  the  South 
with  the  view  of  giving  to  tho  Southern  StatcH  the  power  of 
secession  wlionover  they  niiglit  think  fit  to  secede;  and  it  is 
further  alleged  that  President  al'ter  President  for  years  back 
has  unduly  sent  the  military  treasure  of  the  nation  away  from 
tho  North  down  to  the  South,  in  order  that  the  South  might 
be  prepared  when  the  day  should  come.  That  a  President 
with  Southern  instincts  should  unduly  favour  the  South,  that 
he  should  strengthen  tho  South,  and  feel  that  arms  and  ammu- 
nition were  stored  there  with  better  cftoct  than  they  could  bo 
stored  in  the  North,  is  very  probable.  Wo  all  understand  what 
is  tho  bias  of  a  man's  mind,  and  liow  strong  that  bias  may  be- 
come wlien  tho  man  is  not  especially  scrupulous.  But  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  President  previous  to  Buchanan  sent  military 
materials  to  the  South  with  tho  self-acknowledged  purpose  of 
using  them  against  tho  Union.  That  Buchanan  did  so,  or  know- 
ingly allowed  this  to  bo  done,  I  do  believe,  and  I  think  that 
Buchanan  was  a  traitor  to  tho  country  whoso  servant  ho  was 
and  whoso  pay  ho  received. 

And  now,  having  said  so  much  in  the  way  of  introduction,  I 
will  begin  my  journey. 


I  pi 


CHAPTER  II. 


NEWPORT — RHODE   ISLAND. 


We — the  wo  consisting  of  my  wife  and  myself— lefl  Liver- 
pool for  Boston  on  tho  24th  August,  1861,  in  the  "Arabia," 
one  of  Cunard's  North  American  mail  packets.  We  had  de- 
termined that  my  wife  should  return  alone  at  the  beginning  of 
winter,  when  I  intended  to  go  to  a  part  of  tho  country  in 
which,  under  the  existing  circumstances  of  tho  war,  a  lady 
might  not  feel  herself  altogether  comfortable.  I  proposed 
staying  in  America  over  the  winter,  and  returning  in  the 
spring ;  and  this  programme  I  have  carried  out  with  sufficient 
exactness. 

The  "  Arabia"  touched  at  Halifax ;  and  as  the  touch  extend- 
ed from  11  A.M.  to  6  p.m.  we  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a 
good  deal  of  that  colony ; — not  quite  sufficient  to  justify  me  at 
this  critical  age  in  writing  a  chapter  of  travels  in  Nova  Scotia, 
but  enough  perhaps  to  warrant  a  paragraph.  It  chanced  that 
a  cousin  of  mine  was  then  in  command  of  the  troops  there,  so 
that  we  saw  tho  fort  with  all  the  honours.  A  dinner  on  shore 
was,  I  think,  a  greater  treat  to  us  even  than  this.    We  also  in- 


i 


16 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


^^;! 


;    "\ 


spected  sundry  specimens  of  the  gold  wliich  is  now  being  found 
for  the  first  time  in  Nova  Scotia, — as  to  the  glory  and  probable 
profits  of  which  the  Nova  ^cotians  seemed  to  be  fully  alive. 
JBut  siill,  I  think,  the  dinner  on  shore  took  rank  with  us  as  the 
most  memorable  and  meritorious  of  all  that  we  did  and  saw  at 
Halifax.  At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  but  one  after  that, 
we  were  landed  at  Boston. 

At  Boston  I  found  friends  ready  to  receive  us  with  open 
arms,  though  they  were  friends  we  had  never  known  before. 
1  own  that  I  felt  myself  burdened  with  much  nervous  anxiety 
at  my  first  introduction  to  men  and  women  in  Boston.  I  knew 
what  the  feeling  there  was  with  reference  to  England,  and  I 
knew  also  how  impossible  it  is  for  an  Englishman  to  hold  his 
tongue  and  submit  to  dispraise  of  England.  As  for  going 
among  a  people  whose  whole  minds  were  filled  with  affairs  of 
the  war,  and  saying  nothing  about  the  war, — I  knew  that  no 
resolution  to  such  an  effect  could  be  carried  out.  If  one  could 
not  trust  oneself  to  speak,  one  should  have  stayed  at  home  in 
England.  I  will  here  state  that  I  always  did  speak  out  openly 
what  I  thought  and  felt,  and  that  though  I  encountered  very 
strong — sometimes  almost  fierce — opposition,  I  never  was  sub- 
jected to  any  thing  that  was  personally  disagreealle  to  me. 

In  September  we  did  not  stay  above  a  week  in  Boston,  hav- 
ing been  fairly  driven  out  of  it  by  the  mosquitoes.  I  had  been 
told  that  I  should  find  nobody  in  Boston  whom  I  cared  to  see, 
as  everybody  was  habitually  out  of  town  during  the  heat  of 
the  latter  summer  and  early  autumn;  but  this  was  not  so. 
The  war  and  attendant  turmoils  of  war  had  made  the  season 
of  vacation  shorter  than  usual,  and  most  of  those  for  whom  I 
asked  were  back  at  their  posts.  I  know  no  place  at  which  an 
Englishman  may  drop  down  suddenly  among  a  pleasanter  cir- 
cle of  quaintance,  or  find  himself  with  a  more  clever  set  of 
men,  t  i  he  can  do  at  Boston.  I  confess  that  in  this  respect 
I  think  that  but  few  towns  are  at  present  more  fortunately  cir- 
cumstanced than  the  capital  of  the  Bay  State,  as  Massachusetts 
is  called,  and  that  very  few  towns  make  a  better  use  of  their 
advantages.  Boston  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of  what  it  has 
done  for  the  world  of  letters.  It  is  proud ;  but  I  have  not 
found  that  its  pride  was  carried  too  far. 

Boston  is  not  in  itself  a  fine  city,  but  it  is  a  very  pleasant 
city.  They  say  that  the  harbour  is  very  grand  and  very  beau- 
tiful. It  certainly  is  not  so  fine  as  that  of  Portland  in  a  nau- 
tical point  of  view,  and  as  certainly  it  is  not  as  beautiful.  It 
is  the  entrance  from  the  sea  into  Boston  of  which  people  say 


NEWPORT — RHODE   ISLAND. 


11 


SO  much ;  but  I  did  not  think  it  quite  worthy  of  all  I  had  heard. 
In  such  matters,  however,  much  depends  on  the  peculiar  light 
in  which  scenery  is  seen.  An  evening  light  is  generally  the 
best  for  all  landscapes ;  and  I  did  not  see  the  entrance  to  Bos- 
ton harbour  by  an  evening  light.  It  was  not  the  beauty  of  the 
harbour  of  which  I  thought  the  most ;  but  of  the  tea  that  had 
been  sunk  there,  and  of  all  that  came  of  that  successful  specu- 
lation. Few  towns  now  stai*ding  have  a  right  to  be  more 
proud  of  their  antecedents  than  Boston. 

But  as  I  have  said,  it  is  not  specially  interesting  to  the  eye 
— what  new  town,  or  even  what  simply  adult  town,  can  be  so  ? 
There  is  an  Athenaeum,  and  a  State  Hall,  and  a  fashionable 
street, — Beacon  Street,  very  like  Piccadilly  as  it  runs  along  the 
Green  Park, — and  there  is  the  Green  Park  opposite  to  this  Pic- 
cadilly, called  Boston  Common.  Beacon  Street  and  Boston 
Common  are  very  pleasant.  Excellent  houses  there  are,  and 
large  churches,  and  enormous  hotels ;  but  of  such  things  as 
these  a  man  can  write  nothing  that  is  worth  the  reading.  The 
traveller  who  desires  to  tell  his  experience  of  North  America 
must  write  of  people  rather  than  of  things. 

As  I  have  said,  I  found  myself  instantly  involved  in  discus- 
sions on  American  politics,  and  the  bearing  of  England  upon 
those  politics.  "  What  do  you  think,  you  in  England — what 
do  you  all  believe  will  be  the  upshot  of  this  war  ?"  That  was 
the  question  always  asked  in  those  or  other  words.  "  Seces- 
sion, certainly,"  I  always  said,  but  not  speaking  quite  with 
that  abruptness.  "  And  you  believe,  then,  that  the  South  will 
beat  the  North  ?"  I  explained  that  I,  personally,  had  never 
so  thought,  and  that  I  did  not  believe  that  to  be  the  general 
idea.  Men's  opinions  in  England,  however,  were  too  divided 
to  enable  me  to  say  that  there  was  any  prevailing  conviction 
on  the  matter.  My  own  impression  was,  and  is,  that  the  North 
will,  ia  a  military  point  of  view,  have  the  best  of  the  contest, — 
will  beat  the  South ;  but  that  the  Northerners  will  not  prevent 
secession,  let  their  success  be  what  it  may.  Should  the  North 
prevail  after  a  two  years'  conflict,  the  North  will  not  admit 
the  South  to  an  equal  participation  of  good  things  with  them- 
selves, even  though  each  separate  rebellious  State  should  return 
suppliant,  like  a  prodigal  son,  kneeling  on  the  floor  of  Congress, 
each  with  a  separate  rope  of  humiliation  round  its  neck.  Such 
was  my  idea  as  expressed  then,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  have 
since  had  much  cause  to  change  it. 

"  We  will  never  give  it  up,"  one  gentleman  said  to  me — and, 
indeed,  many  have  said  the  same,  "  till  the  whole  territory  is 


W 


i 


18 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


1^ 


'\r        I 


again  united  from  the  Bay  to  the  Gulf!    It  is  impossible  that 
we  should   allow  of  two  nationalities  within  those  limits." 
"  And  do  you  think  it  possible,"  I  asked,  "  that  you  should  re- 
ceive back  into  your  bosom  this  people  which  you  now  hate 
with  so  deep  a  hatred,  and  receive  them  again  into  your  arms 
as  brothers  on  equal  terms  ?    Is  it  in  accordance  with  experi- 
ence that  a  conquered  people  should  be  so  treated — and  that, 
too,  a  people  whose  every  habit  of  life  is  at  variance  with  the 
habits  of  their  presumed  conquerors  ?   When  you  have  flogged 
them  into  a  return  of  fraternal  affection,  are  they  to  keep  their 
slaves  or  are  they  to  abolish  them  ?"    "  No,"  said  my  friend ; 
"  it  may  not  be  practical  to  put  those  rebellious  States  at  once 
on  an  equality  with  ourselves.    For  a  time  they  will  probably 
be  treated  as  the  Territories  are  now  treated."     (The  Territo- 
ries are  vast  outlying  districts  belonging  to  the  Union,  but  not 
as  yet  endowed  with  State  governments,  or  a  participation  in 
the  United  States  Congress.)     "For  a  time  they  must,  per- 
haps, lose  their  full  privileges ;  but  the  Union  will  be  anxious 
to  readmit  them  at  the  earliest  possible  period."     "  And  as  to 
the  slaves  ?"  I  asked  again.     "  Let  them  emigrate  to  Liberia : 
back  to  their  own  country."    I  could  not  say  that  I  thought 
much  of  the  solution  of  the  difficulty.    It  would,  I  suggested, 
overtask  even  the  energy  of  America  to  send  out  an  emigra- 
tion of  four  million  souls,  to  provide  for  their  wants  in  a  new 
and  uncultivated  country,  and  to  provide  after  that  for  the  ter- 
rible gap  made  in  the  labour  market  of  the  Southern  States. 
"The  Israelites  went  back  from  bondage,"  said  my  friend. 
But  a  way  was  opened  for  them  by  a  miracle  across  the  sea, 
and  food  was  sent  to  them  from  heaven,  and  they  had  among 
them  a  Moses  for  a  leader  and  a  Joshua  to  fight  their  battles. 
I  could  not  but  express  my  fear  that  the  days  of  such  immigra- 
tions were  over.    This  plan  of  sending  back  the  negroes  to 
Africa  did  not  reach  me  only  from  one  or  from  two  mouths ; 
and  it  was  suggested  by  men  whose  opinions  respecting  their 
country  have  weight  at  home  and  are  entitled  to  weight  abroad. 
I  mention  this  merely  to  show  how  insurmountable  would  be 
the  difficulty  of  preventing  secession,  let  which  side  win  that 
may. 

"  We  will  never  abandon  the  right  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi." That  in  all  such  arguments  is  a  sti'ong  point  with 
men  of  the  Northern  States ; — perhaps  the  point  to  which  they 
all  return  with  the  greatest  firmness.  It  is  that  on  which  Mr. 
Everett  insists  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  oration  which  he 
made  in  New  York  on  4th  of  July,  186L    "The  Missouri  and 


NEWPORT — RHODE  ISLAND. 


19 


the  Mississippi  rivers,"  he  says,  "  with  their  hundred  tributa- 
ries, give  to  the  great  central  basin  of  our  continent  its  char- 
acter and  destiny.  The  outlet  of  this  system  lies  between  the 
States  of  Tennessee  and  Missouri,  of  Mississippi  and  Arkansaii, 
and  through  the  State  of  Louisiana.  The  ancient  province  so 
called,  the  proudest  monument  of  the  mighty  monarch  whose 
name  it  bears,  passed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  France  to  that 
of  Spain  in  1V63.  Spain  coveted  it;  not  that  she  might  fill  it 
with  prosperous  colonies  and  rising  States,  but  that  it  might 
stretch  as  a  broad  waste  barrier,  infested  with  warlike  tribes, 
between  the  Anglo-American  power  and  the  silver  mines  of 
Mexico.  With  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  the  fear 
of  a  still  more  dangerous  neighbour  grew  upon  Spain ;  and  in 
the  insane  expectation  of  checking  the  progress  of  the  Union 
westward,  she  threatened,  and  at  times  attempted,  to  close  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  rapidly  increasing  trade  of  the 
West.  The  bare  suggestion  of  such  a  policy  roused  the  popu- 
lation upon  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  then  inconsiderable,  as  one 
man.  Their  confidence  in  Washington  scarcely  restrained  them 
from  rushing  to  the  seizure  of  New  Orleans,  when  the  treaty 
of  San  Lorenzo  El  Real,  in  1795,  stipulated  for  them  a  preca- 
rious right  of  navigating  the  noble  river  to  the  sea,  with  a 
right  of  deposit  at  New  Orleans.  This  subject  was  for  years 
the  turning-point  of  the  politics  of  the  West ;  and  it  was  per- 
fectly well  understood  that,  sooner  or  later,  she  would  be  con- 
tent with  nothing  less  than  the  sovereign  control  of  the  mighty 
stream  from  its  head-spring  to  its  outlet  in  the  Gulf.  A9id  that 
is  as  true  now  as  it  was  then?^ 

This  is  well  put.  It  describes  with  force  the  desires,  am- 
bition, and  necessities  of  a  great  nation,  and  it  tells  with  his- 
torical truth  the  story  of  the  success  of  that  nation.  It  was  a 
great  thing  done  when  the  purchase  of  the  whole  of  Louisiana 
was  completed  by  the  United  States, — that  cession  by  France, 
however,  having  been  made  at  the  instance  of  Napoleon,  and 
not  in  consequence  of  any  demand  made  by  the  States.  The 
district  then  called  Louisiana  included  the  present  State  of 
that  name,  and  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas ; — included 
also  the  right  to  possess,  if  not  the  absolute  possession  of,  all 
that  enormous  expanse  of  country  running  from  thence  back 
to  the  Pacific ;  a  huge  amount  of  territory  of  which  the  most 
fertile  portion  is  watered  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  vast  tribu- 
taries. That  river  and  those  tributaries  are  navigable  through 
the  whole  centre  of  the  American  continent  up  to  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota.    To  the  United  States  the  navigation  of  the 


I  V' 


20 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


Mississippi  was,  we  may  say,  indispensable ;  and  to  the  States 
when  no  longer  united  the  navigation  will  be  equally  indis- 
pensable. But  the  days  are  gone  when  any  country,  such  as 
Spain  was,  can  interfere  to  stop  the  highways  of  the  world  with 
the  all  but  avowed  intention  of  arresting  the  progress  of  civ- 
ilization. It  may  be  that  the  North  and  the  South  can  never 
again  be  friends  as  the  component  parts  of  one  nation.  Such  I 
take  it  is  the  belief  of  all  politicians  in  Europe,  and  of  many  of 
those  who  live  across  the  water.  But  as  separate  nations  they 
may  yet  live  together  in  amity,  and  share  between  them  the 
great  water-ways  which  God  has  given  them  for  their  enrich- 
ment. The  Rhine  is  free  to  Prussia  and  to  Holland.  The 
Danube  is  not  closed  against  Austria.  It  will  be  said  that  the 
Danube  has  in  fact  been  closed  against  Austria,  in  spite  of 
treaties  to  the  contrary.  But  the  faults  of  bad  and  weak  gov- 
ernments are  made  known  as  cautions  to  the  world,  and  not  as 
facts  to  copy.  The  free  use  of  the  waters  of  a  common  river 
between  two  nations  is  an  aft'air  for  treaty ;  and  it  has  not  yet 
come  to  that  that  treaties  must  necessarily  be  null  and  void 
through  the  falseness  of  politicians. 

"  And  what  will  England  do  for  cotton  ?  Is  it  not  the  fact 
that  Lord  John  Russell  with  his  professed  neutrality  intends  to 
express  sympathy  with  the  South,  intends  to  pave  the  way  for 
the  advent  of  Southern  cotton  ?"  "  You  ought  to  love  us,"  so 
say  men  in  Boston,  "  because  we  have  been  with  you  in  heart 
and  spirit  for  long,  long  years.  But  your  trade  has  eaten  into 
your  souls,  and  you  love  American  cotton  better  than  Ameri- 
can loyalty  and  American  fellowship."  This  I  found  to  be  un- 
fair, and  in  what  politest  language  I  could  use  I  said  so.  I  had 
not  any  special  knowledge  of  the  minds  of  English  statesmen 
on  this  matter ;  but  I  knew  as  well  as  Americans  could  do  what 
our  statesmen  had  said  and  done  respecting  it.  That  cotton, 
if  it  came  from  the  South,  would  be  made  very  welcome  in 
Liverpool,  of  course,  I  knew.  If  private  enterprise  could  bring 
it,  it  might  be  brought.  But  the  very  declaration  made  by 
Lord  John  Russell  was  the  surest  pledge  that  England  as  a 
nation  would  not  interfere,  even  to  supply  her  own  wants.  It 
may  easily  be  imagined  what  eager  words  all  this  would  bring 
about;  but  I  never  found  that  eager  words  led  to  feelings 
which  were  personally  hostile. 

All  the  world  has  heard  of  Newport  in  Rhode  Island  as  be- 
ing the  Brighton,  and  Tenby,  and  Scarborough  of  New  En- 
gland. And  the  glory  of  Newport  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
New  England,  but  is  shared  by  New  York  and  Washington, 


NEWPORT RHODE   ISLAND. 


31 


and  in  ordinary  years  by  the  extreme  South.  It  is  the  habit 
of  Americans  to  go  to  some  watering  place  every  summer, — 
that  is,  to  some  place  either  of  sea  water  or  of  inland  waters. 
This  is  done  much  in  England;  more  in  Ireland  than  in  En- 
gland ;  but,  I  think,  more  in  the  States  than  even  in  Ireland. 
But  of  all  such  summer  haunts,  Newport  is  supposed  to  be  in 
many  ways  the  most  captivating.  In  the  first  place  it  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  fashionable,  and  in  the  next  place  it  is  said  to 
be  the  most  beautiful.  We  decided  on  going  to  Newport, — 
led  thither  by  the  latter  reputation  rather  than  the  former. 
As  we  were  still  in  the  early  part  of  September  we  expected  to 
find  the  place  full,  but  in  this  we  were  disappointed ; — disap- 
pointed, I  say,  rather  than  gratified,  although  a  crowded  house 
at  such  a  place  is  certainly  a  nuisance.  But  a  house  which  is 
prepared  to  make  up  six  hundred  beds,  and  which  is  called  on 
to  make  up  only  twenty-five  becomes,  after  a  while,  somewhat 
melancholy.  The  natural  depression  of  the  landlord  communi- 
cates itself  to  his  servants,  and  from  the  servants  it  descends 
to  the  twenty-five  guests,  who  wander  about  the  long  passages 
and  deserted  balconies  like  the  ghosts  of  those  of  the  summer 
visitors,  who  cannot  rest  quietly  in  their  graves  at  home. 

In  England  we  know  nothing  of  hotels  prej^ared  for  six  hun- 
dred visitors,  all  of  whom  are  expected  to  live  in  common. 
Domestic  architects  would  be  frightened  at  the  dimensions 
which  are  needed,  and  at  the  number  of  apartments  which  are 
required  to  be  clustered  under  one  roof.  We  went  to  the  Ocean 
Hotel  at  Newport,  and  fancied,  as  we  first  entered  the  hall  un- 
der a  verandah  as  high  as  the  house,  and  made  our  way  into  the 
passage,  that  we  had  been  taken  to  a  well-arranged  barrack. 
"Have  you  rooms?"  I  asked,  as  a  man  always  does  ask  on  first 
reaching  his  inn.  "  Rooms  enough,"  the  clerk  said.  "  We 
have  only  fifty  here."  But  that  fifty  dwindled  down  to  twenty- 
five  during  the  next  day  or  two. 

We  were  a  melancholy  set,  the  ladies  appearing  to  be  afdicted 
in  this  way  worse  than  the  gentlemen,  on  account  of  their  en- 
forced abstinence  from  tobacco.  What  can  twelve  ladies  do 
scattered  about  a  drawing-room,  so-called,  intended  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  two  hundred  ?  The  drawing-room  at  the  Ocean 
Hotel,  Newport,  is  not  as  big  as  Westminster  Hall,  but  would, 
I  should  think,  make  a  very  good  House  of  Commons  for  the 
British  nation.  Fancy  the  feelings  of  a  lady  when  she  walks 
into  such  a  room  intending  to  spend  her  evening  there,  and 
finds  six  or  seven  other  ladies  located  on  various  sofas  at  ter- 
rible distances — al!  strangers  to  her.    She  has  come  to  New- 


'■r 
1.' 


i; 


^'i 


22 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


lit.  ^':i 


port  probably  to  enjoy  herself;  and  as,  in  accordance  with  the 
customs  of  the  place,  she  has  dined  at  two,  she  has  nothing  be- 
fore her  for  the  evening  but  the  society  of  that  huge  furnished 
cavern.  Her  husband,  if  she  have  one,  or  her  father,  or  her 
lover,  has  probably  entered  the  room  with  her.  But  a  man 
has  never  the  courage  to  endure  such  a  position  long.  He 
sidles  out  with  some  muttered  excuse,  and  seeks  solace  with  a 
cigar.  The  lady,  after  half  an  hour  of  contemplation,  creeps 
silently  near  some  companion  in  the  desert,  and  suggests  in  a 
whisper  that  Newport  does  not  seem  to  be  very  full  at  present. 

We  stayed  there  for  a  week,  and  were  very  melancholy ;  but 
in  our  melancholy  we  still  talked  of  the  war.  Americans  are 
said  to  be  given  to  bragging,  and  it  is  a  sin  of  which  I  can  not 
altogether  acquit  them.  But  I  have  constantly  been  surprised 
at  hearing  the  Northern  speak  of  their  own  military  achieve- 
ments with  any  thing  but  self-praise.  "  We've  been  whipped, 
sir ;  and  we  shall  be  whipped  again  before  we've  done ;  im- 
common  well  whipped  we  shall  be."  "  We  began  cowardly, 
and  were  afraid  to  send  our  own  regiments  through  one  of  our 
own  cities."  This  alluded  to  a  demand  that  had  been  made  on 
the  Government,  that  troops  going  to  Washington  should  not 
be  sent  through  Baltimore,  because  of  the  strong  feeling  for 
rebellion  which  was  known  to  exist  in  that  city.  President 
Lincoln  complied  with  this  request,  thinking  it  well  to  avoid  a 
collision  between  the  mob  and  the  soldiers.  "  We  began  cow- 
ardly, and  now  we're  going  on  cowardly,  and  darn't  attack 
them.  Well;  when  we've  been  whipped  often  enough,  then 
we  shall  learn  the  trade."  Now  all  this, — and  I  heard  much 
of  such  a  nature, — could  not  be  called  boasting.  But  yet  with 
it  all  there  was  a  substratum  of  confidence.  I  have  heard 
northern  gentlemen  complaining  of  the  President,  complaining 
of  all  his  ministers  one  after  another,  complaining  of  the  con- 
tractors who  were  robbing  the  army,  of  the  commanders  who 
did  not  know  how  to  command  the  army,  and  of  the  army  it- 
self which  did  not  know  how  to  obey ;  but  I  do  not  remem- 
ber that  I  have  discussed  the  matter  with  any  Northerner  who 
would  admit  a  doubt  as  to  ultimate  success. 

We  were  certainly  rather  melancholy  at  Newport,  and  the 
empty  house  may  perhaps  have  given  its  tone  to  the  discus- 
sions on  the  war.  I  confess  that  I  could  not  stand  the  draw- 
ing-room— the  ladies'  drawing-room  as  such-like  rooms  are  al- 
ways called  at  the  hotels,  and  that  I  basely  deserted  my  wife. 
I  could  not  stand  it  either  here  or  elsewhere,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  other  husbands, — ay,  and  even  lovers, — were  as  hard 


NEWPORT — RHODE   ISLAND. 


23 


pressed  as  myself.  I  protest  that  there  is  no  spot  on  the  earth's 
surface  so  dear  to  me  as  my  own  drawing-room,  or  rather  my 
wife's  drawing-room  at  home  ;  that  I  am  not  a  man  given  huge- 
ly to  clubs,  but  one  rather  rejoicing  in  the  rustle  of  petticoats. 
I  like  to  have  women  in  the  same  room  with  me.  But  at  these 
hotels  I  found  myself  driven  away, — propelled  as  it  were  by 
some  unknown  force, —  to  absent  myself  from  the  feminine 
haunts.  Anything  was  more  palatable  than  them  ;  even  "  li- 
quoring up"  at  a  nasty  bar,  or  smoking  in  a  comfortless  read- 
ing-room among  a  deluge  of  American  newspapers.  And  1  pro- 
test also, — hoping  as  I  do  so  that  I  may  say  much  in  this  vol- 
ume to  prove  the  truth  of  such  protestation, — that  this  comes 
from  no  fault  of  the  American  women.  They  are  as  lovely  as 
our  own  women.  Taken  generally,  they  are  better  instructed 
— though  perhaps  not  better  educated.  They  are  seldom  trou- 
bled with  mauvaise  honte^ — I  do  not  say  it  in  irony,  but  beg- 
ging that  the  words  may  be  taken  at  their  proper  meaning. 
They  can  always  talk,  and  very  often  can  talk  well.  But  when 
assembled  together  in  these  vast,  cavernous,  would-be  luxuri- 
ous, but  in  truth  horribly  comfortless  hotel  drawing-rooms, — 
they  are  unapproachable.  I  have  seen  lovers,  whom  I  have 
known  to  be  lovers,  unable  to  remain  five  minutes  in  the  same 
cavern  with  their  beloved  ones. 

And  then  the  music  ?  There  is  always  a  piano  in  an  hotel 
drawing-room,  on  which,  of  course,  some  one  of  the  forlorn  la- 
dies is  generally  employed.  I  do  not  suppose  that  these  pianos 
are  in  fact,  as  a  rule,  louder  and  harsher,  more  violent  and  less 
musical,  than  other  instruments  of  the  kind.  They  seem  to  be 
so,  but  that,  I  take  it,  arises  from  the  exceptional  mental  de- 
pression of  those  who  have  to  listen  to  them.  Then  the  ladies, 
or  probably  some  one  lady,  will  sing,  and  as  she  hears  her  own 
voice  ring  and  echo  through  the  lofty  corners  and  round  the 
empty  walls,  she  is  surprised  at  her  own  force,  and  with  in- 
creased efforts  sings  louder  and  still  louder.  She  is  tempted  to 
fancy  that  she  is  suddenly  gifted  with  some  power  of  vocal  mel- 
ody unknown  to  her  before,  and  filled  with  the  glory  of  her 
own  performance  shouts  till  the  whole  house  rings.  At  such 
moments  she  at  least  is  happy,  if  no  one  else  is  so.  Looking  at 
the  general  sadness  of  her  position,  who  can  grudge  her  such 
happiness  ? 

And  then  the  children, — babies,  I  should  say  if  I  were  speak- 
ing of  English  bairns  of  their  age ;  but  seeing  that  they  are 
Americans,  I  hardly  dare  to  call  them  children.  The  actual 
age  of  these  perfectly  civilized  and  highly  educated  beings  may 


t 


'i^ 


.ii 


t: 


24 


NORTU   AMERICA. 


be  from  three  to  four.  One  will  often  see  five  or  six  such 
seated  at  the  long  dinner-table  of  the  hotel,  breakfasting  and 
dining  with  their  elders,  and  going  through  the  ceremony  with 
all  the  gravity,  and  more  than  all  the  decorum  of  their  grand- 
faihers.  When  I  was  three  years  old  I  had  not  yet,  as  I  im- 
agine, been  promoted  beyond  a  silver  spoon  of  my  own  where- 
with to  eat  my  bread  and  milk  in  the  nursery,  and  I  feel  as- 
sured that  I  was  under  the  immediate  care  of  a  nursemaid,  as 
I  gobbled  up  my  minced  mutton  mixed  with  potatoes  and  gra- 
vy. But  at  hotel  life  in  the  States  the  adult  mfant  lisps  to  the 
waiter  for  everything  at  table,  handles  his  fish  with  epicurean 
delicacy,  is  choice  in  his  .selection  of  pickles,  very  particular 
that  his  beefsteak  at  breakfast  shall  be  hot,  and  is  mstant  in 
his  demand  for  fresh  ice  in  his  water.  But  perhaps  his,  or  in 
this  case  her,  retreat  from  the  room  when  the  meal  is  over,  is 
the  chef  (Vrnw^jre  of  the  whole  performance.  The  little  preco- 
cious, full-blown  beauty  of  four  signifies  that  she  has  complet- 
ed her  meal, — or  is  "  through"  her  dinner,  as  she  would  ex- 
Eress  it, — by  carefully  extricating  herself  from  the  napkin  which 
as  been  tucked  around  her.  Then  the  waiter,  ever  attentive 
to  her  movements,  draws  back  the  chair  on  which  she  is  seat- 
ed, and  the  young  lady  glides  to  the  floor.  A  little  girl  in  Old 
England  would  scramble  down,  but  little  girls  in  New  England 
never  scramble.  Her  father  and  mothei',  who  are  no  more 
than  her  chief  ministers,  walk  before  her  out  of  the  saloon,  and 
then  she, — swims  after  them.  But  swimming  is  not  the  prop- 
er word.  Fishes  in  making  their  way  through  the  water  as- 
sist, or  rather  impede,  their  motion  with  no  dorsal  riggle.  No 
animal  taught  to  move  directly  by  its  Creator  adopts  a  gait  so 
useless,  and  at  the  same  time  so  graceless.  Many  women,  hav- 
ing received  their  lessons  in  walking  from  a  less  eligible  in- 
structor, do  move  in  this  way,  and  such  women  this  unfortu- 
nate little  lady  has  been  instructed  to  copy.  The  peculiar  step 
to  which  I  allude  is  to  be  seen  often  on  the  Boulevards  in  Par- 
is. It  is  to  be  seen  more  often  in  second  rate  French  towns, 
and  among  fourth  rate  French  women.  Of  all  signs  in  women 
betokening  vulgarity,  bad  taste,  and  aptitude  to  bad  morals,  it 
is  the  surest.  And  this  is  the  gait  of  going  which  American 
mothers, — some  American  mothers  I  should  say, — love  to  teach 
their  daughters !  As  a  comedy  at  an  hotel,  it  is  very  delight- 
ful, but  in  private  life  I  should  object  to  it. 

To  me  Newport  could  never  be  a  place  charming  by  reason 
of  its  own  charms.  That  it  is  a  very  pleasant  place  when  it  is 
full  of  people  and  the  people  are  in  spirits  and  happy,  I  do  not 


NEWPORT — RHODE   ISLAND. 


25 


i. 


''I 


doubt.  But  then  the  visitors  would  bring,  as  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, the  pleasantness  with  them.  The  coast  is  not  tine.  To 
those  who  know  the  best  portions  of  the  coast  of  Wales  or 
Cornwall, — or  better  still,  the  western  coast  of  Ireland,  of  Clare 
and  Kerry  for  instance, — it  would  not  bo  in  any  way  remark- 
able. It  is  by  no  means  equal  to  Dieppe  or  Biarritz,  and  not 
to  bo  talked  of  in  the  sanio  breath  with  Spezzia.  The  hotels, 
too,  aro  all  built  away  from  the  sea;  so  that  one  cannot  sit 
and  watch  the  play  of  the  waves  from  one's  window.  Nor  aro 
tliero  pleasant  rambling  paths  down  among  the  rocks,  and  from 
one  short  strand  to  another.  There  is  excellent  bathing  for 
those  who  like  bathing  on  shelving  sand.  I  don't.  The  spot 
is  about  half  a  mile  from  the  hotels,  and  to  this  the  bathers  aro 
carried  in  omnibuses.  Till  one  o'clock  ladies  bathe; — which 
operation,  however,  does  not  at  all  militate  against  the  bathing 
of  men,  but  rather  necessitates  it  as  regards  those  men  who 
have  ladies  with  them.  For  here  ladies  and  gentlemen  batho 
in  decorous  dresses,  and  arc  very  polite  to  each  other.  I  must 
say,  that  I  think  the  ladies  have  the  best  of  it.  My  idea  of  sea- 
bathing for  my  own  gratification  is  not  compatible  with  a  full 
suit  of  clothing.  I  own  that  my  tastes  are  vulgar  and  perhaps 
indecent ;  but  I  love  to  jump  into  the  deep  clear  sea  from  off  a 
rock,  and  I  love  to  be  hampered  by  no  outward  impedimenta 
as  I  do  so.  For  ordinary  bathers,  for  all  ladies,  and  for  men 
less  savage  in  their  instincts  than  I  am,  the  bathing  at  Newport 
is  very  good. 

The  private  houses — villa  residences  iis  they  would  be  termed 
by  an  auctioneer  in  England — arc  excellent.  Many  of  them 
are,  in  fact,  large  mansions,  and  are  surrounded  with  grounds, 
which,  as  the  shrubs  grow  up,  will  be  very  beautiful.  Some 
have  large,  well-kept  lawns,  stretching  down  to  the  rocks,  and 
these  to  my  taste  give  the  charm  to  Newport.  They  extend 
about  two  miles  along  the  coast.  Should  my  lot  have  mado 
me  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  I  should  have  had  no  objec- 
tion to  become  the  possessor  of  one  of  these  "  villa  residences," 
but  I  do  not  think  that  I  should  have  "gone  in"  for  hotel  life 
at  Newport. 

We  hired  saddle-horses,  and  rode  out  nearly  the  length  of 
the  island.  It  was  all  very  well,  but  there  was  little  in  it  re- 
markable either  as  regards  cultivation  or  scenery.  We  found 
nothing  that  it  would  be  possible  either  to  describe  or  remem- 
ber. The  Americans  of  the  United  States  have  had  time  to 
build  and  populate  vast  cities,  but  they  have  not  yet  had  time 
to  surround  themselves  with  pretty  scenery.    Outlying  grand 

B 


\ 


'  . 


i» 


26 


NOIiTU   AMERICA. 


scenery  is  given  by  nature ;  but  the  prcttincss  of  homo  scenery 
is  a  work  of  art.  It  comes  from  the  tliorough  draining  of  land, 
from  the  planting  and  subsequent  thinning  of  trees,  from  the 
controlling  of  waters,  and  constant  use  of  minute  patches  of 
broken  land.  In  another  Iiundred  years  or  so  Rhode  Island 
may  be,  perhaps,  as  pretty  as  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  horses 
which  we  got  were  not  good.  They  were  unliandy  and  badly 
mouthed,  and  that  which  my  wife  rode  was  altogether  ignorant 
of  the  art  of  walking.  We  hired  them  from  an  Englishman, 
who  had  established  himself  at  New  York  as  a  ridhig-master 
for  ladies,  and  who  had  come  to  Newport  for  the  season  on 
the  same  business.  lie  complained  to  me  with  much  bitter- 
ness of  the  saddle-horses  whicli  came  in  his  way, — of  course 
thinking  that  it  was  the  special  business  of  a  country  to  pro- 
duce saddle-horses, — as  I  think  it  the  special  business  of  a 
country  to  produce  pens,  ink,  and  paper  of  good  quality.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  riding  has  not  yet  become  an  American  art, 
and  hence  the  awkwardness  of  American  horses.  "  Lord  bless 
you,  sir !  they  don't  give  an  animal  a  chance  of  a  mouth."  In 
this  he  alluded  only,  I  presume,  to  saddle-horses.  I  know 
nothing  of  the  trotting-horses,  but  I  should  imagine  that  a  fino 
mouth  must  be  an  essential  requisite  for  a  trotting-match  in 
harness.  As  regards  riding  at  Newport,  we  were  not  tempted 
to  repeat  the  experiment.  The  number  of  carriages  which  wo 
saw  there, — remembering  as  I  did  that  the  place  was  compar- 
atively empty, — and  their  general  smartness,  surprised  me  very 
much.  It  seemed  that  every  lady  with  a  house  of  her  own 
had  also  her  own  carriage.  These  carriages  were  always  open, 
and  the  law  of  thel  and  imperatively  demands  that  the  occu- 

Eants  shall  cover  their  knees  with  a  worked  worsted  apron  of 
rilliant  colours.  These  aprons  at  first,  I  confess,  seemed 
tawdry ;  but  the  eye  soon  becomes  used  to  bright  colours,  in 
carriage  aprons  as  well  as  in  architecture,  and  I  soon  learned 
to  like  them. 

Rhode  Island,  as  the  State  is  usually  called,  is  the  smallest 
State  in  the  Union.  I  may  perhaps  best  show  its  disparity  to 
other  States  by  saying  that  New  York  extends  about  250  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  the  same  distance  from  east  to  west ; 
whereas  the  State  called  Rhode  Island  is  about  forty  miles  long 
by  twenty  broad,  independently  o^  certain  small  islands.  It 
would,  in  fact,  not  form  a  considerable  addition  if  added  on  to 
many  of  the  other  States.  Nevertheless,  it  has  all  the  same 
powers  of  self-government  as  are  possessed  by  such  nationali- 
ties as  the  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania ;  and  sends 


NEWPORT — RHODE  ISLAND. 


27 


two  senators  to  the  Senate  at  Washington,  as  do  those  enor- 
mous States.  Small  as  the  State  is,  Rhode  Ishmd  itself  forms 
but  a  small  portion  of  it.  The  authorized  and  proper  name  of 
the  State  is  Providence  Plantation  and  Rhode  island.  Roger 
Williams  was  the  first  founder  of  the  colony,  and  lie  established 
himself  on  the  mainland  at  a  spot  which  he  called  Providence. 
Hero  now  stands  the  city  of  Providence,  the  chief  town  of  the 
State ;  and  a  thriving,  comfortable  town  it  seems  to  be,  full  of 
banks,  fed  by  railways  and  steamers,  and  going  ahead  quite  as 
quickly  as  Roger  Williams  could  in  his  fondest  hopes  have  de- 
sired. 

Rhode  Island,  as  I  have  said,  has  all  the  attributes  of  gov- 
ernment in  common  with  her  stouter  and  more  famous  sisters. 
She  has  a  governor,  and  an  upper  house,  and  a  lower  house  of 
legislature ;  and  she  is  somewhat  fantastic  in  the  use  of  these 
constitutional  powers,  for  she  calls  on  them  to  sit  now  in  one 
town  and  now  in  another.  Providence  is  the  capital  of  the 
State ;  but  the  Rhode  Island  parliament  sits  sometimes  at  Prov- 
idence and  sometimes  at  Newport.  At  stated  times  also  it  has 
to  collect  itself  at  Bristol,  and  at  other  stated  times  at  Kings- 
ton, and  at  others  at  East  Greenwich.  Of  all  legislative  as- 
semblies it  is  the  most  peripatetic.  Universal  suffrage  docs 
not  absolutely  prevail  in  this  State,  a  certain  property  qualifi- 
cation being  necessary  to  confer  a  right  to  vote  even  for  the 
State  Representatives.  I  should  think  it  would  be  well  for  all 
parties  if  the  whole  State  could  be  swallowed  up  by  Massachu- 
setts or  by  Connecticut,  either  of  which  lie  conveniently  for  the 
feat ;  but  I  presume  that  any  suggestion  of  such  a  nature  would 
be  regarded  as  treason  by  the  men  of  Providence  Plantation. 

Wo  returned  back  to  Boston  by  Attleborough,  a  town  at 
which  in  ordinary  times  the  whole  population  is  supported  by 
the  jewellers'  trade.  It  is  a  place  with  a  speciality,  upon  which 
speciality  it  has  thriven  well  and  become  a  town.  But  the  spe- 
ciality is  one  ill  adapted  for  times  of  war ;  and  we  were  as- 
sured that  the  trade  was  for  the  present  at  an  end.  What  man 
could  now-a-days  buy  jewels,  or  even  what  woman,  seeing  that 
everything  would  be  required  for  the  war  ?  I  do  not  say  that 
such  abstinence  from  luxury  has  been  begotten  altogether  by 
a  feeling  of  patriotism.  The  direct  taxes  which  all  Americans 
will  now  be  called  on  to  pay,  have  had,  and  will  have  much  to 
do  with  such  abstinence.  In  the  mean  time  the  poor  jewellers 
of  Attleborough  have  gone  altogether  to  the  wall. 


\\ 


28 


MOliTU    AMEUICA. 


CHAPTER  III. 


MAINE,  NEW    IIAMrsiIIUK, 


AND   VEUMONT. 


Perhaps  I  ought  to  assume  tli.it  all  the  world  in  England 
knows  that  that  portion  of  the  ITnitcd  States  called  New  En- 
gland consists  of  the  hIx  States  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver- 
mont, Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Uhoflle  Island.  This  is 
especially  the  land  of  Yankees,  and  none  can  properly  bo  called 
Yankees  but  those  who  belong  to  New  England.  I  have  named 
the  States  as  nearly  as  may  bo  in  order  from  the  North  down- 
wards. Of  Rhode  Island,  the  smallest  State  in  the  Union,  I 
have  already  said  what  little  X  have  to  say.  Of  these  six  States 
Boston  may  be  called  the  capital.  Not  that  it  is  so  in  any  civil 
or  political  sense ; — it  is  simply  the  capital  of  Massachusetts. 
But  as  it  is  the  Athens  of  the  Western  world ;  as  it  was  the 
cradle  of  American  freedom ;  as  everybody  of  course  knows 
that  into  Boston  harbour  was  thrown  the  tea  which  George  III. 
would  tax,  and  that  at  Boston,  on  account  of  that  and  similar 
taxes,  sprang  up  the  new  revolution ;  and  as  it  has  grown  in 
wealth,  and  fame,  and  size  beyond  other  towns  in  New  En- 
gland, it  may  be  allowed  to  us  to  regard  it  as  the  capital  of 
these  six  Northern  States,  without  gmlt  o£  Itise  mqjeste  towards 
the  other  five.  To  me,  I  confess,  this  Nortliern  division  of  our 
once  unruly  colonics  is,  and  always  has  been,  the  dearest.  I 
am  no  Puritan  myself,  and  fancy  that  had  I  lived  in  the  days 
of  the  Puritans,  I  should  have  been  anti-Puritan  to  the  full  ex- 
tent of  my  capabilities.  But  I  should  have  been  so  through 
ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  actuated  by  that  love  of  existing 
rights  and  wrongs  which  men  call  loyalty.  If  the  Canadas 
were  to  rebel  now,  I  should  be  for  putting  down  the  Canadians 
with  a  strong  hand ;  but  not  the  less  have  I  an  idea  that  it  will 
become  the  Canadas  to  rebel  and  assert  their  independence  at 
some  future  period ; — unless  it  be  conceded  to  them  without 
such  rebellion.  Who,  on  looking  back,  can  now  refuse  to  ad- 
mire the  political  aspirations  of  the  English  Puritans,  or  decline 
to  acknowledge  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  what  they  did  ?  It 
was  by  them  that  these  States  of  New  England  were  colonized- 
They  came  hither  stating  themselves  to  be  pilgrims,  and  as 
such  they  first  placed  their  feet  on  that  hallowed  rock  at  Plym- 
outh, on  the  shore  of  Massachusetts.  They  came  here  driven 
by  no  thirst  of  conquest,  by  no  greed  for  gold,  dreaming  of  no 
Western  empire  such  as  Cortcz  had  achieved  and  Raleigh  had 


MAINE,  NKW   IIAMrHIIIUE,  AND   VKRMONT. 


20 


moditiatcd.  They  dcairod  to  oarn  thoir  brcjirl  in  tho  sweat  of 
their  brow,  worshippinuj  God  mu^ordini^  to  tiieir  own  iij^hts, 
living  in  harmony  under  tlieir  own  laws,  and  feeling  that  no 
master  could  claim  a  right  to  put  a  heel  upon  their  necks.  And 
bo  it  remembered  that  here  in  England,  in  those  days,  earthly 
masters  were  still  apt  to  j)ut  their  heels  on  the  necks  of  men. 
Tho  Star  Chamber  was  gone,  but  Jeffreys  had  not  yet  reigned. 
What  earthly  aspirations  were  ever  higher  than  these,  or  more 
manly  ?     And  what  earthly  efforts  ever  led  to  grander  results  ? 

We  determined  to  go  to  l*ortland,  in  Maine,  from  thence  to 
the  White  Mountains  in  New  Hampshire — tho  American  Alps, 
as  they  lovo  to  call  themselves, — and  then  on  to  Quebec  and  up 
through  tho  two  Canadas  to  Niagara;  and  this  route  we  fol- 
lowed. From  Boston  to  l*ortlan(I  wo  travelled  by  railroad, — 
the  carriages  on  which  are  in  America  always  called  cars.  And 
hero  X  beg,  onco  for  all,  to  enter  my  protest  loudly  against  the 
manner  in  which  theso  conveyances  are  conducted.  The  ono 
grand  fault — there  are  other  smaller  faults — but  tlu  lo  grand 
lault  is  that  they  admit  but  ono  class.  Two  roas  for  this 
are  given.  Tho  tirst  is  that  tho  finances  of  the  companies  will 
not  admit  of  a  divided  accommodation ;  and  tho  second  is  that 
tho  republican  nature  of  tho  people  will  not  brook  a  superior 
or  aristocratic  classification  of  travelling.  As  regards  tho  first, 
I  do  not  in  the  least  believe  in  it.  If  a  more  expensive  man- 
ner of  railway  travelling  will  pay  in  England,  it  would  surely 
do  so  here.  Were  a  better  class  of  carriages  organized,  as 
largo  a  portion  of  tho  population  would  use  thera  in  the  United 
States  as  in  any  country  in  Europe.  And  it  seems  to  be  evi- 
dent that  in  arranging  that  there  shall  bo  only  one  rate  of 
travelling,  the  price  is  enhanced  on  poor  travellers  exactly  in 
proportion  as  it  is  made  cheap  to  those  who  are  not  poor.  For 
the  poorer  classes,  travelling  m  America  is  bv  no  means  cheap, 
— the  average  rate  being,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  fully  three- 
halfpence  a  mile.  It  is  manifest  that  dearer  rates  for  one  class 
would  allow  of  cheaper  rates  for  the  other ;  and  that  in  this 
manner  general  travelling  would  be  encouraged  and  increased. 

But  I  do  not  believe  that  tho  question  of  expenditure  has 
had  anything  to  do  with  it.  1  conceive  it  to  be  true  that  the 
railways  are  afraid  to  put  themselves  at  variance  with  tho  gen- 
oral  feeling  of  the  people.  If  so  tho  railways  may  be  right. 
But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  the  general  feeling  of  tho  people 
must  in  such  case  be  wrong.  Such  a  feeling  argues  a  total 
mistake  as  to  the  nature  of  that  liberty  and  equality  for  the  se- 
curity of  which  tho  people  is  so  anxious,  and  that  mistake  the 


i 


80 


KORTH  AMERICA. 


very  one  which  has  made  shipwreck  so  many  attempts  at  free- 
dom in  other  countries.  It  argues  that  confusion  between  so- 
cial and  political  equality  which  has  led  astray  multitudes  who 
have  longed  for  liberty  fervently,  but  who  have  not  thought  of 
it  carefully.  If  a  first-class  railway  carriage  should  be  held  as 
oficnsive,  so  ^  ^ould  a  first-class  house,  or  a  first-class  horse,  or 
a  first-class  dinner.  But  first-class  houses,  first-class  horses,  and 
first-class  dinners  are  very  rife  in  America.  Of  course  it  may 
be  said  that  the  expenditure  shown  in  these  last-named  objects 
is  private  expenditure,  and  cannot  be  controlled ;  and  that  rail- 
way travelling  is  of  a  public  nature,  and  can  be  made  subject 
to  public  opinion.  But  the  fault  is  in  that  public  opinion  which 
desires  to  control  matters  of  this  nature.  Such  an  arrangement 
partakes  of  all  the  vice  of  a.  sumptuary  law,  and  sumptuary  laws 
are  in  their  very  essence  mistakes.  It  is  well  that  a  man  should 
always  have  all  for  which  he  is  willing  to  pay.  If  he  desires 
and  obtains  more  than  is  good  for  Mm,  the  punishment,  and 
thus  also  the  preventive,  will  come  from  other  sources. 

It  will  be  said  that  the  American  cars  are  good  enough  for 
all  purposes.  The  seats  are  not  very  hard,  ana  the  room  for 
sittmg  is  sufficient.  Nevertheless  I  deny  that  they  are  good 
enough  for  all  purposes.  They  are  very  long,  and  to  enter 
them  and  find  a  place  ofter  requires  a  struggle  and  almost  a 
fight.  There  is  rarely  any  person  to  tell  a  stranger  which  car 
he  should  enter.  One  never  meets  an  uncivil  or  unruly  man, 
but  the  women  of  the  lower  ranks  are  not  courteous.  Amer- 
ican ladies  love  to  lie  at  ease  in  their  carriages,  as  thoroughly 
as  do  our  women  in  Hyde  Park,  and  to  those  who  are  used  to 
such  luxury,  travelling  by  railroad  in  their  own  country  must 
be  grievous.  I  would  not  wish  to  be  thought  a  Sybarite  my- 
self, or  to  be  held  as  complaining  because  I  have  been  com- 
pelled to  give  up  my  seat  to  women  with  babies  and  band- 
boxes who  have  accepted  the  courtesy  with  very  scanty  grace. 
I  have  borne  wor&e  things  than  these,  and  have  roughed  it 
much  in  my  days  from  want  of  means  and  other  reasons.  Nor 
am  I  yet  so  old  but  what  I  can  rough  it  still.  Nevertheless  I 
like  to  see  things  as  well  done  as  is  practicable,  and  railway 
travelling  in  the  States  is  not  well  done.  I  feel  bound  to  say 
as  much  as  this,  and  now  I  have  said  it,  once  for  all. 

Few  cities,  or  localities  for  cities,  have  fairer  natural  advant- 
ages than  Portland — and  I  am  bound  to  say  that  the  people  of 
Portland  have  done  much  in  turning  them  to  account.  This 
town  is  not  the  capital  of  the  State  in  a  political  point  of  view. 
Augusta,  which  is  further  to  the  North,  on  the  Kennebeo  riv- 


MAINE,  NETV   HAMPSHIRE,  AND  VERMONT. 


31 


er,  is  the  seat  of  the  State  Government  for  Maine.  It  is  very 
generally  the  case  that  the  States  do  not  hold  their  legislatures 
and  carry  on  their  government  at  their  chief  towns.  Augusta 
and  not  Portland  is  the  capital  of  Maine.  Of  the  State  of  New 
York,  Albany  is  the  capital,  and  not  the  city  which  bears  the 
State's  na  no.  And  of  Pennsylvania,  Harrisburg  and  not  Phil- 
adelphia is  the  capital.  I  think  the  idea  has  been  that  old-fash- 
ioned notions  were  bad  in  that  they  were  old-fashioned ;  and 
that  a  new  people,  bound  by  no  prejudices,  might  certainly 
make  improvement  by  choosing  for  themselves  new  ways.  If 
80  the  American  politicians  have  not  been  the  first  in  the  world 
who  have  thought  that  any  change  must  be  a  change  for  the 
better.  The  assigned  reason  is  the  centrical  position  of  the  se- 
lected political  capitals :  but  I  have  generally  found  the  real 
commercial  capital  to  be  easier  of  access  than  the  smaller  town 
in  wh^ich  the  two  legislative  houses  are  obliged  to  collect  them- 
selves. 

What  must  b^  the  natural  excellence  of  the  harbour  of  Port- 
land will  be  understood  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  the  Great 
Eastern  can  enter  h  at  all  times,  and  that  it  can  lie  along  the 
wharves,  at  any  hour  of  the  tide.  The  wharves  which  have  been 
prepared  for  her — and  of  which  I  will  say  a  word  further  by- 
and-by — are  joined  to  and  in  fact  are  a  portion  of  the  station  of 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  which  runs  from  Portland  up  to 
Canada.  So  that  passengers  landing  at  Portland  out  of  a  vessel 
so  large  even  as  the  Great  Eastern  can  walk  at  once  on  shore, 
and  goods  can  be  passed  on  to  the  railway  without  any  of  the 
cost  of  removal.  I  will  not  say  that  there  is  no  other  harbour 
in  the  world  that  would  allow  of  this,  but  I  do  not  know  any 
other  that  would  do  so. 

From  Portland  a  line  of  railway,  called  as  a  whole  by  the 
name  of  the  Canada  Grand  Trunk  line,  runs  across  the  State  of 
Maine  through  the  Northern  parts  of  New  Hampshire  and  Ver- 
mont, to  Montreal,  a  branch  striking  from  Richmond,  a  little 
within  the  limits  of  Canada,  to  Quebec,  and  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Rivi6re  du  Loup.  The  main  line  is  continued  from 
Montreal,  through  Upper  Canada  to  Toronto,  and  from  thence 
to  Detroit  in  the  State  of  Michigan.  The  total  distance  thus 
traversed  is  in  a  direct  line  about  900  miles.  Frora  Detroit 
there  is  railway  communication  through  the  immense  North- 
Western  States  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Illinois,  than  which 
perhaps  the  surface  of  Iho  globe  aftbrds  no  finer  districts  for 
purposes  of  agriculture.  The  produce  of  the  two  Canadas  must 
be  poured  forth  to  the  Eastern  world,  and  the  men  of  the  East- 


V'^ 


\ 


r 


• 


\! 


'f-  .k 


82 


NOBTH  AMERICA. 


cm  -world  must  throng  into  these  lands,  by  means  of  this  rail- 
road,— and,  as  at  present  arranged,  through  the  harbour  of  Port- 
land. At  present  the  line  has  been  opened,  and  they  who  have 
opened  are  sorely  suffering  in  pocket  for  what  they  have  done. 
The  question  of  the  railway  is  rather  one  applying  to  Canada 
than  to  the  State  of  Maine,  and  I  will  therefore  leave  it  for  the 
present. 

But  the  Great  Eastern  has  never  been  to  Portland,  and  as 
far  as  I  know  has  no  intention  of  going  there.  She  was,  I  be- 
lieve, built  with  that  object.  At  any  rate  it  was  proclaimed 
during  her  building  that  such  was  her  destiny,  and  the  Port- 
landers  believed  it  with  a  perfect  faith.  They  went  to  work 
and  built  wharves  expressly  for  her ;  two  wharves  prepared  to 
lit  her  two  gangways,  or  ways  of  exit  and  entrance.  They 
built  a  huge  hotel  to  receive  her  passengers.  They  prepared 
for  her  advent  with  a  full  conviction  that  a  millennium  ot  trade 
was  about  to  be  wafted  to  their  happy  port.  "  Sir,  the  town 
has  expended  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  expectation  of 
that  ship,  and  that  ship  has  deceived  us."  So  was  the  matter 
spoken  of  to  me  by  an  intelligent  Portlander.  I  explained  to 
that  intelligent  gentleman  that  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
would  go  a  very  little  way  towards  making  up  the  loss  which 
the  ill-fortuned  vessel  had  occasioned  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water.  He  did  not  in  words  express  gratitication  at  this  in- 
formation, but  he  looked  it.  The  matter  was  as  it  were  a 
partnership  without  deed  of  contract  between  the  Portlanders 
and  the  shareholders  of  the  vessel,  and  the  Portlanders,  though 
they  also  have  suffered  their  losses,  have  not  had  the  worst  of  it. 

But  there  are  still  good  days  in  store  for  the  town.  Though 
the  Great  Eastern  has  not  gone  there,  other  ships  from  Europe, 
more  profitable  if  less  in  size,  must  eventually  find  their  way 
thither.  At  present  the  Canada  line  of  packets  runs  to  Port- 
land only  during  those  months  in  which  it  is  shut  out  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Quebec  by  ice.  But  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
Quebec  cannot  offer  the  advantages  which  Portland  enjoys,  and 
that  big  hotel  and  those  new  wharves  will  not  have  been  built 
in  vain. 

I  have  said  that  a  good  t'me  is  coming,  but  I  would  by 
no  means  wish  to  signify  that  the  present  times  in  Portland 
are  bad.  So  far  from  it,  that  I  doubt  whether  I  ever  saw  a 
town  with  more  evident  signs  of  prosperity.  It  has  about  it 
every  mark  of  ample  means,  and  no  mark  of  poverty.  It  con- 
tains about  27,000  people,  and  for  that  population  covers  a 
very  large  space  of  ground.    The  streets  are  broad  and  well 


MAINE,  NEW   HAMPSHIRE,  AND  VERMONT. 


83 


built,  the  main  streets  not  running  in  those  absohitely  straight 
])arallels  which  are  so  common  in  American  towns,  and  are  so 
distressing  to  English  eyes  and  English  feelings.  All  these, 
except  the  streets  devoted  exclusively  to  business,  are  shaded 
on  both  sides  by  trees — generally,  if  I  remember  rightly,  by 
the  beautiful  American  elm,  whose  drooping  boughs  have  all 
the  grace  of  the  willow  without  its  fantastic  melancholy. 
What  the  poorer  streets  of  Portland  may  be  like  I  cannot 
say.  I  saw  no  poor  street.  But  in  no  town  of  30,000  inhab- 
it ,nts  did  I  ever  see  so  many  houses  which  must  require  an 
expenditure  of  from  six  to  eight  hundred  a  year  to  maintain 
them. 

The  place  too  is  beautifully  situated.  It  is  on  a  long  prom- 
ontory, which  takes  the  shape  of  a  peninsula; — for  the  neck 
which  joins  it  to  the  mainland  is  not  above  half  a  mile  across. 
But  though  the  town  thus  stands  out  into  the  sea,  it  is  not  ex- 
posed and  bleak.  The  harbour  again  is  surrounded  by  land, 
or  so  guarded  and  locked  by  islands  as  to  form  a  series  of  salt- 
water lakes  running  round  the  town.  Of  those  islands  there 
are,  of  course,  365.  Travellers  who  write  their  travels  are  con- 
stantly called  upon  to  record  that  number,  so  that  it  may  now 
be  considered  as  a  superlative  in  local  phraseology,  signifying 
a  very  great  many  indeed.  The  town  stands  between  two 
hills,  the  suburbs  or  outskirts  running  up  on  to  each  of  the*a. 
The  one  looking  out  towards  the  sea  is  called  Mountjoy — 
though  the  obstinate  Americans  will  write  it  Munjoy  on  their 
maps.  From  thence  the  view  out  to  the  harbour  and  beyond 
the  harbour  to  the  islands  is,  I  may  not  say  unequalled,  or  I 
shall  be  guilty  of  running  into  superlatives  myself;  but  it  is,  in 
its  way,  equal  to  anything  I  have  seen.  Perhaps  it  is  more 
like  Cork  harbour,  as  seen  from  certain  heights  over  Passage 
than  anything  else  I  can  remember;  but  Portland  harbour, 
though  equally  landlocked,  is  larger ;  and  then  from  Portland 
harbour  there  is  as  it  were  a  river  outlet,  running  through  de- 
licious islands,  most  iinalluring  to  the  navigator,  but  delicious 
to  the  eyes  of  an  uncommercial  traveller.  There  are  in  all  four 
outlets  to  the  sea,  one  of  which  appears  to  have  been  made  ex- 
pressly for  the  Great  Eastern.  Then  there  is  the  hill  looking 
inwards.  If  it  has  a  name  I  forget  it.  The  view  from  this  hill 
is  also  over  the  water  on  each  side,  and  though  not  so  extens- 
ive is  perhaps  as  pleasing  as  the  other. 

The  ways  of  the  people  seemed  to  be  quiet,  smooth,  orderly, 
and  republican.  There  is  nothing  to  drink  in  Portland  of 
course,  for,  thanks  to  Mr.  Neal  Dow,  the  Father  Mathew  of 

B2 


i 


V 


84 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


*\) 


i ' 


jSil  i'  i 


in, 


the  State  of  Maine,  the  Maine  Liquor  Law  is  still  in  force  in 
that  State.  There  is  nothing  to  drink,  I  should  say,  in  such 
orderly  houses  as  that  I  selected.  "  People  do  drink  some  in 
the  town,  they  say,"  said  my  hostess  to  me ;  "  and  liquor  is  to 
be  got.  But  I  never  venture  to  sell  any.  An  ill-natured  per- 
son might  turn  on  me,  and  where  should  I  be  then  ?"  I  did 
not  press  her,  and  she  was  good  enough  to  put  a  bottle  of  por- 
ter at  my  right  hand  at  dinner,  for  which  I  observed  she  made 
no  charge.  "But  they  advertise  beer  in  the  shop-windows," 
I  said  to  a  man  who  was  driving  me — "  Scotch  ale,  and  bitter 
beer.  A  man  can  get  drunk  on  them."  *'  Wa'al,  yes.  If  he 
goes  to  work  hard,  and  drinks  a  bucketfull,"  said  the  driver, 
"  perhaps  he  may."  From  which  and  other  things  I  gathered 
that  the  men  of  Maine  drank  pottle  deep  before  Mr.  Neal  Dow 
brought  his  exertions  to  a  successful  termination. 

The  Maine  Liquor  Law  still  stands  in  Maine,  and  is  the  law 
of  the  land  throughout  New  England ;  but  it  is  not  actually 
put  in  force  in  the  other  States.  By  this  law  no  man  may  re- 
tail wine,  spirits,  or,  in  truth,  beer,  except  with  a  special  license, 
which  is  given  only  to  those  who  are  presumed  to  sell  them  as 
medicines.  A  man  may  have  what  he  likes  in  his  own  cellar 
for  his  own  use — such  at  least  is  the  actual  working  of  the  law 
— but  may  not  obtain  it  at  hotels  and  public-houses.  This  law, 
like  all  sumptuary  laws,  must  fail.  And  it  is  fast  failing  even 
in  Maine.  But  it  did  appear  to  me  from  such  information  as 
I  could  collect  that  the  passing  of  it  had  done  much  to  hinder 
and  repress  a  habit  of  hard  drinking  which  was  becoming  ter- 
ribly common,  not  only  in  the  towns  of  Maine,  but  among  the 
farmers  and  hired  labourers  in  the  country. 

But  if  the  men  and  women  of  Portland  may  not  drink  they 
may  eat,  and  it  is  a  place,  I  should  say,  in  which  good  living 
on  that  side  of  the  question  is  very  rife.  It  has  an  air  of  su- 
preme plenty,  as  though  the  agonies  of  an  empty  stomach  were 
never  known  there.  The  faces  of  the  people  tell  of  three  reg- 
ular meals  of  meat  a  day,  and  of  digestive  powers  in  propor- 
tion. Oh  happy  Portlanders,  if  they  only  knew  their  own  good 
fortune !  They  get  up  early,  and  go  to  bed  early.  The  women 
are  comely  and  sturdy,  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  without 
any  fal-lal  of  chivalry ;  and  the  men  are  sedate,  obliging,  and 
industrious.  I  saw  the  young  girls  in  the  streets,  coming  home 
from  their  tea-parties  at  nine  o'clock,  many  of  them  alone,  and 
all  with  some  basket  in  their  hands  which  betokened  an  even- 
ing not  passed  absolutely  in  idleness.  No  fear  there  of  unruly 
questions  on  the  way,  or  of  insolence  from  the  ill-conducted  of 


MAINE,  NEW    nAMPSHIRE,  AND   VERMONT. 


35 


the  other  sex !  All  was,  or  seemed  to  be,  orderly,  sleek,  and 
unobtrusive.  Probably  of  all  modes  of  life  that  are  allotted  to 
man  by  his  Creator,  life  such  as  this  is  the  most  happy.  One 
hint,  however,  for  improvement  I  must  give,  even  to  Portland ! 
It  would  be  well  if  they  could  make  their  streets  of  some 
material  harder  than  sand. 

I  must  not  leave  the  town  without  desiring  those  who  may 
visit  it  to  mount  the  Observatory.  They  will  from  thence  get 
the  best  view  of  the  harbour  and  of  the  surrounding  land ;  and, 
if  1  ley  chance  to  do  so  under  the  reign  of  the  present  keeper 
of  the  signals,  they  will  find  a  man  there  able  and  willing  to 
tell  them  everything  needful  about  the  State  of  Maine  in  gen- 
eral, and  the  harbour  in  particular.  He  will  come  out  in  his 
shirt  sleeves,  and,  like  a  true  American,  will  not  at  first  be  very 
smooth  in  his  courtesy ;  but  he  will  wax  brighter  in  conversa- 
tion,  and  if  not  stroked  the  wrong  way  will  turn  out  to  be  an 
uncommonly  pleasant  fellow.  Such  I  believe  to  be  the  case 
with  most  of  them.  • 

From  Portland  we  made  our  way  up  to  the  White  Mount- 
ains, which  lay  on  our  route  to  Canada.  Now  I  would  ask  any 
of  my  readers  who  are  candid  enough  to  expose  their  own  ig- 
norance whether  they  ever  heard,  or  at  any  rate  whether  they 
know  any  thing  of  the  White  Mountains.  As  regards  myself 
I  confess  that  the  name  had  reached  my  ears ;  that  I  had  an 
indefinite  idea  that  they  formed  an  intermediate  stage  between 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  AUeghenies,  and  that  they  were 
inhabited  either  by  Mormons,  Indians,  or  simply  by  black 
bears.  That  there  was  a  district  in  New  England  containing 
mountain  scenery  superior  to  much  that  is  yearly  crowded  by 
tourists  in  Europe,  that  this  is  to  be  reached  with  ease  by  rail- 
ways and  stage-coaches,  and  that  it  is  dotted  with  huge  hotels, 
almost  as  thickly  as  they  lie  in  Switzerland,  I  had  no  idea. 
Much  of  this  scenery,  I  say,  is  superior  to  the  famed  and  classic 
lands  of  Europe.  I  know  nothing,  for  instance,  on  the  Rhine 
equal  to  the  view  from  Mount  Willard,  down  the  mountain 
pass  called  the  Notch. 

Let  the  visitor  of  these  regions  be  as  late  in  the  year  as  he 
can,  taking  care  that  he  is  not  so  late  as  to  find  the  hotels 
closed.  October,  no  doubt,  is  the  most  beautiful  month  among 
these  mountains,  but  according  to  the  present  arrangement  of 
matters  here,  the  hotels  are  shut  up  by  the  end  of  September. 
With  us,  August,  September,  and  October  are  the  holiday 
months ;  whereas  our  rebel  children  across  the  Atlantic  love  to 
disport  themselves  in  July  and  August.    The  great  beauty  of 


•t! 


'.* 


i 


86 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


the  autumn,  or  fall,  is  in  the  brilliant  hues  which  are  then  taken 
by  the  foliage.  The  autumnal  tints  are  fine  with  us.  They  are 
lovely  and  bright  wherever  foliage  and  vegetation  form  a  part 
of  the  beauty  of  scenery.  But  in  no  other  land  do  they  ap- 
proach the  brilliancy  of  the  fall  in  America.  The  bright  rose 
colour,  the  rich  bronze  which  is  almost  purple  in  its  richness, 
and  the  glorious  golden  yellows  must  be  seen  to  bo  understood. 
By  me  at  any  rate  they  cannot  be  described.  These  begin  to 
show  themselves  in  September,  and  perhaps  I  might  name  the 
latter  half  of  that  month  as  the  best  time  for  visiting  the  White 
Mountains. 

I  am  not  going  to  write  a  guide-book,  feeling  sure  that  Mr. 
Murray  will  do  New  England,  and  Canada,  including  Niagara 
and  the  Hudson  river,  with  a  peep  into  Boston  and  New  York 
before  many  more  seasons  have  passed  by.  But  I  cannot  for- 
bear to  tell  my  countrymen  that  any  enterprising  individual 
with  a  hundred  pounds  to  spend  on  his  holiday, — a  hundred 
and  twenty  would  make  him  more  comfortable  in  regard  to 
wine,  washing,  and  other  luxuries, — and  an  absence  of  two 
months  from  his  labours,  may  see  as  much  and  do  as  much 
here  for  the  money  as  he  can  see  or  do  elsewhere.  In  some 
respects  he  may  do  more ;  for  he  will  learn  more  of  American 
nature  in  such  a  journey  than  he  can  ever  learn  of  the  nature 
of  Frenchmen  or  Americans  by  such  an  excursion  among  them. 
Some  three  weeks  of  the  time,  or  perhaps  a  day  or  two  over, 
he  must  be  at  sea,  and  that  portion  of  his  trip  will  cost  him 
fifty  pounds, — presuming  that  he  chooses  to  go  in  the  most 
comfortable  and  costly  way ; — but  his  time  on  board  ship  will 
not  be  lost.  He  will  learn  to  know  much  of  Americans  there, 
and  will  perhaps  form  acquaintances  of  which  he  will  not  alto- 
gether lose  sight  for  many  a  year.  He  will  land  at  Boston, 
and  staying  a  day  or  two  there  will  visit  Cambridge,  Lowell, 
and  Bunker  Hill ;  and,  if  he  be  that  way  given,  will  remember 
that  here  live,  and  occasionally  are  to  be  seen  alive,  men  such 
as  Longfellow,  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  and  a  host  of  others 
whose  names  and  fames  have  made  Boston  the  throne  of  West- 
em  Literature.  He  will  then, — if  he  take  my  advice  and  fol- 
low my  track, — go  by  Portland  up  into  the  White  Mountains. 
At  Gorham,  a  station  on  the  Grand  Trunk  line,  he  will  find  an 
hotel  as  good  as  any  of  its  kind,  and  from  thence  he  will  take 
a  light  waggon,  so  called  in  these  countries ; — and  here  let  me 
presume  that  the  traveller  is  not  alone;  he  has  his  wife  or 
friend,  or  perhaps  a  pair  of  sisters, — and  in  his  waggon  he  will 
go  up  through  primeval  forests  to  the  Glen  House.     When 


'V 


MAINE,  NEW   HAMPSHIRE,  AND   V??RMONT. 


•^» 


there  he  will  ascend  Mount  Washington  on  a  pony.  That  is 
de  rigueur,  and  I  do  not,  therefore,  dare  to  recoraniend  him  to 
omit  the  ascent.  I  did  not  gain  much  myself  by  my  labour. 
He  will  not  stay  at  the  Glen  House,  but  will  go  on  to — Jack- 
son's I  think  they  cill  the  next  hotel ;  at  which  he  will  sleep. 
From  thence  he  will  take  his  waggon  on  through  the  Notch  to 
the  Crawford  House,  sleeping  there  again ;  and  when  here  let 
him  of  all  things  remember  to  go  up  Mount  Willard.  It  is  but 
a  walk  of  two  hours,  up  and  down,  if  so  much.  When  reach- 
ing the  top  he  will  be  startled  to  find  that  he  looks  down  into 
the  ravine  without  an  inch  of  fore-ground.  He  will  come  out 
suddenly  on  a  ledge  of  rock,  from  whence,  as  it  seems,  he  might 
leap  lown  at  once  into  the  valley  below.  Then  going  on  from 
the  Crawford  House  he  will  be  driven  through  the  woods  of 
Cherry  Mount,  passing,  I  fear  without  toll  of  custom,  the  house 
of  my  excellent  friend  Mr.  Plaistead,  who  keeps  an  hotel  at 
Jefferson.  "  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Plaistead,  "  I  have  everything  here 
that  a  man  ought  to  want ;  air,  sir,  that  ain't  to  be  got  better 
nowhere;  trout,  chickens,  beef,  mutton,  milk, — and  all  for  a 
dollar  a  day.  A-top  of  that  hill,  sir,  there's  a  view  that  ain't 
to  be  beaten  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or  I  believe  the  other. 
And  an  echo,  sir ! — We've  an  echo  that  comes  back  to  us  six 
times,  sir ;  floating  on  the  light  wind,  and  wafted  about  from 
rock  to  rock  till  you  would  think  the  angels  were  talking  to 
you.  If  I  could  raise  that  echo,  sir,  every  day  at  command  I'd 
give  a  thousand  dollars  for  it.  It  would  be  worth  all  the  mon- 
ey to  a  house  like  this."  And  he  waved  his  hand  about  from 
hill  to  hill,  pointing  out  in  graceful  curves  the  lines  which  the 
sounds  would  take.  Had  destiny  not  called  on  Mr.  Plaistead 
to  keep  an  American  hotel,  he  might  have  been  a  poet. 

My  traveller,  however,  unless  time  were  plenty  with  him, 
would  pass  Mr.  Plaistead,  merely  lighting  a  friendly  cigar,  or 
perhaps  breaking  the  Maine  Liquor  Law  if  the  weather  be 
warm,  and  would  return  to  Gorham  on  the  railway.  All  this 
mountain  district  is  in  New  Hampshire,  and  presuming  him  to 
be  capable  of  going  about  the  world  with  his  mouth,  ears,  and 
eyes  open,  he  would  learn  much  of  the  way  in  which  men  are 
settling  themselves  in  this  still  sparsely  populated  country. 
Here  young  farmers  go  into  the  woods,  as  they  are  doing  far 
down  west  in  the  Territories,  and  buying  some  hundred  acres 
at  perhaps  six  shillings  an  acre,  fell  and  burn  the  trees  and 
build  their  huts,  and  take  the  first  steps,  as  far  as  man's  work 
is  concerned,  towards  accomplishing  the  will  of  the  Creator  in 
those  regions.    For  such  pioneers  of  civilization  there  is  still 


t 


38 


NOBTH  AMERICA. 


amnio  room  oven  in  the  long  settled  States  of  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont. 

But  to  return  to  my  traveller,  whom  having  brought  so  far, 
I  must  send  on.  Let  him  go  on  from  Gorham  to  Quebec,  and 
the  heights  of  Abraham,  stopping  at  Sherbrooke  that  he  might 
visit  from  thence  the  lake  of  Memphra  Magog.  As  to  the 
manner  of  travelling  over  this  ground  I  shall  say  a  little  in  the 
next  chapter,  when  I  come  to  the  progress  of  myself  and  my 
wife.  From  Quebec  he  will  go  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Mon- 
treal. Ho  will  visit  Ottawa,  the  new  capital,  and  Toronto. 
Ho  will  cross  the  Lake  to  Niagara,  resting  probably  at  the 
Clifton  House  on  the  Canada  side.  He  will  then  pass  on  to 
Albany,  taking  the  Trenton  falls  on  his  way.  From  Albany 
be  will  go  down  the  Hudson  to  West-Point.  He  cannot  stop 
at  the  Catskill  Mountains,  for  the  hotel  will  be  closed.  And 
then  he  will  take  the  river  boat,  and  in  a  few  hours  will  find 
himself  at  New  York.  If  he  desires  to  go  into  American  city 
society,  he  will  find  New  York  agreeable ;  but  in  that  case  he 
must  exceed  his  two  months.  If  he  do  not  so  desire,  a  short 
sojourn  at  New  York  >vill  show  him  all  that  there  is  to  be  seen, 
and  all  that  there  is  not  to  be  seen  in  that  great  city.  That  the 
Cunard  line  of  steamers  will  bring  him  safely  back  to  Liverpool 
in  about  eleven  days,  I  need  not  tell  to  any  Englishman,  or,  as 
I  believe,  to  any  American.  So  much,  in  the  spirit  of  a  guide, 
I  vouchsafe  to  all  who  are  willing  to  take  my  counsel, — thereby 
anticipating  Murray,  and  leaving  these  few  pages  as  a  legacy 
to  him  or  to  his  collaborateurs. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  like  the  hotels  in  those  parts,  or  indeed 
the  mode  of  life  at  American  hotels  in  general.  In  order  that 
I  may  not  unjustly  defame  them,  I  will  commence  these  observ- 
ations by  declaring  that  they  are  cheap  to  those  who  choose 
to  practise  the  economy  which  they  encourage,  that  the  viands 
are  profuse  in  quantity  and  wholesome  in  quality,  that  the  at- 
tendance is  quick  and  unsparing,  and  that  travellers  are  never 
annoyed  by  that  grasping  greedy  hunger  and  thirst  after  francs 
and  shillings  which  disgrace  in  Europe  many  English  and  many 
continental  inns.  All  this  is,  as  must  be  admitted,  great  praise ; 
and  yet  I  do  not  like  the  American  hotels. 

One  is  in  a  free  country  and  has  come  from  a  country  in 
which  one  has  been  brought  up  to  hug  one's  chains, — so  at 
least  the  English  traveller  is  constantly  assured — and  vet  in  an 
American  inn  one  can  never  do  as  one  likejg.  A  terrific  gong 
sounds  early  in  the  morning,  breaking  one's  sweet  slumbers, 
and  then  a  second  gong  sounding  some  thirty  minutes  later, 


II  1 


Tfl 


MAINE,  NEW   nAMPSIIIKE,  AND  VERTMONT. 


89 


makes  you  understand  that  you  must  proceed  to  breakfast, 
whether  you  be  dressed  or  no.  Ycu  certainly  can  go  on  with 
your  toilet  and  obtain  your  meal  after  half  an  hour's  delay, 
kobody  actually  scolds  you  for  so  doing,  but  the  breakfast  is, 
as  they  say  in  this  country,  "  through."  You  sit  down  alone, 
and  the  attendant  stands  immediately  over  you.  Probably 
there  are  two  so  standing.  They  till  your  cup  the  instant  it  is 
empty.  They  tender  you  fresh  food  before  that  which  has  dis- 
appeared from  your  plate  has  been  swallowed.  They  begrudge 
you  no  amount  that  you  can  eat  or  drink ;  but  they  begrudge 
you  a  single  moment  that  you  sit  there  neither  eating  nor 
drinking.  This  is  your  fate  if  you're  too  late,  and  therefore  as 
a  rule  you  are  not  late.  In  that  case  you  form  one  of  a  long 
row  of  eaters  who  proceed  through  their  work  with  a  solid  en- 
ergy that  is  past  all  praise.  It  is  wrong  to  say  that  Americans 
will  not  talk  at  their  meals.  I  never  met  but  few  who  would 
not  talk  to  me,  at  any  rate  till  I  got  to  the  far  west ;  but  I  have 
rarely  found  that  they  would  address  me  first.  Then  the  din- 
ner comes  early ;  at  least  it  always  does  so  in  New  England, 
and  the  ceremony  is  much  of  the  same  kind.  You  came  there 
to  eat,  and  the  food  is  pressed  on  you  almost  ad  nauseam. 
But  as  far  as  one  can  see  there  is  no  drinking.  In  these  days, 
I  am  quite  aware,  that  drinking  has  become  improper,  even  in 
England.  "We  are  apt  at  home  to  speak  of  wine  as  a  thing 
tabooed,  wondering  how  our  fathers  lived  and  swilled.  I  be- 
lieve that  as  a  fact  we  drink  as  much  as  they  did ;  but  never- 
theless that  is  our  theory.  I  confess,  however,  that  I  like  wine. 
it  is  very  wicked,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  my  dinner  goes  down 
better  with  a  glass  of  sherry  than  without  it.  As  a  rule  I  al- 
ways did  get  it  at  hotels  in  America.  But  I  had  no  comfort 
with  it.  Sherry  they  do  not  understand  at  all.  Of  course  I 
am  only  speaking  of  hotels.  Their  claret  they  get  exclusively 
from  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  looking  at  the  quality,  have  a  right 
to  quarrel  even  with  Mr.  Gladstone's  price.  But  it  is  not  the 
quality  of  the  wine  that  I  hereby  intend  to  subject  to  ignominy, 
so  much  as  the  want  of  any  opportunity  for  drinking  it.  After 
dinner,  if  all  that  I  hear  be  true,  the  gentlemen  occasionally 
drop  into  the  hotel  bar  and  "  liquor  up.  Or  rather  this  is  not 
done  specially  after  dinner,  but  without  prejudice  to  the  hour 
at  any  time  that  may  be  found  desirable.  I  also  have  "  liquor- 
ed up,"  but  I  cannot  say  that  I  enjoy  the  process.  I  do  not 
intend  hereby  to  accuse  Americans  of  drinking  much,  but  I 
maintain  that  what  they  do  drink,  they  drink  in  the  most  un- 
comfortable manner  that  the  imaginj*t*  3n  can  devise. 


t. 


W 


vf  ■ 


40 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


The  greatest  luxv..y  at  an  English  inn  is  one's  tea,  one's  fire, 
and  one's  book.  Such  an  arrangement  is  not  practicable  at  an 
American  hotel.  Tea,  like  breakfast,  is  a  great  meal,  at  which 
meat  should  be  oaten,  generally  with  the  addition  of  much 
jelly,  jam,  and  sweet  preserves ;  but  no  person  delays  over  his 
tea-cup.  I  love  to  liave  my  tea-cup  emptied  and  filled  with 
gradual  pauses,  so  that  time  for  oblivion  may  accrue,  and  no 
exact  record  be  taken.  No  such  meal  is  known  at  American 
hotels.  It  is  possible  to  hire  a  separate  room  and  have  one's 
meals  served  in  it ;  but  in  doing  so  a  man  ruiis  counter  to  all 
the  institutions  of  the  country,  and  a  woiiian  does  so  equally. 
A  stranger  does  not  wish  to  be  viewed  askance  by  all  around 
him ;  and  the  rule  which  holds  that  men  at  Rome  should  do  as 
Komans  do,  if  true  anywhere,  is  true  in  America.  Therefore 
I  say  that  in  an  American  irm  one  can  never  do  as  one  pleases. 

In  what  I  have  here  said  I  do  not  intend  to  speak  of  hotels 
in  the  largest  cities,  such  as  Boston  or  New  York.  At  them 
meals  are  served  in  the  public  room  separately,  and  pretty 
nearly  at  any  or  at  all  hours  of  the  day ;  out  at  tliem  also  the 
attendant  stands  over  the  unfortunate  eater,  and  drives  him. 
The  guest  feels  that  he  is  controlled  by  laws  adapted  to  the 
usages  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  lie  is  not  the  master  on 
the  occasion,  but  the  slave ;  a  slave  well  treated  and  fattened 
up  to  the  full  endurance  of  humanity ;  but  yet  a  slave. 

From  Gorham  we  went  on  to  Island  Pond,  a  station  on  the 
same  Canada  Trunk  Railway,  on  a  Saturday  evening,  and  were 
forced  by  the  circumstances  of  the  line  to  pass  a  melancholy 
Sunday  at  the  place.  The  cars  do  not  run  on  Sundays,  and  run 
but  once  a  day  on  other  days  over  the  whole  line ;  so  that  in 
fact  the  impediment  to  travelling  spreads  over  two  days.  Island 
Pond  is  a  lake  with  an  island  in  it,  and  the  place  which  has 
taken  the  name  is  a  small  village,  about  ten  years  old,  standing 
in  the  midst  of  uncut  forests,  and  has  been  created  by  the  rail- 
way. In  ten  years  more  there  will  no  doubt  be  a  spreading 
.town  at  Island  Pond;  the  forests  will  recede,  and  men  rushing 
out  from  the  crowded  cities  will  find  here  food  and  space  and 
wealth.  For  myself  I  never  remain  long  in  such  a  spot  with- 
out feeling  thankful  that  it  has  not  been  my  mission  to  be  a 
pioneer  of  civilization. 

The  farther  that  I  got  away  from  Boston  the  less  strong  did 
I  find  the  feeling  of  anger  against  England.  There,  as  I  have 
said  before,  there  was  a  bitter  animosity  against  the  mother 
country  in  that  she  had  shown  no  open  sympathy  with  the 
North.     In  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  I  did  not  find  this  to 


MAINE,  NEW   HAMPSUIRE,  AND   VEUMONT, 


41 


i  , 


bo  tho  case  to  miy  violent  dogrco.  Men  spoke  of  the  war  as 
openly  !is  they  did  at  Hoston,  aiul  in  Bpeakini^  to  me  fijenonilly 
connected  England  with  the  subject.  13ut  they  did  so  simply 
to  ask  questions  as  to  England's  policy.  What  will  she  do  lor 
cotton  when  her  operatives  are  really  pressed  ?  Will  she  break 
the  blockade  ?  Will  she  insist  on  a  right  to  trade  with  Charles- 
ton and  New  Orleans?  I  always  answered  that  she  would  in- 
sist on  no  such  right,  if  that  right  were  denied  to  others  and 
tho  denial  enforced.  England,  I  took  upon  myself  to  say,  would 
not  break  a  veritable  blockade,  let  her  bo  driven  to  what  shifts 
she  might  in  providing  for  her  operatives.  "  Ah ;  that's  what 
wo  fear,"  a  very  stanch  patriot  said  to  me,  if  words  may  be 
taken  as  a  proof  of  stanchness.  "  If  England  allies  herself  with 
tho  Southerners,  all  our  trouble  is  for  nothi'.ig."  It  was  impos- 
sible not  to  feel  that  all  that  was  said  was  complimentary  to 
England.  It  is  her  sympathy  that  tho  Nortliern  men  desire, 
to  her  co-operation  that  they  would  willingly  trust,  on  her 
honesty  that  they  would  choose  to  depend.  It  is  tho  same 
feeling  whether  it  shows  itself  in  anger  or  in  curiosity,  An 
American  whether  ho  bo  embarked  in  politics,  in  literature,  or 
in  commerce,  desires  English  admiration,  English  appreciation 
of  his  energy,  and  English  encouragement.  Tho  anger  of  Boston 
is  but  a  sign  of  its  aftectionato  friendliness.  What  feeling  is  so 
hot  as  that  of  a  fiiend  when  his  dearest  friend  refuses  to  share 
his  quarrel  or  to  sympathize  in  his  wrongs  ?  To  my  thinking 
the  men  of  Boston  are  wrong  and  unreasonable  in  their  anger ; 
but  were  I  a  man  of  Boston  I  should  be  as  wrong  and  as  un- 
reasonable as  any  of  tTiem.  All  that,  however,  will  come  right. 
I  will  not  believe  it  possible  that  there  should  in  very  truth  bo 
a  quarrel  between  England  and  tho  Northern  States. 

In  the  guidance  of  those  who  are  not  quite  aufait  at  the  de- 
tails of  American  Government,  I  will  hero  in  a  lew  words  de- 
scribe tho  outlines  of  State  Government  as  it  is  arranged  in 
New  Hampshire.  The  States  in  this  respect  are  not  all  alike, 
tho  modes  of  election  of  their  officers  and  periods  of  service 
being  different.  Even  the  franchise  is  different  in  different 
States.  Universal  suffrage  is  not  tho  rule  throughout  the 
United  States ;  though  it  is  I  believe  very  generally  thought 
in  England  that  such  is  the  fact.  I  need  hardly  say  that  tho 
laws  in  the  different  States  may  be  as  various  as  the  different 
legislatures  may  choose  to  make  them. 

In  New  Hampshire  universal  suffrage  does  prevail ;  which 
means  that  any  man  may  vote  who  lives  in  the  State,  supports 
himself,  and  assists  to  support  the  poor  by  means  of  poor  rates. 


^1 


W 


^i 


42 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I 


A  governor  of  the  State  is  elected  for  one  year  only,  but  it  is 
customary  or  at  any  rate  not  uncustomary  to  re-elect  him  for  a 
second  year.  Ilia  salary  is  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  or  200/. 
It  must  be  presumed  therefore  that  glory  and  not  money  is  his 
object.  To  him  is  appended  a  council,  by  whoso  opinions  he 
must  in  a  great  degree  bo  guided.  Ilis  functions  are  to  the 
State  what  those  of  the  President  are  to  tlie  country,  and  for 
the  short  period  of  his  reign  ho  is  ««»  it  were  a  Prime  Minister 
of  the  State  with  certain  very  1  id  regal  attributes.  He 
however  by  no  means  enjoys  the  /egal  attribute  of  doing  no 
wrong.  In  everv  State  there  is  an  Assembly,  consisting  of 
two  houses  of  elected  representatives ;  the  Senate,  or  upper 
house,  and  the  IIouso  of  llepresentatives  so  called.  In  New 
Hampshire  this  Assembly,  or  Parliament,  is  stvled  The  Gener- 
al Court  of  New  Hampshire.  It  sits  annually ;  wliereas  the 
legislature  in  many  States  sits  only  every  other  year.  Both 
Houses  are  re-elected  every  year.  This  Assembly  passes  laws 
with  all  the  power  vested  m  our  Parliament,  but  such  laws  ap- 
ply of  course  only  to  the  State  in  question.  The  Governor  of 
the  State  has  a  veto  on  all  bills  passed  by  the  two  Houses. 
But,  after  receipt  of  his  veto,  any  ^m11  so  stopped  by  the  Gov- 
ernor can  be  passed  by  a  majority  two  thirds  in  each  House. 
The  General  Court  generally  sits  .  ibout  ten  weeks.  There 
are  in  the  State  eight  judges,  three  Supreme  who  sit  at  Con- 
cord, the  capital,  as  a  court  of  appeal  both  in  civil  and  crimin- 
al matters;  and  then  five  lesser  judges,  who  go  circuit  through 
the  State.  The  salaries  of  these  lesser  judges  do  not  exceed 
from  250/.  to  300/.  a  year ;  but  they  are,  I  believe,  allowed  to 
practise  as  lawyers  in  any  counties  except  those  in  which  they 
sit  as  judges, — being  guided  in  this  respect  by  the  same  law  as 
that  which  regulates  the  work  of  assistant  barristers  in  Ireland. 
The  assistant  barristers  in  Ireland  are  attached  to  the  counties 
as  judges  at  Quarter  Sessions,  but  they  practise  or  may  prac- 
tise as  advocates  in  all  counties  except  that  to  which  they  are 
so  attached.  The  judges  in  New  Hampshire  are  appointed  by 
the  Governor  with  the  assistance  of  his  Council.  No  judge  in 
New  Hampshire  can  hold  his  seat  after  he  has  reached  seventy 
years  of  age. 

So  much  at  the  present  moment  with  reference  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  New  Ilampshirc. 


T 


LOWER   CANADA. 


CIIAPTZR  IV. 


LOWEU    CANADA. 


48 


The  Grand  Trunk  Railway  runs  directly  from  Portland  to 
Montreal,  which  latter  town  in,  in  fact,  the  capital  of  Canada, 
though  it  never  has  been  so  exclusively,  and,  as  it  seems,  never  is 
to  be  80,  as  regards  authority,  government,  and  olRcial  name.  In 
such  matters  authority  and  government  often  say  one  thing  whilo 
commerce  says  another ;  but  commerce  always  has  the  best  of  it, 
and  wins  the  game  whatever  Government  may  decree.  Albany  in 
this  way  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  authorized 
by  the  State  Government ;  but  New  York  has  made  herself  the 
capital  of  America,  and  will  remain  so.  So  also  Montreal  has 
made  herself  the  capital  of  Canada.  The  Grand  Trunk  llj\ilway 
runs  from  Portland  to  Montreal ;  but  there  is  a  branch  from  Rich- 
mond, a  township  within  the  limits  of  Canada,  to  Quebec ;  so  that 
travellers  to  Quebec,  as  we  were,  are  not  obliged  to  reach  that 
place  vid  Montreal. 

Quebec  is  the  present  seat  of  Canadian  Government,  its  turn 
for  that  honour  having  come  round  some  two  years  ago ;  but  it  is 
about  to  be  deserted  in  favour  of  Ottawa,  a  town  which  is,  in  fact, 
still  to  be  built  on  the  river  of  that  name.  The  public  edifices 
are,  however,  in  a  state  of  forwardness ;  and  if  all  goes  well  the 
Governor,  the  two  Councils,  and  the  House  of  liepresentatives 
will  be  there  before  two  years  are  over,  whether  there  be  any  town 
to  receive  them  or  no.  Who  can  think  of  Ottawa  without  bid- 
ding his  brothers  to  row,  and  reminding  them  that  the  stream  runs 
fast,  that  the  rapids  are  near  and  the  daylight  past  ?  I  asked,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  whether  Quebec  was  much  disgusted  at  the 
proposed  change,  and  I  was  told  that  the  feeling  was  not  now  very 
strong.  Had  it  been  determined  to  make  Montreal  the  perma- 
nent seat  of  government  Quebec  and  Toronto  would  both  have 
been  up  in  arms. 

I  must  confess  that  in  going  from  the  States  into  Canada,  an 
Englishman  is  struck  by  the  feeling  that  he  is  going  from  a  richer 
country  into  one  that  is  poorer,  and  from  a  greater  country  into 
one  that  is  less.  An  Englishman  going  from  a  foreign  land  into 
a  land  which  is  in  one  sense  his  own,  of  course  finds  much  in  the 
change  to  gratify  him.  He  is  able  to  speak  as  the  master,  instead 
of  speaking  as  the  visitor.  His  tongue  becomes  more  free,  and  he 
is  able  to  fall  back  to  his  national  habits  and  national  expressions. 


d 


\ 


!> 


H 


|f    'f; 


44 


.NORTH   AMERICA. 


1)1      -id,  S5!1!S 


He  no  longer  feels  tliat  he  is  admitted  on  sufferance,  or  that  he 
must  be  careful  to  respect  laws  ■which  he  does  not  quite*  under- 
stand. This  feeling  was  naturally  strong  in  an  Englishman  in 
passing  from  the  States  into  Canada  at  the  time  of  niy  visit.  En- 
glish policy  at  that  moment  was  violently  abused  by  Americans, 
and  was  upheld  as  violently  in  Canada.  But,  nevertheless,  with 
all  this,  I  could  not  enter  Canada  without  seeing,  and  hearing,  and 
feeling  that  there  was  less  of  enterprise  around  me  there  than  in 
the  States — less  of  general  movement,  and  less  of  commercial  suc- 
cess. To  say  why  this  is  so  would  require  a  long  and  very  diffi- 
cult discussion,  and  one  which  I  am  not  prepared  to  hold.  It 
may  be  that  a  dependent  country,  let  the  feeling  of  dependence  be 
ever  so  much  modified  by  powers  of  self-governance,  cannot  hold 
its  own  against  countries  which  are  in  all  respects  their  own  mas- 
ters. Few,  I  believe,  would  now  maintain  that  the  Northern 
States  of  America  would  have  risen  in  commerce  as  they  hav3 
risen,  had  they  still  remained  attached  to  England  as  colonies. 
If  this  be  so,  that  privilege  of  self-rule  which  they  have  acquired 
has  been  the  cause  of  their  success.  It  does  not  follow  as  a  con- 
sequence that  the  Canadas  fighting  their  battle  alone  in  the  world 
could  do  as  the  States  have  done.  Climate,  or  size,  or  geographic- 
al position  might  stand  in  their  v/ay.  But  I  fear  that  it  does  fol- 
low, if  not  as  a  logical  conclusion,  at  least  as  a  natural  result,  that 
they  never  will  do  so  well  unless  some  day  they  shall  so  fight 
their  battle.  It  may  be  argued  that  Canada  has,  in  fact,  the  pow- 
er of  self-governance ;  that  she  rules  herself  and  makes  her  own 
laws  as  England  does ;  that  the  Sovereign  of  England  has  but  a 
veto  on  those  laws,  and  stands  in  regard  to  Canada  exactly  as  she 
does  in  regard  to  England.  This  is  so,  I  believe,  by  the  letter  of 
the  Constitution,  but  is  not  so  in  reality,  and  cannot,  in  truth,  be 
so  in  any  colony,  even  of  Great  Britain.  In  England  the  polit- 
ical power  of  the  Crown  is  nothing.  The  Crown  has  no  such 
power,  and  now-a-days  makes  no  attempt  at  having  any.  But  the 
political  power  of  the  Crown,  as  it  is  felt  in  Canada,  is  everything. 
The  Crown  has  no  such  power  in  England  because  it  must  change 
its  ministers  whenever  called  upon  to  do  so  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. But  the  Colonial  Minister  in  Downing  Street  is  the 
Crown's  Prime  Minister  as  regards  the  Colonies,  and  he  is  changed, 
not  as  any  Colonial  House  of  Assembly  may  wish,  but  in  accord- 
ance with  the  will  of  the  British  Commons.  Both  the  Houses  in 
Canada. — that,  namely,  of  the  Representatives,  or  Lower  House, 
and  of  the  Legislative  Council,  or  Upper  House — are  now  elect- 
ive, and  are  filled  without  direct  influence  from  the  Crown.     The 


r 


LOWER   CANADA. 


45 


power  of  self-governraent  is  as  thoroughly  developed  as  perhaps 
may  be  possible  in  a  colony.  But,  after  all,  it  is  a  dependent  form 
of  government,  and,  as  such  may  perhaps  not  conduce  to  so 
thorough  a  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country  as  nflght 
be  achieved  under  a  ruling  power  of  ito  own,  to  which  the  welfare 
of  Canada  itself  would  be  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  object. 

I  beg  that  it  may  not  be  considered  from  this  that  I  would  pro- 
pose to  Canada  to  set  up  for  itself  at  once  and  declare  itself  inde- 
pendent. In  the  first  place  I  do  not  wish  to  throw  over  Canada ; 
and  in  the  next  place  I  do  not  wish  to  throw  over  England.  If 
such  a  separation  shall  e\er  take  place,  I  trust  that  it  may  be 
caused,  not  by  Canadian  violence,  but  by  British  generosity.  Such 
a  separation,  however,  never  can  be  good  till  Canada  herself  shall 
wish  it.  That  she  does  not  wish  it  yet  is  certain.  If  Canada 
ever  should  wish  it,  and  should  ever  press  for  the  accomplishment 
of  such  a  wish,  she  must  do  so  in  connection  with  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick,  If  at  any  future  time  there  be  formed  such 
a  separate  political  power,  it  must  include  the  whole  of  British 
North  America. 

In  the  meantime,  I  return  to  my  assertion,  that  in  entering  Can- 
ada from  the  States  one  clearly  comes  from  a  richer  to  a  poorer 
country.  When  I  have  said  so,  I  have  heard  no  Canadian  abso- 
lutely deny  it ;  though  in  refraining  from  denying  it,  they  have 
usually  expressed  a  general  conviction  that,  in  settling  himself  for 
life,  it  is  better  for  a  man  to  set  up  his  staff  in  Canada  than  in  the 
States.  "I  do  not  know  that  we  are  richer,"  a  Canadian  says, 
"  but  on  the  whole  we  are  doing  better  and  are  happier."  Now, 
I  regard  the  golden  rules  agamst  the  love  of  gold,  the  "arum  irre- 
pertum  et  sic  melius  situm"  and  the  rest  of  it,  as  very  excellent 
when  applied* to  individuals.  Such  teaching  has  not  much  effect, 
perhaps,  in  inducing  men  to  abstain  from  wealth, — but  such  effect 
as  it  rray  have  will  be  good.  Men  and  women  do,  I  suppose, 
learn  to  be  happier  when  they  learn  to -disregard  riches.  But 
such  a  doctrine  is  absolutely  false  as  regards  a  nation.  National 
wealth  produces  education  and  progress,  and  through  them  pro- 
duces plenty  of  food,  good  morals,  and  all  else  that  is  good.  It 
produces  luxury  also,  and  certain  evils  attendant  on  luxury.  But 
I  think  it  may  be  clearly  shown,  and  that  it  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged, that  national  wealth  produces  individual  well-being. 
If  this  be  so,  the  argument  of  my  friend  the  Canadiaii  is  nought. 

To  the  feeling  of  a  refined  gentleman,  or  of  a  lady  whose  eye 
loves  to  rest  always  on  the  beautiful,  an  agricultural  population 
that  toucher  its  hat,  eats  plain  victuals,  and  goes  to  church  is  more 


^; 


46 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I    ;i 


picturesque  and  delightful  than  the  thronged  crowd  of  a  great  cit^ 
by  which  a  lady  and  gentleman  is  bustled  without  remorse,  which 
never  touches  its  hat,  and  perhaps  also  never  goes  to  church. 
And  as  wj  are  always  tempted  to  approve  of  that  which  we  like, 
and  to  think  that  that  which  is  good  to  us  is  good  altogether,  we 
— the  refined  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  England  I  mean — are  very 
apt  to  prefer  the  hat-touchers  to  those  who  are  not  hat-touchers. 
In  doing  so  we  intend,  and  wish,  and  strive  to  be  philanthropical. 
We  argue  to  ourselves  that  the  dear,  excellent  lower  classes  re- 
ceive an  immense  amount  of  consoling  happiness  from  that  cere- 
mony of  hat-touching,  and  quite  pity  those  who,  unfortunately  for 
themselves,  know  nothing  about  it.  I  would  ask  any  such  lady 
or  gentleman  whether  he  or  she  does  not  feel  a  certain  amount  of 
commiseration  for  the  rudeness  of  the  town-bred  artisan,  who 
walks  about  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  as  though  he  recognized 
a  superior  in  no  one. 

But  that  which  is  good  and  pleasant  to  us,  is  often  not  good 
and  pleasant  altogether.  Every  man's  chief  object  is  himself; 
and  the  philanthropist  should  endeavour  to  regard  this  question, 
not  from  his  own  point  of  view,  but  from  that  which  would  be 
taken  by  the  individuals  for  whose  happiness  he  is  anxious.  The 
honest,  happy  rustic  makes  a  very  pretty  picture ;  and  I  hope  that 
honest  rustics  are  happy.  But  the  man  who  earns  two  shillings 
a  day  in  the  country  would  always  prefer  to  earn  five  in  the  town. 
The  man  who  finds  himself  bound  to  touch  his  hat  to  the  squire 
would  be  glad  to  dispense  with  that  ceremony,  if  circumstances 
would  permit.  A  crowd  of  greasy-coated  town  artisans  with 
grimy  hands  and  pale  faces,  is  not  in  itself  delectable ;  but  each 
of  that  crowd  has  probably  more  of  the  goods  of  life  than  any  ru- 
ral labourer.  He  thinks  more,  reads  more,  feels  more,  sees  more, 
hears  more,  learns  more,  and  lives  more.  It  is  through  great  cit- 
ies that  the  civilization  of  the  world  has  progressed,  and  the 
charms  of  life  been  advanced.  Man  in  his  rudest  state  begins  in 
the  country,  and  in  his  most  finished  state  may  retire  there.  But 
the  battle  of  the  world  has  to  be  fought  in  the  cities ;  and  the 
country  that  shows  the  greatest. city  population  is  ever  the  one 
that  is  going  most  ahead  in  the  >>orld's  history. 

If  this  be  so,  I  say  that  the  ai^ument  of  my  Canadian  friend 
was  nought.  It  may  be  that  he  does  not  desire  crowded  cities 
with  dirty,  independent  artisans ;  that  to  his  view  small  farmers, 
living  sparingly  but  with  content  on  the  sweat  of  their  brows,  are 
surer  signs  of  a  country's  prosperity  than  hives  of  men  and  smok- 
ing chimneys.    He  has,  probably,  all  the  upper  classes  of  England 


LOWEB  CANADA. 


47 


-veith  him  in  so  thinking,  and  as  far  as  I  know  the  upper  classes  of 
all  Europe.  But  the  crowds  themselves,  the  thick  masses  of  which 
are  composed  those  populations  which  we  count  by  millions,  are 
against  him.  Up  in  those  regions  which  are  watered  by  the  great 
lakes.  Lake  Michigan,  Lake  Huron,  Lake  Erie,  Lake  Ontario,  and 
by  the  St-.  Lawrence,  the  country  is  divided  between  Canada  and 
the  States.  The  cities  in  Canada  were  settled  long  before  those 
in  the  States.  Quebec  and  Montreal  were  important  cities  before 
any  of  the  towns  belonging  to  the  States  had  been  founded.  But 
taking  the  population  of  three  of  each,  including  the  three  largest 
Canadian  towns,  we  find  they  are  as  follows : — In  Canada,  Quebec 
has  C0,000 ;  Montreal,  85,000 ;  Toronto,  55,000.  In  the  States, 
Chicago  has  120,000 ;  Detroit,  70,000,  and  Buffalo,  80,000.  If 
the  population  had  been  equal,  it  would  have  shown  a  great  supe- 
riority in  the  progress  of  those  belonging  to  the  States,  because 
the  towns  of  Canada  had  so  great  a  start.  But  the  numbers  are 
by  no  means  equal,  showing  instead  a  vast  preponderance  in  fa- 
vour of  the  States.  There  can  be  no  stronger  proof  that  the  States 
are  advancing  faster  than  Canada, — ^and  in  fact  doing  better  than 
Canada. 

Quebec  is  a  very  picturesque  town, — from  its  natural  advant- 
ages almost  as  much  so  as  any  town  I  know.  Edinburgh,  per- 
haps, and  Innspruck  may  beat  it.  But  Quebec  has  very  little  to 
recommend  it  beyond  the  beauty  of  its  situation.  Its  public  build- 
ings and  works  of  art  do  not  deserve  a  long  narrative.  It  stands 
at  the  confluence  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  St.  Charles  rivers ;  the 
best  part  of  the  town  is  built  high  upon  the  rock, — the  rock  which 
forms  the  celebrated  plains  of  Abram ;  and  the  view  from  thence 
down  to  the  mountains  which  shut  in  the  St.  Lawrence  is  magnifi- 
cent. The  best  point  of  view  is,  I  think,  from  the  esplanade, 
which  is  distant  some  five  minutes'  walk  from  the  hotels.  When 
that  has  been  seen  by  the  light  of  the  setting  sun,  and  seen  again, 
if  possible,  by  moonlight,  the  most  considerable  lion  of  Quebec  may 
be  regarded  as  "  done,"  and  may  be  ticked  off  from  the  list. 

The  most  considerable  lion  according  to  my  taste.  Lions  which 
roar  merely  by  the  force  of  association  of  ideas  are  not  to  me  very 
valuable  beasts.  To  many  the  rock  over  which  Wolfe  climbed  to 
the  plains  of  Abram,  and  on  the  summit  of  which  he  fell  in  the 
hour  of  victory,  gives  to  Quebec  its  chiefest  charm.  But  I  con- 
fess to  being  somewhat  dull  in  such  matters.  I  can  count  up 
Wolfe,  and  realize  his  glory,  and  put  my  hand  as  it  were  upon  his 
monument,  in  my  own  room  at  home  as  well  as  I  can  at  Quebec. 
I  do  not  say  this  boastingly  or  with  pride ;  but  truly  acknowledg- 


\i 


V  ' 


t, 


h\ 


It 


W 


«r  !-; 


48 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


■    I 


ing  a  deficiency.     I  have  never  cared  to  sit  in  chairs  in  which  old 
kings  have  sat,  or  to  have  their  crowns  upon  my  head. 

Nevertheless,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  I  went  to  see  the  rock, 
and  can  only  say,  as  so  many  have  said  before  me,  that  it  is  very 
steep.  It  is  not  a  rock  which  I  think  it  would  be  difficult  for  any 
ordinarily  active  man  to  climb, — providing,  of  course,  that  he  was 
used  to  such  work.  But  "Wolfe  took  regiments  of  men  up  there 
at  night — and  that  in  face  of  enemies  who  held  the  summits. 
One  grieves  that  he  should  have  fallen  there  and  have  never  tasted 
the  sweet  cup  of  his  own  fame.  For  fame  is  sweet,  and  the  praise 
of  one's  brother  men  the  sweetest  draught  which  a  man  can  drain. 
But  now,  and  for  coming  ages,  "Wolfe's  name  stands  higher  than 
it  probably  would  have  done  had  he  lived  to  enjoy  his  reward. 

But  there  is  another  very  worthy  lion  near  Quebec, — the  Falls, 
namely,  of  Montmorency.  They  are  eight  miles  from  the  town, 
and  the  road  lies  through  the  suburb  of  St.  Roch,  and  the  long 
straggling  French  village  of  Beauport.  These  are  in  themselves 
very  interesting,  as  showing  the  quiet,  orderly,  unimpulsive  man- 
ner in  which  the  French  Canadians  live.  Such  is  their  charac- 
ter, although  there  have  been  such  men  as  Papineau,  and  although 
there  have  been  times  in  which  English  rule  has  been  unpopular 
with  the  French  settlers.  As  far  as  I  could  learn  there  is  no  such 
feeling  now.  These  people  are  ainet,  contented;  and  as  regards 
a  sufficiency  of  the  simple  staples  of  living,  sufficiently  well  to  do. 
They  are  thrifty ; — but  they  do  not  thrive.  They  do  not  advance, 
and  push  ahead,  and  become  a  bigger  people  from  year  to  year  as 
settlers  in  a  new  country  should  do.  They  do  not  even  hold  their 
own  in  comparison  with  those  around  them.  But  has  not  this 
always  been  the  case  with  colonists  out  of  France ;  and  has  it  not 
always  been  the  case  with  Koman  Catholics  when  they  have  been 
forced  to  measure  themselves  against  Protestants?  As  to  the  ul- 
timate fate  in  the  world  of  this  people,  one  can  hardly  form  a 
speculation.  There  arc,  as  nearly  as  I  could  learn,  about  800,000 
of  them  in  Lower  Canada ;  but  it  seems  that  the  wealth  and  com- 
mercial enterprise  of  the  country  is  passing  out  of  their  hands. 
Montreal,  and  even  Quebec  are,  I  think,  becoming  less  and  less 
French  every  day ;  but  in  the  villages  and  on  the  small  farms  the 
French  remain,  keeping  up  their  language,  their  habits,  and  their 
religion.  In  the  cities  they  are  becoming  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  same  will  ul- 
timately be  their  fate  in  the  country.  Surely  one  may  declare  as 
a  fact  that  a  Roman  Catholic  population  can  never  hold  its  ground 
against  one  that  is  Protestant.     I  do  not  speak  of  numbci'S,  for 


LOWER   CANADA. 


49 


i  (• 


the  Roman  Catholics  will  increase  and  multiply,  and  stick  by  their 
reli""ion,  although  their  religion  entails  poverty  and  dependence ; 
as  they  have  dor.e  and  still  do  in  Ireland.  But  in  progress  and 
wealth  the  Romanists  have  always  gone  to  the  wall  when  the  two 
have  been  made  to  compete  together.  And  yet  I  love  their  re- 
Ijfrion.  There  is  something  beautiful  and  almost  divine  in  the 
faith  and  obedience  of  a-  true  son  of  the  Holy  Mother.  I  some- 
times fancy  that  I  would  fain  be  a  Roman  Catholic, — if  I  could ; 
as  also  I  would  often  wish  to  be  still  a  child,  if  that  were  possible. 

All  this  is  on  the  way  to  the  Falls  of  Montmorency.  These 
falls  are  placed  exactly  at  the  mouth  of  the  little  river  of  the  same 
name,  so  that  it  may  be  said  absolutely  to  fall  into  the  St.  Law- 
rence. Tl'"^  people  of  the  country,  however,  declare  that  the  river 
into  which  the  waters  of  the  Montmorency  fall  is  not  the  St.  Law- 
rence, but  the  Charles.  "Without  a  map  I  do  not  know  that  I  can 
explain  this.  The  river  Charles  appears  to,  and  in  fact  does,  run 
into  the  St.  Lawrence  just  below  Quebec.  But  the  waters  do  not 
mix.  The  thicker,  browner  stream  of  the  lesser  river  still  keeps 
the  north-eastern  bank  till  it  comes  to  the  island  of  Orleans,  which 
lies  in  the  river  five  or  six  miles  below  Quebec.  Here  or  here- 
abouts are  the  Falls  of  the  Montmorency,  and  then  the  great  river 
is  divided  for  twenty-five  miles  by  the  Isle  of  Orleans.  It  is  said 
that  the  waters  of  the  Charles  and  the  St.  Lawrence  do  not  mix 
till  they  meet  each  other  at  the  foot  of  this  island. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  am  particularly  happy  at  describing  a 
waterfall,  and  what  little  capacity  I  may  have  in  this  way  I  would 
wish  to  keep  for  Niagara.  One  thing  I  can  say  very  positively 
about  Montmorency,  and  one  piece  of  advice  I  can  give  to  those 
who  visit  the  falls.  The  place  from  which  to  see  them  is  not  the 
horrible  little  wooden  temple,  which  has  been  built  immediately 
over  them  on  that  side  which  lies  nearest  to  Quebec.  The  stran- 
ger is  put  down  at  a  gate  through  which  a  path  leads  to  this  tem- 
ple, and  at  which  a  woman  demands  from  him  twenty-five  cents 
for  the  privilege  of  entrance.  Let  him  by  all  means  pay  the  twen- 
ty-five cents.  Why  should  he  attempt  to  see  the  falls  for  nothing, 
seeing  that  this  woman  has  a  vested  interest  in  the  showing  of 
them?  I  declare  that  if  I  thought  that  I  should  hinder  this  woman 
from  her  perquisites  by  what  I  write,  I  would  leave  it  unwritten, 
and  let  my  readers  pursue  their  course  to  the  temple — to  their 
manifest  injury.  But  they  will  pay  the  twenty-five  cents.  Then 
let  them  cross  over  the  bridge,  eschewing  the  temple,  and  wander 
round  on  the  open  field  till  they  get  the  view  of  the  falls,  and  the 
view  of  Quebec  also,  from  the  other  side.    It  is  worth  the  twenty- 


k 


^ 


\ 


*■■    :  iTM 


h   'k 


k 


'iri'i* 


50 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


^11! 


five  cents,  and  the  hire  of  the  carriage  also.  Immediately  over 
the  falls  there  was  a  suspension  bridge,  of  which  the  supporting, 
or  rather  non-supporting,  pillars  are  still  to  be  seen.  But  the 
bridge  fell  down  one  day  into  the  river ;  and,  alas,  alas  !  with  the 
bridge  fell  down  an  old  woman,  and  a  boy,  and  a  cart, — a  cart 
and  horse, — and  all  found  a  watery  grave  together  in  the  spray. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  since  that  to  renew  the  suspension 
bridge ;  but  the  present  wooden  bridge  has  been  built  higher  up, 
in  lieu  of  it. 

Strangers  naturally  visit  Quebec  in  summer  or  autumn,  seeing 
that  a  Canada  winter  is  a  season  with  which  a  man  cannot  trifle ; 
but  I  imagine  that  the  mid-winter  is  the  best  time  for  seeing  the 
Falls  of  Montmorency.  The  water  in  its  fall  is  dashed  into  spray, 
and  that  spray  becomes  frozen,  till  a  cone  of  ice  is  formed  imme- 
diately under  the  cataract,  which  gradually  rises  till  the  temporary 
glacier  reaches  nearly  half-way  to  the  level  of  the  higher  river. 
Up  this  men  climb, — and  ladies  also,  I  am  told, — and  then  de- 
scend with  pleasant  rapidity  on  sledges  of  wood,  sometimes  not 
without  an  innocent  tumble  in  the  descent.  As  we  were  at  Que- 
bec in  September,  we  did  not  experience  the  delights  of  this  pas- 
time. 

As  I  was  too  early  for  the  ice  cone  under  the  Montmorency 
Falls,  so  also  was  I  too  late  to  visit  the  Saguenay  river  which 
runs  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  some  hundred  miles  below  Quebec.  I 
presume  that  the  scenery  of  the  Saguenay  is  the  finest  in  Canada. 
During  the  summer  steamers  run  down  the  St.  Lawrence  and  up 
the  Saguenay,  but  I  was  too  late  for  them.  An  offer  was  made 
to  us  through  the  kindness  of  Sir  Edmund  Head,  who  was  then 
the  Governor-General,  of  the  use  of  a  steam-tug  belonging  to  a 
gentleman  who  carries  on  a  large  commercial  enterprise  at  Chi- 
coutimi,  far  up  the  Saguenay ;  but  an  acceptance  of  this  offer 
would  have  entailed  some  delay  at  Quebec,  and  as  we  were  anxious 
to  get  into  the  North  Western  States  before  the  winter  commenced, 
we  were  obliged  with  great  regret  to  decline  the  journey. 

I  feel  bound  to  say  that  a  stranger  regarding  Quebec  merely  as 
a  town,  finds  very  much  of  which  he  cannot  but  complain.  The 
foot-paths  through  the  streets  are  almost  entirely  of  wood,  as  in- 
deed seems  to  be  general  throughout  Canada.  Wood  is  of  course 
the  cheapest  material,  and  though  it  may  not  be  altogether  good 
for  such  a  purpose  it  would  not  create  animadversion  if  it  were 
kept  in  tolerable  order.  But  in  Quebec  the  paths  are  intolerably 
bad.  They  are  full  of  holes.  The  boards  are  rotten  and  worn  in 
some  places  to  dirt.    The  nails  have  gone,  and  the  broken  planks 


LOWER   CANADA. 


51 


i  . 


go  up  and  down  under  the  feet,  and  in  the  dark  they  are  absolute- 
ly dangerous.  But  if  the  paths  are  bad  the  roadways  are  worse. 
The  street  through  the  lower  town  along  the  quays  is,  I  think,  the 
most  disgraceful  thoroughfare  I  ever  saw  in  any  town.  I  believe 
the  whole  of  it,  or  at  any  rate  a  great  portion,  has  been  paved  with 
wood ;  but  the  boards  have  been  worked  into  mud,  and  the  ground 
under  the  boards  has  been  worked  into  holes,  till  the  street  is  more 
like  the  bottom  of  a  filthy  ditch  than  a  roadway  through  one  of 
the  most  thickly  populated  parts  of  a  city.  Had  Quebec  in  Wolfe's 
time  been  as  it  is  now,  Wolfe  would  have  stuck  in  the  mud  be- 
tween the  river  and  the  rock,  before  he  reached  the  point  which 
he  desired  to  climb.  In  the  upper  town  the  roads  are  not  so  bad 
as  they  are  below,  but  still  they  are  very  bad.  I  was  told  that 
this  arose  from  disputes  among  the  municipal  corporations.  Every- 
thing in  Canada  relating  to  roads,  and  a  very  great  deal  affecting 
the  internal  government  of  the  people,  is  done  by  these  municipal- 
ities. It  is  made  a  subject  of  great  boast  in  Canada  that  the  com- 
munal authorities  do  carry  on  so  large  a  part  of  the  public  busi- 
ness, and  that  they  do  it  generally  so  well,  and  at  so  cheap  a  rate. 
I  have  nothing  to  say  against  this,  and  as  a  whole  believe  that  the 
boast  is  true.  I  must  protest,  however,  that  the  streets  of  the 
greater  cities, — for  Montreal  is  nearly  as  bad  as  Quebec, — prove 
the  rule  by  a  very  sad  exception.  The  municipalities  of  which  I 
speak  extend,  I  believe,  to  all  Canada ;  the  two  provinces  being  di- 
vided into  counties,  and  the  counties  subdivided  into  townships  to 
which,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  municipalities  are  attached. 

From  Quebec  to  Montreal  there  are  two  modes  of  travel. 
There  are  the  steamers  up  the  St.  Lawrence  which,  as  all  the 
world  know  is,  or  at  any  rate  hitherto  has  been,  the  high  road  of 
the  Canadas ;  and  there  is  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway.  Passen- 
gers choosing  the  latter  go  towards  Portland  as  far  as  Richmond, 
and  there  join  the  main  line  of  the  road,  passing  from  Richmond 
on  to  Montreal.  We  learned  while  at  Quebec  that  it  behoved  us 
not  to  leave  the  colony  till  we  had  seen  the  lake  and  mountains 
of  Memphra-Magog,  and  as  we  were  clearly  neglecting  our  duty 
with  regard  to  the  Saguenay,  we  felt  bound  to  make  such  amends 
as  lay  in  our  power,  by  deviating  from  our  way  to  the  lake  above 
named.  In  order  to  do  this  we  were  obliged  to  choose  the  rail- 
way, and  to  go  back  beyond  Richmond  to  the  station  at  Sherbrooke. 
Sherbrooke  is  a  large  village  on  the  confines  of  Canada,  and  as  it 
is  on  the  railway  will  no  doubt  become  a  large  town.  It  is  very 
prettily  situated  on  the  meeting  of  two  rivers,  it  has  three  or  four 
different  churches,  and  intends  to  thrive.  It  possesses  two  news- 


\\ 


i^ 


i 


Vi- 


52 


NOllTII    AMiaUCA. 


papers,  of  the  prosperity  of  which  I  should  bo  inclined  to  feel  less 
assured.  The  annual  subscription  to  such  a  newspaper  published 
twice  a  week  is  ten  shillings  per  annum.  A  sale  of  a  thousand 
copies  is  not  considered  bad.  Such  a  sale  would  produce  500/.  a 
year,  and  this  would,  if  entirely  devoted  to  that  purpose,  give  a 
moderate  income  to  a  gentleman  qualified  to  conduct  a  newspaper. 
But  the  paper  and  printing  must  cost  something,  and  the  capital 
invested  should  receive  its  proper  remuneration.  And  then, — 
such  at  least  is  the  general  idea, — the  getting  together  of  news  and 
the  framing  of  intelligence  is  a  costly  operation.  I  can  only  hope 
that  all  this  is  paid  for  by  the  advertisements,  for  I  must  trust  that 
the  editors  do  not  receive  less  than  the  moderate  sum  above  named. 
At  Sherbrooke  we  are  still  in  Lower  Canada.  Indeed,  as  regards 
distance,  we  are  when  there  nearly  as  far  removed  from  Upper 
Canada  as  at  Quebec.  But  the  race  of  people  here  is  very  differ- 
ent. The  French  population  had  made  their  way  down  into  these 
townships  before  the  English  and  American  war  broke  out,  but 
had  not  done  so  in  great  numbers.  The  country  was  then  very 
unapproachable,  being  far  to  the  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  far 
also  from  any  great  lino  of  internal  communication  towards  the 
Atlantic.  But,  nevertheless,  many  settlers  made  their  way  in  here 
from  the  States;  men  who  preferred  to  live  under  British  rule, 
and  perhaps  doubted  the  stability  of  the  new  order  of  things. 
Tliey  or  their  children  have  remained  here  since,  and  as  the  whole 
country  has  been  opened  up  by  the  railway  many  others  have 
flocked  in.  Thus  a  better  class  of  people  than  the  French  hold 
possession  of  the  larger  farms,  and  are  on  the  v/hole  doing  well. 
1  am  told  that  many  Americans  are  now  coming  here,  driven 
over  the  borders  from  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont,  by 
fears  of  the  war  and  the  weight  of  taxation.  I  do  not  think  that 
fears  of  war  or  the  paying  of  taxes  drive  many  individuals  away 
from  home.  Men  who  would  be  so  influenced  have  not  the  amount 
of  foresight  which  would  induce  them  to  avoid  such  evils ;  or,  at 
any  rate,  such  fears  would  act  slowly.  Labourers,  however,  will 
go  where  work  is  certain,  where  work  is  well  paid,  and  where  the 
wages  to  be  earned  will  give  plenty  in  return.  It  may  be  that 
work  will  become  scarce  in  the  States,  as  it  has  done  with  those 
poor  jewellers  at  Attleborough,  of  whom  we  spoke,  and  that  food 
will  become  dear.  If  this  be  so,  labourers  from  the  States  will  no 
doubt  find  their  way  into  Canada. 

From  Sherbrooke  we  went  with  the  mails  on  a  pair-horse  wag- 
gon to  Magog.  Cross  country  mails  are  not  interesting  to  the  gen- 
erality of  readers,  but  I  have  a  professional  liking  for  them  myself. 


LOWER   CANADA. 


53 


^^ 


I  have  flpent  the  best  part  of  my  life  in  looking  after  and  I  hope 
in  improving  such  mails,  and  I  always  endeavour  to  do  a  stroke 
of  work  when  I  come  across  them.  I  learned  on  this  occasion 
that  the  conveyance  of  mails  with  a  pair  of  horses  in  Canada  costs 
little  more  than  half  what  is  paid  for  the  same  work  in  England 
with  one  horse,  and  something  less  than  what  is  paid  in  Ireland, 
also  for  one  horse.  But  in  Canada  the  average  pace  is  only  live 
miles  an  hour.  In  Ireland  it  is  seven,  and  the  time  is  accurately 
kc^t,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case  in  Canada.  In  England 
the  pace  is  eight  miles  an  hour.  In  Canada  and  in  Ireland  these 
conveyances  carry  passengers ;  but  in  England  they  are  prohibited 
from  doing  so.  In  Canada  the  vehicles  are  much  better  got  up 
than  they  are  in  England,  and  the  horses  too  look  better.  Taking 
Ireland  as  a  whole  they  are  more  respectable  in  appearance  there 
than  in  England.  From  all  which  it  appears  that  pace  is  the  ar- 
ticle that  costs  the  highest  price,  and  that  appearance  does  not 
go  for  much  in  the  bill.  In  Canada  the  roads  are  very  bad  in 
comparison  with  the  English  or  Irish  roads ;  but  to  make  up  for 
this,  the  price  of  forage  is  very  low. 

I  have  said  that  the  cross  mail  conveyances  in  Canada  did  not 
seem  to  be  very  closely  bound  as  to  time ;  but  they  are  regulated 
by  clock-work  in  comparison  with  some  of  them  in  the  United 
States.  "Are  you  going  this  morning?"  I  said  to  a  mail-driver 
in  Vermont.  "I  thought  you  always  started  in  the  evening." 
"Wa'U;  I  guess  I  do.  But  it  rained  some  last  night,  so  I  jist 
stayed  at  home."  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  felt  more  shocked  in 
my  life,  and  I  could  hardly  keep  my  tongue  off  the  man.  The 
mails,  however,  would  have  paid  no  respect  to  me  in  Vermont,  and 
I  was  obliged  to  walk  away  crest-fallen. 

We  went  with  the  mails  from  Sherbrooke  to  a  village  called 
Magog  at  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  and  from  thence  by  a  steamer  up 
the  lake  to  a  solitary  hotel  called  the  Mountain  House,  which  is 
built  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  on  the  shore,  and  which  is  sur- 
rounded on  every  side  by  thick  forest.  There  is  no  road  within 
two  miles  of  the  house.  The  lake  therefore  is  the  only  highway, 
and  that  is  frozen  up  for  four  months  in  the  year.  When  frozen, 
however,  it  is  still  a  road,  for  it  is  passable  for  sledges.  I  have 
seldom  been  in  a  house  that  seemed  so  remote  from  the  world,  and 
so  little  within  reach  of  doctors,  parsons,  or  butchers.  Bakers  in 
this  country  are  not  required,  as  all  persons  make  their  own  bread. 
35ut  in  spite  of  its  position  the  hotel  is  well  kept,  and  on  the  whole 
we  were  more  comfortable  there  than  at  any  other  inn  in  Lower 
Canada.     The  Mountain  House  is  but  five  miles  from  the  borders 


!\ 


>V.''' 


\i^ 


54 


KOUTII    AMERICA. 


mm 


of  Vermont,  in  which  State  the  head  of  the  hike  lies.  The  Btcamer 
which  brought  ua  runs  on  to  Newport, — or  rather  from  Newport 
to  Magog  and  back  again.     And  Newport  is  in  Vermont. 

T!ie  one  thing  to  Ix)  done  at  the  Mountain  House  is  thr  ascent 
of  tlie  mountain  called  the  Owl's  Head.  The  world  there  offers 
nothing  else  of  active  enterprise  to  the  traveller,  unless  fishing  be 
considered  an  active  enterprise.  I  am  not  capable  of  fishing, 
therefore  we  resolved  on  going  up  the  Owl's  Head.  To  dine  in 
the  middle  of  the  day  is  absolutely  imperative  at  these  hotels,  and 
thus  we  were  driven  to  select  either  the  morning  or  the  afternoon. 
Evening  lights  we  declared  were  the  best  for  all  views,  and  there- 
fore wo  decided  on  the  afternoon.  It  is  but  two  miles ;  but  then, 
as  we  were  told  more  than  once  by  those  •  /^ho  had  spoken  to  us  on 
the  subject,  those  two  miles  are  not  like  other  miles.  "  I  doubt 
if  the  lady  can  do  it,"  one  man  said  to  me.  I  asked  if  ladies  did 
not  sometimes  go  up.  "Yes;  young  women  do,  at  times,"  he 
said.  After  that  my  wife  resolved  that  she  would  see  the  top  of 
the  Owl's  Plead,  or  die  in  the  attempt,  and  so  we  started.  They 
never  think  of  sending  a  guide  with  one  in  these  places,  whereas 
in  Europe  a  traveller  is  not  allowed  to  go  a  step  without  one. 
When  I  asked  for  one  to  show  us  the  way  up  Mount  Washington, 
I  was  told  that  there  were  no  idle  b-^ys  about  that  place.  The 
path  was  indicated  to  us,  and  off  we  started  with  high  hopes. 

I  have  been  up  many  mountains,  and  have  climbed  some  that 
were  perhaps  somewhat  dangerous  in  their  ascent.  In  climbing 
the  Owl's  Head  there  is  no  danger.  One  is  closed  in  by  thick 
trees  the  whole  way.  But  I  doubt  if  I  ever  went  up  a  steeper  as- 
cent. It  was  very  hard  work,  but  we  were  not  beaten.  We 
reached  the  top,  and  there  sitting  down  thoroughly  enjoyed  our 
victory.  It  was  then  half-past  five  o'clock,  and  the  sun  was  not 
yet  absolutely  sinking.  It  did  not  seem  to  give  us  any  warning 
that  we  should  especially  require  its  aid,  and  as  the  prospect  below 
us  was  very  lovely  we  remained  there  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
The  ascent  of  the  Owl's  Head  is  certainly  a  thing  to  do,  and  I 
still  think,  in  spite  of  our  following  misfortune,  that  it  is  a  thing 
to  do  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  view  down  upon  the  lakes  and 
the  forests  around,  and  on  the  wooded  hills  below,  is  wonderfully 
lovely.  I  never  was  on  a  mountain  which  gave  me  a  more  per- 
fect command  of  all  the  country  round.  But  as  we  arose  to  de- 
scend we  saw  a  little  cloud  coming  towards  us  from  over  New- 
port. 

The  little  cloud  came  on  with  speed,  and  we  had  hardly  freed 
ourselves  from  the  rocks  of  the  summit  before  we  were  surround- 


T.OVVEn   CANADA, 


i\ 


rarnmg 
below 
hour, 
and  I 
thing 
es  and 
erfuUy 
re  per- 
to  de- 
New- 

freed 
round- 


ed by  rain.  As  the  rain  became  tliickcr,  we  were  suiToundcd  by 
darkness  also,  or  if  not  by  darkness  by  so  dim  a  light  tlmt  it  be- 
came a  task  to  find  our  path.  I  still  thought  that  the  daylight 
had  not  gone,  and  that  as  we  descended  and  so  escaped  from  the 
cloud  wo  should  find  light  enough  to  guide  us.  liut  it  was  not  so. 
The  rain  soon  became  a  matter  of  indifference,  and  so  also  did  the 
mud  and  briars  beneath  our  feet.  Even  the  steepness  of  the  way 
was  almost  forgotten  jis  we  endeavoured  to  thread  our  path  through 
the  forest  before  it  should  become  impossible  to  discern  the  track. 
A  dog  had  followed  us  up,  and  though  the  beast  would  not  stay 
with  us  so  as  to  bo  our  guide,  he  returned  over  and  anon  and  made 
us  aware  of  his  presence  by  dashing  by  us.  I  may  confess  now 
that  I  became  much  frightened.  We  were  wet  through,  and  a 
night  out  in  the  forest  would  have  been  unpleasant  to  us.  At  last 
I  did  utterly  lose  the  track.  It  had  become  quite  dark,  so  dark 
that  we  could  hardly  see  each  other.  Wo  Ijad  succeeded  in  get- 
ting down  the  steepest  and  worst  part  of  the  mountain,  but  wo 
were  still  among  dense  forest-trees,  and  up  to  our  knees  in  mud. 
But  the  people  at  the  Mountain  House  were  Christians,  and  men 
with  lanterns  were  sent  hallooing  after  us  through  the  dark  night. 
When  we  were  thus  found  we  were  not  many  yards  from  the  path, 
but  unfortunately  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  stream.  Through  that 
we  waded  and  then  made  our  way  in  safety  to  the  inn.  In  spite 
of  which  misadventure  I  advise  all  travellers  in  Lower  Canada  to 
go  up  the  Owl's  Head. 

On  the  following  day  we  crossed  the  lake  to  Georgeville,  and 
drove  round  another  lake  called  the  Massawhippi  back  to  Sher- 
brooke.  This  was  all  very  well,  for  it  showed  us  a  part  of  the 
country  which  is  comparatively  well  tilled,  and  has  been  long  set- 
tled; but  the  Massawhippi  itself  is  not  worth  a  visit.  The  route 
by  which  we  returned  occupies  a  longer  time  than  the  other,  and 
is  more  costly  as  it  must  be  made  in  a  hired  vehicle.  The  peo- 
ple here  are  quiet,  orderly,  and  I  should  say  a  little  slow.  It  is 
manifest  that  a  strong  feeling  against  the  Northern  States  has 
lately  sprung  up.  This  is  much  to  be  deprecated,  but  I  cannot 
but  say  that  it  is  natural.  It  is  not  that  the  Canadians  have  any 
special  Secession  feelings,  or  that  they  have  entered  with  peculiar 
warmth  into  the  questions  of  American  politics ;  but  they  have 
been  vexed  and  acerbated  by  the  braggadocio  of  the  Northern 
States.  They  constantly  hear  that  they  are  to  be  invaded,  and 
translated  into  citizens  of  the  Union :  that  British  rule  is  to  be 
swept  off  the  Continent,  and  that  the  star-spangled  banner  is  to  be 
waved  over  them  in  pity.     The  star-spangled  banner  is  in  fact  a 


^1 

r. 

'v'i 


'\:- 


He 


MORTII   AMERICA. 


fHl 


fine  flag,  and  has  waved  to  some  purpose  ;  but  those  who  live  near 
it,  and  not  under  it,  fancy  that  thoy  hear  too  much  of  it.  At  the 
present  moment  the  loyalty  of  both  the  Canadas  to  CJreat  Britain 
is  beyond  all  question.  From  all  that  I  can  hear  I  doubt  whether 
this  feeling  in  the  Provinces  was  ever  so  strong,  and  under  such 
circumstances  American  abuse  of  England  and  American  bragga- 
docio is  more  than  usually  distasteful.  All  this  abuse  and  all  this 
braggado(!io  comes  to  Canada  from  the  Northern  States,  and  there- 
fore the  Southern  cause  is  at  the  present  moment  the  more  popu- 
hir  with  them. 

I  have  said  that  the  Canadians  hereabouts  are  somewhat  slow. 
As  we  were  driving  back  to  Sherbrooke  it  became  necessary  that 
we  should  rest  for  an  hour  or  so  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  for 
this  purpose  we  stopped  at  a  village  inn.  It  was  a  large  house, 
in  which  there  appeared  to  be  three  public  sitting-rooms  of  ample 
size,  one  of  which  was  occupied  as  the  bar.  In  this  there  were 
congregated  some  six  or  seven  men,  seated  in  arm-chairs  round  a 
stove,  and  among  these  I  placed  myself.  No  one  spoke  a  word 
either  to  me  or  to  any  one  else.  No  one  smoked,  and  no  one  read, 
nor  did  they  even  whittle  sticks.  I  asked  a  question  first  of  one 
and  then  of  another,  and  was  answered  with  monosyllables.  So  I 
gave  up  any  hope  in  that  direction,  and  sat  staring  at  the  big  stove 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  as  the  others  did.  I'resently  another 
stranger  entered,  having  arrived  in  a  waggon  as  I  had  done.  lie 
entered  the  room  and  sat  down,  addressing  no  one,  and  addressed 
by  no  one.  After  a  while,  however,  he  spoke.  "  Will  there  be 
any  chance  of  dinner  here  ?"  he  said.  "  I  guess  there'll  be  dinner 
by-and-by,"  answered  the  landlord,  and  then  there  was  silence  for 
another  ten  minutes,  during  which  the  stranger  stared  at  the  stove. 
*'Is  that  dinner  any  way  ready?"  he  asked  again.  "I  guess  it 
is,"  said  the  landlord.  And  then  the  stranger  went  out  to  see  after 
his  dinner  himself.  When  we  started  at  the  end  of  an  hour  no- 
body said  anything  to  us.  The  driver  "  hitched"  on  the  horses, 
as  they  call  it,  and  we  started  on  our  way,  having  been  charged 
nothing  for  our  accommodation.  That  some  profit  arose  from  the 
horse  provender  is  to  be  hoped. 

On  the  following  day  we  reached  Montreal,  which,  as  I  have 
said  before,  is  the  commercial  capital  of  the  two  Provinces.  This 
question  of  the  capitals  is  at  the  present  moment  a  subject  of  great 
interest  in  Canada,  but  as  I  shall  be  driven  to  say  something  on 
the  matter  when  I  report  myself  as  being  at  Ottawa,  I  will  refrain 
now.  There  are  two  special  public  affairs  at  the  present  moment 
to  interest  a  traveller  in  Canada.     The  first  I  have  named,  and 


LOWKH  (;akai>a. 


67 


the  second  is  the  Grand  Trunk  liuilwny.  1  Imvo  already  stated 
wliut  iH  the  course  of  this  lino.  It  runs  from  the  Western  State  of 
Midiigun  to  Portland  on  the  Atlantic  in  the  State  of  Maine,  swoop- 
in'^  the  whole  length  of  Canada  in  its  route.  It  was  oripnally 
ina«lc  by  three  Companies.  The  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  con- 
structed it  from  Portland  to  Island  Pond  on  the  borders  of  tho 
States.  Tho  St.  Lawrence  and  Atlantic  took  it  from  tho  South 
Kastcrn  side  of  tho  river  at  Montreal  to  the  «ime  j)oint,  viz.,  Isl- 
and Pond.  And  tho  Grand  Trunk  Company  have  made  it  from 
Detroit  to  Montreal,  crossing  the  river  there  with  a  stupendous 
tubular  bridge,  and  have  also  made  tho  branch  connecting  the  main 
line  with  Quebec  and  Kivicre  du  Loup.  This  latter  company  is 
now  incorporated  with  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Atlantic,  but  has  only 
leased  the  portion  of  tho  lino  running  through  tho  States.  This 
they  have  done,  guaranteeing  the  shareholders  an  interest  of  six 
per  cent.  There  never  was  a  grander  enterprise  set  on  foot.  I 
will  not  say  there  never  was  one  more  unfortunate,  for  is  there  not 
the  Great  Eastern,  which  by  the  weight  and  constancy  of  its  fail- 
urea  demands  for  itself  a  proud  pre-eminence  of  misfortune  ?  Hut 
surely  the  Grand  Trunk  comes  next  to  it.  I  presume  it  to  bo 
quite  out  of  tho  question  that  the  shareholders  should  get  any  in- 
terest whatever  on  their  shares  for  years.  Tho  company  when  I 
was  at  Montreal  had  not  paid  the  interest  due  to  the  Atlantic  and 
St.  Lawrence  Company  for  the  last  year,  and  there  was  a  doubt 
whether  the  lease  would  not  be  broken.  No  party  that  had  ad- 
vanced money  to  the  undertaking  was  able  to  recover  what  had 
been  advanced.  I  believe  that  one  firm  in  London  had  lent  nearly 
a  million  to  the  Company  and  is  now  willing  to  accept  half  the 
sum  so  lent  in  quittance  of  the  whole  debt.  In  1860  the  line 
could  not  carry  the  freight  that  offered,  not  having  or  being  able 
to  obtain  the  necessary  rolling  stock  ;  and  on  all  sides  I  heard 
men  discussing  whether  the  line  would  be  kept  open  for  traffic. 
The  Government  of  Canada  advanced  to  the  Company  three  mil- 
lions of  money,  with  an  understanding  that  neither  interest  nor 
principal  should  be  ^demanded  till  all  other  debts  were  paid,  and 
all  shareholders  in  receipt  of  six  per  cent,  interest.  But  tho  three 
millions  were  clogged  with  conditions  which,  though  they  have 
been  of  service  to  the  country,  have  been  so  expensive  to  the  Com- 
pany that  it  is  hardly  more  solvent  with  it  than  it  would  have 
been  without  it.  As  it  is,  the  whole  property  seems  to  be  involved 
in  ruin ;  and  yet  the  line  is  one  of  the  grandest  commercial  con- 
ceptions that  was  ever  carried  out  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  in 

C2 


^ 


^^' 


I. 


c. 


58 


NOKTH   AMERICA. 


the  process  of  a  few  years  will  do  more  to  make  bread  cheap  in 
England  than  any  other  single  enterprise  that  exists. 

I  do  not  know  that  blame  is  to  be  attached  to  any  one.  I  at 
least  attach  no  such  blame.  Probably  it  might  be  easy  now  to 
show  that  the  road  might  have  been  made  with  sufficient  accom- 
modation for  ordinary  purposes  v/ithout  some  of  the  more  cost- 
ly details.  The  great  tubular  bridge  on  which  was  expended 
1,300,000/.  might,  I  should  think,  have  been  dispensed  with.  The 
Detroit  end  of  the  line  might  have  been  left  for  later  time.  As  it 
stands  now,  however,  it  is  a  wonderful  operation  carried  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue  as  far  as  the  public  are  concerned,  and  one  can  only 
grieve  that  it  should  be  so  absolute  a  failure  to  those  who  have 
placed  their  money  in  it.  There  are  schemes  which  seem  to  be  too 
big  for  men  to  work  out  with  any  ordinary  regard  to  profit  and 
loss.  The  Great  Eastern  is  one,  and  this  is  another.  The  na- 
tional advantage  arising  from  such  enterprises  is  immense ;  but  the 
wonder  is  that  men  should  be  found  willing  to  embark  their- money 
where  the  risk  is  so  great,  and  the  return  even  hoped  for  is  so 
small. 

While  I  was  in  Canada  some  gentlemen  were  there  from  the 
Lower  Provinces — Nova  Scotia,  that  is,  and  New  Brunswick — agi- 
tating the  subject  of  another  great  line  of  railway  from  Quebec  to 
Halifax.  The  project  is  one  in  favour  of  v/hich  very  much  may 
be  said.  In  a  national  point  of  view  an  Englishman  or  a  Cana- 
dian cannot  but  regret  that  there  should  be  no  winter  mode  of  exit 
from,  or  entrance  to,  Canada,  except  through  the  United  States. 
The  St.  LavTence  is  blocked  up  fpv  four  or  five  months  in  winter, 
and  the  steamers  which  run  to  Quebec  in  the  summer  run  to  Port- 
land during  the  season  of  ice.  There  is  at  present  no  mode  of  pub- 
lic conveyance  between  the  Canadas  and  the  Lower  Provinces, 
and  an  immense  district  of  country  on  the  borders  of  Lower  Can- 
ada, through  New  Brunswick  and  into  Nova  Scotia  is  now  abso- 
lutely closed  against  civilization,  which  by  such  a  railway  would 
be  opened  up  to  the  light  of  day.  We  all  know  how  much  the 
want  of  such  a  road  was  fell,  when  our  troops- were  being  forward- 
ed to  Canada  during  the  last  winter.  It  was  necessary  they  should 
reach  their  destiny  without  delay;  and  as  the  river  was  closed, 
and  the  passing  of  trooj^L  Ihrough  the  States  was  of  course  out  of 
the  question,  that  long  overland  journey  across  Nova  Scotia  and 
New  Brunswick  became  a  necessity.  It  would  certainly  be  a  very 
great  thing  for  British  interests  if  a  direct  line  could  be  made  from 
such  a  port  as  Halifax,  a  port  which  is  open  throughout  the  whole 
year,  up  into  the  Canadas.     If  these  Colonies  belonged  to  Frant . 


LOWER   CANADA. 


59 


may 


or  to  any  other  despotic  Government,  tho  thing  would  bo  done. 
]kit  the  Colonies  do  not  belong  to  any  despotic  Government. 

Such  a  line  would  in  fuot  be  a  continuance  of  the  Grand  Trunk  ; 
and  who  that  looks  at  the  present  state  of  the  finances  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  can  think  it  to  be  on  the  cards  that  private  enter- 
prise should  conic  *b;'ward  with  move  money, — with  more  millions? 
The  idea  is  that  England  will  advance  the  money,  and  that  the 
English  House  of  Commons  will  guarantee  the  interest,  with  some 
counter-guarantee  from  the  Colonies  that  this  interest  shall  be 
duly  paid.  But  it  would  seem  that  if  such  Colonial  guarantee  is 
to  go  for  anything,  the  Colonies  might  raise  the  money  in  the  mon- 
ey market  without  the  intervention  of  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons. 

Montreal  is  an  exceedingly  good  commercial  town,  and  business 
there  is  brisk.  It  has  now  85,000  inhabitants.  Having  said  that 
of  it,  I  do  not  know  what  more  there  is  left  to  say.  Yes ;  one 
word  there  is  to  say  of  Sir  William  Logan  the  creator  of  the  Ge- 
ological Mus'^um  there  and  the  head  of  all  matters  geological 
throughout  the  Province.  While  he  was  explaining  to  me  with 
admirable  perspicuity  the  result  of  investigations  into  which  he 
had  poured  his  whole  heart,  I  stood  by  understandin<;  almost  noth- 
ing, but  envying  everything.  That  I  understood  almost  nothing, 
I  know  he  perceived.  That,  ever  and  anon,  W)'\  all  his  gracious- 
ness  became  apparent.  But  I  wonder  whether  he  perceived  also 
that  I  did  envy  everything.  I  have  listened  to  geologists  by  the 
hour  before — have  had  to  listen  to  them,  desirous  simply  of  escape. 
I  have  listened  and  understood  absolutely  nothing,  and  have  only 
wished  myself  away.  But  I  could  have  listened  to  Sir  William 
Logan  for  the  whole  day,  if  time  allowed.  I  found  even  in  that 
honi  that  some  ideas  found  iheir  way  through  to  me,  and  I  began 
to  fancy  that  even  I  could  become  a  geologist  at  Montreal. 

Over  and  beyond  Sir  William  Logan  there  is  at  Montreal  for 
strangers  the  drive  round  the  mountain,  not  vory  exciting ;  and 
there  is  the  tubular  bridge  over  the  St.  Lawrence.  This,  it  must 
be  understood,  is  not  made  in  one  tube,  as  is  that  over  the  Menai 
Straits,  but  is  divided  into,  I  think,  thirteen  tubes.  To  the  eye 
there  appear  to  be  twenty-five  tubes ;  but  each  of  the  six  side  tubes 
is  supported  by  a  pier  in  the  middle.  A  great  part  of  the  expense 
ot  the  bric'ge  was  incurred  in  sinking  the  shafts  for  these  piers. 


'i 


i 


# 


60 


NOKTU   AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  V. 


UPPER    CANADA. 


Ottawa  is  in  Upper  Canada,  but  crossing  the  suspension 
bridge  from  Ottawa  into  Hull  the  traveller  is  in  Lower  Canada. 
It  is  therefore  exactly  in  the  confines,  and  has  been  chosen  as 
the  site  of  the  new  Government  capital  very  much  for  this  rea- 
son. Other  reasons  have,  no  doubt,  had  a  share  in  the  decision. 
At  the  time  when  the  choice  was  made  Ottawa  was  not  large 
enough  to  create  the  jealousy  of  the  more  populous  towns. 
Though  not  on  the  main  line  of  railway,  it  was  connected  with 
it  by  a  branch  railway,  and  it  is  also  connected  with  the'  St. 
Lawrence  by  water  communication.  And  then  it  stands  nobly 
on  a  magnificent  river,  with  high  overhanging  rock,  and  a  natu- 
ral grandeur  of  position  which  has  perhaps  gone  far  in  recom- 
mending it  to  those  whose  voice  in  the  matter  has  been  poten- 
tial. Having  the  world  of  Canada  from  whence  to  choose  the 
site  of  a  new  town,  the  choosers  have  certainly  chosen  well.  It 
is  another  question  whether  or  no  a  new  town  should  have  been 
deemed  necessary. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  well  to  explain  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  thought  expedient  thus  to  establish  a  new  Cana- 
dian capital.  In  1841  when  Lord  Sydenham  was  Governor 
General  of  the  Provinces,  the  two  Canadas,  separate  till  then, 
were  united  under  one  Government.  At  that  time  the  people 
of  Lower  or  French  Canada,  and  the  people  of  Upper  or  En- 
glish Canada  differed  much  more  in  their  habits  and  language 
than  they  do  now.  I  do  not  know  that  the  English  have  be- 
come in  any  way  Gallicized,  but  the  French  have  been  very  ma- 
terially Anglicized.  But  while  this  has  been  in  progress,  na- 
tional jealousy  has  been  at  work ;  and  even  yet  that  national 
jealousy  is  not  at  an  end.  While  the  two  provinces  were  di- 
vided there  were,  of  course,  two  capitals,  and  two  seats  of  Gov- 
ernment. These  were  at  Quebec  for  Lower  Canada,  and  at  To- 
ronto for  Upper  Canada,  both  which  towns  are  centrically  situ- 
ated as  regards  the  respective  provinces.  When  the  union  was 
effected,  it  was  deemed  expedient  that  there  should  be  but  one 
Capital ;  and  the  small  town  of  Kingstown  was  selected,  which 
is  situated  on  the  Lower  end  of  Lake  Ontario  in  the  Upper 
Province.  But  Kingstown  was  found  to  be  inconvenient,  lack- 
ing space  and  accommodation  for  those  who  had  to  follow  the 
Government,  and  the  Governor  removed  it  and  himself  to 


I  i 


UPPJiB   CANADA. 


61 


Montreal.  Montreal  is  in  the  Lower  Province,  but  is  very  cen- 
tral to  both  the  provinces ;  and  it  is,  moreover,  the  chief  town 
in  Canada.  This  would  have  done  very  well,  but  for  an  unfore- 
seen misfortune. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  most  readers  that  in  1837  took  place 
the  Mackenzie-Papineau  rebellion,  of  which  those  who  were 
then  old  enough  to  be  politicians  heard  so  much  in  England. 
I  am  not  going  back  to  recount  the  history  of  the  period,  other- 
wise than  to  say  that  the  English  Canadians  at  that  time,  in 
withstanding  and  combating  the  rebels,  did  considerable  injury 
to  the  property  of  certain  French  Canadians,  and  that  when  the 
rebellion  had  blown  over  and  those  in  fault  had  been  pardoned, 
a  question  arose  whether  or  no  the  Government  should  make 
good  the  losses  of  those  French  Canadians  who  had  been  in- 
jured. The  English  Canadians  protested  that  it  would  bo 
monstrous  that  they  should  be  taxed  to  repair  damages  suffer- 
ed by  rebels,  and  made  necessary  in  the  suppression  of  rebel- 
lion. The  French  Canadians  declared  that  the  rebellion  had 
been  only  a  just  assertion  of  their  rights,  that  if  there  hMbeen 
crime  on  the  part  of  those  who  took  up  arms  that  crime  had 
been  condoned,  and  that  the  damages  had  not  fallen  exclusive- 
ly or  even  chiefly  on  those  who  had  done  so.  I  will  give  no 
opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  question,  but  simply  say  that  blood 
ran  very  hot  when  it  was  discussed.  At  last  the  Houses  of  the 
Provincial  Parliament,  then  assembled  at  Montreal,  decreed 
that  the  losses  should  be  made  good  by  the  public  treasury ; 
and  the  English  mob  in  Montreal,  when  this  decree  became 
known,  was  roused  to  great  wrath  by  a  decision  which  seemed 
to  be  condemnatory  of  English  loyalty.  It  pelted  Lord  Elgin, 
the  Governor  General,  with  rotten  eggs,  and  burned  down  the 
Parliament  House.  Hence,  there  arose,  not  unnaturally,  a 
strong  feeling  of  anger  on  the  part  of  the  local  Government 
against  Montreal ;  and  moreover  there  was  no  longer  a  House 
in  which  the  Parliament  could  be  held  in  that  town..  For 
these  conjoint  reasons  it  was  decided  to  move  the  seat  of  Gov- 
ernment again,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  Governor  and  the 
Parliament  should  sit  alternately  at  Toronto  in  Upper  Canada, 
and  at  Quebec  in  Lower  Canada,  remaining  four  years  at  each 
place.  They  went  at  first  to  Toronto  for  two  years  only,  hav- 
ing agreed  that  they  should  be  there  on  this  occasion  only  for 
tlie  remainder  of  the  term  of  the  then  Parliament.  After  that 
they  were  at  Quebec  for  four  years ;  then  at  Toronto  for  four ; 
and  now  are  again  at  Quebec.  But  this  arrangement  has  been 
found  very  inconvenient.    In  the  first  place  there  is  a  great  na- 


f 


■  I 


\ 


c. 


¥0 


62 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


tional  expenditure  incurred  in  moving  old  records,  and  in  keep- 
ing double  records,  in  moving  the  library,  and  as  I  have  been 
informed  even  the  pictures.  The  Government  clerks  also  are 
called  on  to  move  as  the  Government  moves;  and  though  an 
allowance  is  made  to  them  from  the  national  purse  to  cover 
their  loss,  the  arrangement  has  nevertheless  been  felt  by  them 
to  be  a  grievance,  as  may  be  well  understood.  The  accommo- 
dation also  for  the  ministers  of  the  Government,  and  for  mem- 
bers of  the  two  Houses  has  been  insufficient.  Hotels,  lodgings, 
and  furnished  houses  could  not  be  provided  to  the  extent  re- 
quired, seeing  that  they  would  be  left  nearly  empty  for  every 
alternate  space  of  four  years.  Indeed  it  needs  but  little  argu- 
ment to  prove  that  the  plan  adopted  must  have  been  a  thor- 
oughly uncomfortable  plan,  and  the  wonder  is  that  it  should 
have  been  adopted.  Lower  Canada  had  undertaken  to  make 
all  her  leading  citizens  wretched,  providing  Upper  Canada 
would  treat  hers  with  equal  severity.  This  has  now  gone  on 
for  some  twelve  years,  and  as  the  system  was  found  to  be  an 
unendurable  nuisance  it  has  been  at  last  admitted  that  some 
steps  must  be  taken  towards  selecting  one  capital  for  the  coun- 
try. 

I  should  here,  in  justice  to  the  Canadians,  state  a  remark 
made  to  me  on  this  matter  by  one  of  the  present  leading  poli- 
ticians of  the  colony.  I  cannot  think  that  the  migratory  scheme 
was  good ;  but  he  defended  it,  asserting  that  it  had  done  very 
much  to  amalgamate  the  people  of  the  two  provinces ;  that  it 
had  brought  Lower  Canadians  into  Upper  Canada,  and  Upper 
Canadians  into  Lower  Canada,  teaching  English  to  those  who 
spoke  only  French  before,  and  making  each  pleasantly  acquaint- 
ed with  the  other.  I  have  no  doubt  that  something, — perhaps 
much, — has  been  done  in  this  way ;  but  valuable  as  the  result 
may  have  'been,  I  cannot  think  it  worth  the  cost  of  the  means 
employed.  The  best  answer  to  the  above  argument  consists  in 
the  undoubted  fact  that  a  migratory  Government  would  never 
have  been  established  for  such  a  reason.  It  was  so  established 
because  Montreal,  the  central  town,  had  given  offence,  and  be- 
cause the  jealousy  of  the  provinces  against  each  other  would 
not  admit  of  the  Government  being  placed  entirely  at  Quebec, 
or  enLv'ely  at  Toronto. 

But  it  was  necessary  that  some  step  should  be  taken ;  and 
as  it  was  found  to  be  unlikely  that  any  resolution  should  be 
reached  by  the  joint  provinces  themselves,  it  was  loyally  and 
wisely  determined  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  Queen.  That  Her 
Majesty  has  constitutionally  the  power  to  call  the  Parliament 


UPPER   CANADA. 


63 


of  Canada  at  any  town  of  Canada  which  she  may  select,  admits, 
I  conceive,  of  no  doubt.  It  is,  I  imagine,  within  her  prerogative 
to  call  the  Parliament  of  England  where  she  may  please  within 
that  realm,  though  her  lieges  would  be  somewhat  startled  if  it 
were  called  otherwhere  than  in  London.  It  was  therefore  well 
done  to  ask  Her  Majesty  to  act  as  arbiter  in  the  matter.  But 
there  are  not  wanting  those  in  Canada  who  say  that  in  referring 
the  matter  to  the  Queen  it  was  in  truth  referring  it  to  those  by 
whom  very  many  of  the  Canadians  were  least  willing  to  be  guid- 
ed in  the  matter ;  to  the  Governor  General  namely,  and  the  Co- 
lonial Secretary.  Many  indeed  in  Canada  now  declare  that  tho 
decision  simply  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  Governor 
General. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  I  do  not  think  that  any  unbiassed  traveller 
will  doubt  that  the  best  possible  selection  has  been  made,  pre- 
suming always,  as  we  may  presume  in  the  discussion,  that  Mon- 
treal could  not  be  selected.  I  take  for  granted  that  the  rejec- 
tion of  Montreal  was  regarded  as  a  sine  qicd  7i09i  in  the  decis- 
ion. To  me  it  appears  grievous  that  this  should  have  been  so. 
It  IS  a  great  thing  for  any  country  to  have  a  large,  leading, 
world-known  city,  and  I  think  that  the  Government  should  com- 
bine with  the  commerce  of  the  country  in  carrying  out  this  ob- 
ject. But  commerce  can  do  a  great  deal  more  for  Government 
than  Government  can  do  for  commerce.  Government  has  se- 
lected Ottawa  as  the  capital  of  Canada ;  but  commerce  has  al- 
ready made  Montreal  the  capital,  and  Montreal  will  be  the  chief 
city  of  Canada,  let  Government  do  what  it  may  to  foster  the 
other  town.  The  idea  of  spiting  a  towji  because  there  has  been 
a  row  tn  it  seems  to  me  to  be  preposterous.  The  row  was  not 
the  work  of  those  who  haye  made  Montreal  rich  and  respecta- 
ble. Montreal  is  more  centrical  than  Ottawa, — nay,  it  is  as 
nearly  centrical  as  any  town  can  be.  It  is  easier  to  get  to  Mon- 
treal from  Toronto,  than  to  Ottawa ; — and  if  from  Toronto,  then 
from  all  that  distant  portion  of  Upper  Canada,  back  of  Toronto. 
To  all  Lower  Canada  Montreal  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  much 
easier  of  access  than  Ottawa.  But  having  said  so  much  in  fa- 
vour of  Montreal,  I  will  again  admit  that,  putting  aside  Mon- 
treal, the  best  possible  selection  has  been  made. 

When  Ottawa  was  named,  no  time  was  lost  in  setting  to 
work  to  prepare  for  the  new  migration.  In  1859  the  Parlia- 
ment was  removed  to  Quebec,  with  the  understanding  that  it 
should  remain  there  till  the  new  buildings  should  be  completed. 
These  buildings  were  absolutely  commenced  in  April  1 860,  and 
it  was,  and  I  believe  still  is,  expected  that  they  will  be  com- 


'•      i 


rr 


64 


NOKTII   AMERICA. 


pleted  in  18G3.  I  am  now  writing  in  the  winter  of  1861 ;  and, 
as  is  necessary  in  Canadian  winters,  the  works  arc  suspended. 
But  unfortunately  they  were  suspended  in  the  early  part  of  Oc- 
tober,— on  the  1st  of  October, — whereas  they  might  have  been 
continued,  as  far  as  the  season  is  concerned,  up  to  the  end  of 
November.  We  reached  Ottawa  on  the  3rd  of  October,  and 
more  than  a  thousand  men  had  then  been  just  dismissed.  All 
the  money  in  hand  had  been  expended,  and  the  Government, — 
so  it  was  waid, — could  give  no  more  money  till  Parliament  should 
meet  again.  I'liis  was  most  unfortunate.  In  the  first  place  the 
suspension  was  against  the  contract  as  made  with  the  contract- 
ors for  the  building ;  in  the  next  place  there  was  the  delay ; 
and  then,  worst  of  all,  the  question  again  became  agitated  wheth- 
er the  colonial  legislature  were  really  in  earnest  with  reference 
to  Ottawa.  Many  men  of  mark  in  tne  colony  were  still  anxious 
— I  believe  are  still  anxious, — to  put  an  end  to  the  Ottawa 
scheme,  and  think  that  there  still  exists  for  them  a  chance  of 
success.  And  very  many  men  who  are  not  of  mark  are  thus 
united,  and  a  feeling  of  doubt  on  the  subject  has  been  created. 
225,000/.  has  already  been  spent  on  these  buildings,  and  I  h'^A.ve 
no  doubt  myself  that  they  will  be  duly  completed,  and  duly  used. 
We  went  up  to  the  new  town  by  boat,  taking  the  course  of 
the  river  Ottawa.  We  passed  St.  Ann's,  but  no  one  9t  St. 
Ann's  seemed  to  know  anything  of  the  brothers  who  were  to 
rest  there  on  their  weary  oars.  At  Maxwellstown  I  could  hear 
nothing  of  Annie  Laurie  or  of  her  trysting  place  on  the  braes, 
and  the  turnpike  man  at  Tara  could  tell  me  nothing  of  the  site 
of  the  hall,  and  had  never  even  heard  of  the  liarp.  When  I  go 
down  South  I  shall  expect  to  find  that  the  negro  melodies  have 
not  yet  reached  "  Old  Virginie."  This  boat  conveyance  from 
Montreal  to  Ottawa  is  not  all  that  could  be  wished  in  conven- 
ience, for  it  is  allied  too  closely  with  railway  travelling.  Those 
who  use  it  leave  Montreal  by  a  railway ;  after  nine  miles,  they 
are  changed  into  a  steamboat.  Then  they  encounter  another 
railway,  and  at  last  reach  Ottawa  in  a  second  steamboat.  But 
the  river  is  seen,  and  a  better  idea  of  the  country  is  obtained 
than  can  be  had  solely  from  the  railway  cars.  The  scenery  is 
by  T^  means  grand,  nor  is  it  strikingly  picturesque ;  but  it  is 
in  its  way  interesting.  For  a  long  portion  of  the  river  the  old 
primeval  forests  come  down  close  to  the  water's  edge,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  the  brilliant  colouring  is  very  lovely.  It 
should  not  be  imagined, — as  I  think  it  often  is  imagined,7-that 
these  forests  are  made  up  of  splendid  trees,  or  that  splendid 
trees  are  even  common.    When  timber  grows  on  undrained 


UPPER   CANADA. 


05 


if 


ground,  and  when  it  is  uncared  for,  it  does  not  seem  to  ap- 
proach nearer  to  its  perfection  than  wheat  or  grass  do  under 
(similar  circumstances.  Seen  from  a  little  distance  the  colour 
and  effect  is  good,  but  the  trees  themselves  have  shallow  roots 
and  grow  up  tall,  narrow,  and  shapeless.  It  necessarily  is  so 
with  all  timber  that  is  not  thinned  in  its  growth.  When  fine 
forest  trees  are  found,  and  are  left  standing  alone  by  any  culti- 
vator who  may  have  tasto  enough  to  wish  for  such  adornment, 
they  almost  invariably  die.  They  are  robbed  of  the  sickly  shel- 
ter by  which  they  have  been  surrounded ;  the  hot  sun  strikes 
the  uncovered  fibres  of  the  roots,  and  the  poor  solitary  invalid 
languishes  and  at  last  dies. 

As  one  ascends  the  river,  which  by  its  breadth  forms  itself 
into  lakes,  one  is  shown  Indian  villages  clustering  down  upon 
the  bank.  Some  years  ago  these  Indians  were  rich,  for  the 
price  of  furs,  in  which  they  dealt,  was  high  ;  but  furs  have  be- 
come cheaper,  and  the  beavers  with  which  they  used  to  trade 
are  almost  valueless.  That  a  change  in  the  fashion  of  hats 
should  have  assisted  to  polish  these  poor  fellows  off  the  face  of 
creation  must,  one  may  suppose,  be  very  unintelligible  to  them ; 
but  nevertheless  it  is  probably  a  subject  of  deep  speculation. 
If  the  reading  world  were  to  take  to  sermons  again  and  es- 
chew tlioir  novels,  Messrs.  Thackeray,  Dickens,  and  some  others 
would  look  about  them  and  inquire  into  the  causes  of  such  a 
change  with  considerable  acuteness.  They  might  not,  perhaps, 
hit  the  truth,  and.  these  Indians  are  much  in  that  predicament. 
It  is  said  that  very  few  pure-blooded  Indians  are  now  to  be 
found  in  their  villages,  but  I  doubt  whether  this  is  not  errone- 
ous. The  children  of  the  Indians  are  now  fed  upon  baked, 
bread,  and  on  cooked  meat,  and  are  brought  up  in  houses. 
They  are  nursed  somewhat  as  the  children  of  the  white  men 
are  nursed ;  and  these  practices  no  doubt  have  done  much  to- 
wards altering  their  appearance.  The  negroes  who  have  been 
bred  in  the  States,  and  whose  fathers  have  been  so  bred  before 
them,  differ  both  in  colour  and  form  from  their  brothers  who 
have  been  born  and  nurtured  in  Africa. 

I  said  in  the  last  chapter  that  the  city  of  Ottawa  was  still 
to  be  built ;  but  I  must  explain,  lest  I  should  draw  doA^gi  on 
my  head  the  wrath  of  the  Ottawaites,  that  the  place  already 
contains  a  population  of  15,000  inhabitants.  As,  however,  it  is 
being  prepared  for  four  times  that  number — for  eight  times 
that  number  let  us  hope — and  as  it  straggles  over  a  vast  extent 
of  ground,  it  gives  one  an  idea  of  a  city  in  an  active  course 
of  preparation.    In  England  we  know  nothing  about  unbuilt 


f  ,' 


^ffJ 


tlf 


CO 


NOUTII    AMERICA. 


i  'ii 


^\ 


I'llljl;! 


cities.  "With  ns  four  or  five  blocks  of  streets  tojjether  never 
n.ssimio  th:it  u^ly,  uniledged  appearance  which  boluiigs  to  the 
lialf-finislied  carcase  of  a  liouse,  as  they  do  so  often  on  the  oth- 
er side  of  the  Atlantic.  Ottawa  is  ]»reparinj?  for  itself  broad 
streets,  and  grand  thoroughfares.  The  buildings  already  ex- 
tend over  a  length  considerably  exceeding  two  miles,  and  half 
a  dozen  hotels  have  been  opened,  which,  if  I  were  writing  a 
guide-book  in  a  complimentary  tone,  it  would  be  my  duty  to 
describe  as  first-rate.  But  the  half-dozen  first-rate  hotels,  though 
open,  as  yet  enjoy  but  a  moderate  amount  of  custom.  All  this 
justifies  me,  I  think,  in  saying  that  the  city  lias  as  yet  to  get 
itself  built.  The  manner  in  which  this  is  being  done  justifies 
me  also  in  saying  that  the  Ottawaites  are  going  about  their 
task  with  a  worthy  zeal. 

To  me  I  confess  that  the  nature  of  the  situation  has  great 
charms, — regarding  it  as  the  site  for  a  town.  It  is  not  on  a 
plain,  and  from  the  form  of  the  rock  overhanging  the  river,  and 
of  the  hill  that  falls  from  thence  down  to  the  water,  it  has  been 
found  impracticable  to  lay  out  the  place  in  right-angled  paral- 
lelograms. A  right-angled  parallelogramical  city,  such  as  are 
Philadelphia  and  the  new  portion  of  New  York,  is  from  its  very 
nature  odious  to  me.  I  know  that  much  may  be  said  in  its  fa- 
vour—that drainage  and  gas-pipes  come  easier  to  such  a  shape, 
and  that  ground  can  be  better  economized.  Nevertheless  I 
prefer  a  street  that  is  forced  to  twist  itself  about.  I  enjoy  the 
narrowness  of  Temple  Bar,  and  the  misshapen  curvature  of 
Pickett  Street.  The  disreputable  dinginess  of  Holywell  Street 
is  dear  to  me,  and  I  love  to  thread  my  way  np  by  the  Olympic 
into  Covent  Garden.  Fifth  Avenue  in  New  York  is  as  grand 
as  paint  and  glass  can  make  it;  but  I  would  not  live  in  a  palace 
in  Fifth  Avenue  if  the  corporation  of  the  city  would  pay  my 
baker's  and  butcher's  bills. 

The  town  of  Ottawa  lies  between  two  waterfalls.  The  up- 
per one,  or  Rideau  Fall,  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of  a  small 
river  with  the  larger  one ;  and  the  lower  fall — designated  as 
lower  because  it  is  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  though  it  is  higher 
np  the  Ottawa  river — is  called  the  Chandiere,  from  its  resem- 
blance to  a  boiling  kettle.  This  is  on  the  Ottawa  river  itself. 
The  Rideau  fall  is  divided  into  two  branches,  thus  forming  an 
island  in  the  middle  as  is  the  case  at  Niagara.  It  is  pretty 
enough,  and  worth  visiting,  even  were  it  further  from  the  town 
than  it  is ;  but  by  those  who  have  hunted  out  many  cataracts 
in  their  travels  it  will  not  be  considered  very  remarkable.  The 
Chaudiere  fall  I  did  think  very  remarkable.     It  is  of  trifling 


UPPER   CANADA. 


07 


depth,  bcin^  formed  by  fractures  in  tlic  rocky  bed  of  the  river; 
but  tljo  waters  have  so  cut  the  rock  as  to  create  beautiful  forins 
in  the  rush  wliicli  they  make  in  their  descent.  Strangers  are 
told  to  look  at  these  falls  from  the  suspension  l)ridt?e;  and  it 
js  well  that  they  should  do  so.  But  in  so  looking  at  them 
they  obtain  but  a  very  small  part  of  their  eftect.  On  the  Otta- 
Ava  side  of  the  bridge  is  a  brewery,  which  brewery  is  surround- 
ed by  a  huge  timber-yard.  This  timber-yard  I  found  to  be  very 
muddy,  and  the  passing  and  repassing  through  it  is  a  work  of 
trouble ;  but  nevertheless  let  the  traveller  by  all  means  make 
his  way  through  the  mud,  and  scramble  over  the  timber,  and 
cross  the  plank  bridges  which  traverse  the  streams  of  the  saw- 
mills, and  thus  take  himself  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  woodwork 
over  the  water.  If  he  will  then  seat  himself,  about  the  hour  of 
sunset,  he  will  see  the  Chaudiere  fall  ariglit. 

But  the  glory  of  Ottawa  will  be — and,  indeed,  already  is — 
the  set  of  public  buildings  which  is  now  being  erected  on  the 
rock  which  guards  as  it  were  the  town  from  the  river.  IIow 
much  of  the  excellence  of  these  buildings  may  be  due  to  the 
taste  of  Sir  Edmund  Head,  the  late  Governor,  I  do  not  know. 
That  ho  has  greatly  interested  himself  in  the  subject  is  well 
known :  and  as  the  style  of  the  different  buildings  is  so  much 
alike  as  to  make  one  whole,  though  the  designs  of  different 
architects  were  selected,  and  these  different  architects  employ- 
ed, I  imagine  that  considerable  alterations  must  have  been 
made  in  the  original  drawings.  There  are  three  buildings, 
forming  three  sides  of  a  quadrangle ;  but  they  are  not  joined, 
the  vacant  spaces  at  the  corner  being  of  considerable  extent. 
The  fom'th  side  of  the  quadrangle  opens  upon  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal streets  of  the  town.  The  centre  building  is  intended  for 
the  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  two  side  buildings  for  the 
Government  offices.  Of  the  first  Messrs.  Fuller  and  Jones  are 
the  architects,  and  of  the  latter  Messrs.  Stent  and  Laver.  I 
did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  any  of  these  gentlemen  ; 
but  I  take  upon  myself  to  say  that  as  regards  purity  of  art  and 
manliness  of  conception  their  joint  work  is  entitled  to  the  very 
highest  praise.  How  far  the  buildings  may  be  well  arranged 
for  the  required  purposes,  how  far  they  may  be  economical  in 
construction,  or  specially  adapted  to  the  severe  climate  of  the 
country,  I  can  not  say  ;  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  risking  my 
reputation  for  judgment  in  giving  my  warmest  commendation 
to  them  as  regards  beauty  of  outline  and  truthful  nobility  of 
detail. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  them,  for  I  should  interest  no 


\ 


Vj 


w"- 


"!i 


'Mi 


P 


m*  31  u 


rr- 


68 


ITOBTn  AMERICA. 


one  in  doing  so,  and  sliould  certainly  fail  in  my  attempt  to 
make  any  reader  understand  me.     I  know  no  modern  Gothic 

/    purer  of  its  kind,  or  leas  sullied  with  fictitious  ornamentation. 

(     Onr  own  Houses  of  Parliament  are  very  fine,  but  it  is,  I  be- 

j  lievu,  generally  felt  that  the  ornamentation  is  too  minute ;  and, 
moreover,  it  may  bo  questioned  whether  perpendicular  C4othic 
is  capable  of  the  higliest  nobility  whicli  architecture  can  achieve. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  these  Canadian  public  buildings 
will  reacli  that  highest  nobility.  They  must  bo  finished  before 
any  final  judgment  can  bo  pronouncecl;  but  I  do  feel  very  cer- 
tain that  that  final  judgment  will  bo  greatly  in  their  favour. 
The  total  frontage  of  the  quadrangle,  includmg  the  side  build- 
ings, is  1,200  feet;  that  of  the  centre  buildings  is  475.  As  I 
have  said  before,  £225,000  has  already  been  expended,  and  it 
is  estimated  that  the  total  cost,  including  the  arrangement  and 
decoration  of  the  ground  behind  the  building  and  in  the  quad- 
rangle, will  be  half  a  million. 

The  buildings  front  upon  what  will,  I  suppose,  be  the  prin- 
cipal street  of  Ottawa,  and  they  stand  upon  a  rock  looking  im- 
mediately down  upon  the  river.  In  this  way  they  are  blessed 
with  a  site  peculiarly  happy.  Indeed  I  cannot  at  this  moment 
remember  any  so  much  so.  The  castle  of  Edinburgh  stands 
very  well ;  but  then,  like  many  other  castles,  it  stands  on  r»  sum- 
mit by  itself,  and  can  only  be  approached  by  a  steep  ascent. 
These  buildings  at  Ottawa,  though  they  look  down  from  a 
grand  eminence  immediately  on  the  river,  are  approached  from 
the  town  without  any  ascent.  The  rock,  though  it  falls  almost 
precipitously  down  to  the  water,  is  covered  with  trees  and 
shrubs,  and  then  the  river  that  runs  beneath  is  rapid,  bright, 
and  picturesque  in  the  irregularity  of  all  its  lines.     The  view 

\  from  the  back  of  the  library,  up  to  the  Chaudicre  falls,  and  to 
the  saw-mills  by  which  they  are  surrounded,  is  very  lovely. 

I    So  that  I  will  say  again,  that  I  know  no  site  for  such  a  set  of 
!    buildings  so  happy  as  regards  both  beauty  and  grandem*.     It 

J    is  intended  that  the  library,  of  which  the  walls  were  only  ten 

^  feet  above  the  ground  when  I  was  there,  shall  be  an  octagonal 
building,  in  shape  and  outward  character  like  the  chapter-house 
of  a  cathedral.  This  structure  will,  I  presume,  be  surrounded 
by  gravel  walks  and  green  sward.  Of  the  library  there  is  a 
large  model  showing  all  the  details  of  the  architecture ;  and  if 
that  model  be  ultimately  followed,  this  building  alone  will  be 
worthy  of  a  visit  from  English  tourists.  To  me  it  was  very 
wonderful  to  find  such  an  edifice  in  the  course  of  erection  on 
the  banks  of  a  wild  river,  almost  at  the  back  of  Canada.     But 


UrPKU   CANADA. 


60 


if  ever  I  visit  Canada  again  it  will  bo  to  see  those  buildings 
when  coinplt'tod. 

And  now,  like  nil  tVlcn<lly  critics,  having  bestowed  my  mod- 
icum of  praise,  I  must  proceed  to  fmd  fault.  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  a<lministcr  my  sugar-plum  witlumt  adding  to  it  some 
iMtter  morsel  by  way  of  antidote.  Tlic  building  to  the  left  of 
tliu  (piadratigh)  as  it  is  entered  is  dcticient  in  length,  and  on 
that  account  appears  mean  to  the  eye.  The  two  side  buihlings 
are  brouglit  u[)  close  to  the  street,  so  tliat  each  has  a  frontage 
itnmcdiately  on  the  street.  8uch  being  the  case  they  shoukl 
be  of  ecpial  length,  or  nearly  so.  Had  the  centre  of  one  fronted 
the  centre  of  the  other,  a  dilieronco  of  length  might  have  been 
allowed ;  but  in  this  o  the  side  front  of  the  smaller  one 
would  not  have  ro  '  h  the  street.  As  it  is,  the  space  be- 
tween the  main  bv.  .g  and  the  smaller  wing  is  dispropor- 
tionably  large,  and  tl  i  very  distance  at  which  it  stands  will,  I 
fear,  give  to  it  that  appearance  of  meanness  of  which  I  have 
spoken.  The  clerk  of  the  works,  who  explained  to  me  with 
mucli  courtesy  the  plan  of  the  buildings,  stated  that  the  design 
of  this  wing  was  capable  of  elongation,  and  had  been  expressly 
prepared  with  that  object.  If  this  be  so,  I  trust  that  the  dQ- 
fect  will  be  remedied. 

The  great  trade  of  Canada  is  lumbering ;  and  lumbering  con- 
sists in  cutting  down  pine  trees  up  in  the  far  distant  forests,  in 
hewing  or  sawing  them  into  shape  for  market,  and  getting  them 
down  the  rivers  to  Quebec,  from  whence  they  are  exported  to 
Europe,  and  chiefly  to  England.  Timber  in  Canada  is  called 
lumber ;  those  engaged  in  the  trade  are  called  lumberers,  and 
the  business  itself  is  called  lumbering.  After  a  lapse  of  time  it 
must  no  doubt  become  monotonous  to  those  engaged  in  it,  and 
the  name  is  not  engaging;  but  there  is  much  about  it  that  is 
very  picturesque.  A  saw-mill  worked  by  water  power  is  al- 
most always  a  pretty  object,  and  stacks  ,of  new  cut  timber  are 
pleasant  to  the  smell,  and  group  themselves  not  amiss  on  the 
water's  edge.  If  I  had  the  time,  and  were  a  year  or  two  young- 
er, I  should  love  well  to  go  up  lumbering  into  the  woods.  The 
men  for  this  purpose  are  hired  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  and  are 
sent  up  hundreds  of  miles  away  to  the  pine  forests  in  strong 
gangs.  Everything  is  there  found  for  them.  They  make  log 
huts  for  their  shelter,  and  food  of  the  best  and  the  strongest  is 
taken  up  for  their  diet.  But  no  strong  drink  of  any  kind  is  al- 
lowed, nor  is  any  within  reach  of  the  men.  There  are  no  pub- 
lics, no  shebeen  houses,  no  grog-shops.  Sobriety  is  an  enforced 
virtue ;  and  so  much  is  this  considered  by  the  masters,  and  un- 


W\. 


\ 


I, 


\X 


■•I  • 


N 


I 


lt*i: 


70 


KOR'lIl    AMElllCA. 


(Icrstood  by  tlio  mon,  tlint  very  little  contnibanrl  work  is  done 
in  the  wny  of  takiritf  up  Hpirits  to  these  settlements.  It  may 
bo  said  that  the  work  up  in  the  forests  is  done  with  the  assist- 
anee  of  no  stronger  drink  than  tea;  and  it  is  very  hard  work. 
There  caimot  be  much  work  that  is  harder;  and  it  is  done 
amidst  the  snows  and  forests  of  a  Canadian  winter.  A  <jon- 
vict  in  Bermuda  cannot  get  througli  his  daily  eight  hours  of 
light  labour  without  an  allowance  of  rum ;  but  a  Canadian  lum- 
berer can  manage  to  do  his  daily  task  on  tea  without  milk. 
These  men,  however,  are  by  no  means  teetotallers.  When  they 
come  back  to  the  towns  they  break  out,  and  reward  themselves 
for  their  long  enforced  moderation.  The  wages  I  found  to  bo 
very  various,  running  from  thirteen  or  fourteen  dollars  a  month 
to  twenty-eight  or  thirty,  according  to  tho  nature  of  the  work. 
The  men  who  cut  down  tho  trees  receive  more  than  those  who 
hew  them  when  down,  and  these  again  more  than  tlio  under 
class  who  make  the  roads  and  clear  the  ground.  These  money 
wages,  however,  are  in  addition  to  their  diet.  The  operation 
requiring  tho  most  skill  is  that  of  marking  the  trees  for  the  axe. 
Tho  largest  only  are  worth  cutting;  and  form  and  soundness 
iXiust  also  bo  considered. 

But  if  I  were  about  to  visit  a  party  of  lumberers  in  the  for- 
est, I  should  not  be  disposed  to  pass  a  whole  winter  with  them. 
Even  of  a  very  good  thing  one  may  have  too  much.  I  would 
go  up  in  the  spring,  when  tho  rafts  are  being  formed  in  tho 
small  tributary  streams,  and  I  would  come  down  upon  one  of 
them,  shooting  the  rapids  of  the  rivers  as  soon  as  the  first  fresh- 
ets had  left  the  way  open.  A  freshet  in  the  rivers  is  the  rush 
of  waters  occasioned  by  melting  snow  and  ice.  The  first  fresh- 
ets take  down  the  winter  waters  of  the  nearer  lakes  and  rivers. 
Then  the  streams  become  for  a  time  navigable,  and  the  rafts  go 
down.  After  that  comes  the  second  freshet,  occasioned  by  the 
melting  of  far-off  snow  and  ice,  up  in  the  great  northern  lakes 
which  are  little  known.  These  rafts  are  of  immense  construc- 
tion, such  as  those  which  we  have  seen  on  tho  Rhone  and 
Rhine,  and  often  contain  timber  to  the  value  of  two,  three,  and 
four  thousand  pounds.  At  the  rapids  the  large  rafts  are,  as  it 
were,  unyoked,  and  divided  into  small  portions,  which  go  down 
separately.  The  excitement  and  motion  of  such  transit  must, 
I  should  say,  be  very  joyous.  I  was  told  that  the  Prince  of 
\V*ales  desired  to  go  down  a  rapid  on  a  raft,  but  that  the  men 
in  charge  would  not  undertake  to  say  that  there  was  no  possi- 
ble danger.  Whereupon  those  who  accompanied  the  prince 
requested  his  Royal  Highness  to  forbear.    I  fear  that  in  these 


ci 

tl 
o 
a 

HI 


UPPKU   CANADA. 


71 


careful  flays  crowiiiMl  heads  and  their  heirs  must  often  find 
theiiiselveH  in  the  position  of  Sanelio  at  the  ban(|Ut't.  The  sail- 
or prince  wlio  came  after  his  brotiier  was  allowed  to  go  down 
:i  ra[>id,  and  got,  as  I  was  told,  rather  a  rough  bump  as  he  did 

BO. 

Ottawa  is  a  great  j)laco  for  these  timber  rafts.  Indeed,  it 
may,  I  think,  be  called  the  head-<iuarters  of  timber  for  the 
world.  Nearly  all  the  best  pine  wood  comes  down  tlio  Otta- 
wa and  its  tributaries.  The  other  rivers  by  which  timber  is 
brought  down  to  the  St.  Lawrence  are  chiefly  the  St.  Maurice, 
the  iVIadawaaka,  and  the  Saguenay ;  but  the  Ottawa  and  its 
tributaries  water  75,000  square  miles  ;  whereas  the  other  three 
rivers  with  their  tributaries  water  only  53,000.  The  timber 
from  tlie  Ottawa  and  St.  Maurice  finds  its  way  down  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  Quebec,  where,  however,  it  loses  the  whole  of  its 
picturesque  character.  The  Saguenay  and  the  Madawaska  fall 
into  the  St.  Lawrence  below  Quebec. 

From  Ottawa  we  went  by  rail  to  Prescott,  which  is  surely 
one  of  the  most  wretched  little  j)laces  to  be  found  in  any  coun- 
try. Immediately  opposite  to  it,  on  the  other  side  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  is  the  thrivmg  town  of  Ogdensburgh.  But  Ogdens- 
burgh  is  in  the  United  States.  Had  wo  been  able  to  learn  at 
Ottawa  any  facts  as  to  the  hours  of  the  river  steamers  and  rail- 
ways we  might  have  saved  time  and  have  avoided  Prescott ; 
but  this  was  out  of  the  question.  Had  I  asked  the  exact  liour 
at  which  I  might  reach  Calcutta  by  the  quickest  route,  an  ac- 
curate reply  would  not  have  been  more  out  of  the  question.  I 
was  much  struck  at  Prescott — and  indeed  all  through  Canada, 
though  more  in  the  upper  than  in  the  lower  province — by  the 
sturdy  roughness,  some  would  call  it  insolence,  of  those  of  the 
lower  classes  of  the  people  with  whom  I  was  brought  into  con- 
tact. If  the  words  "  lower  classes"  give  offence  to  any  reader, 
I  beg  to  apologize ; — to  apologize  and  to  assert  that  1  am  one 
of  the  last  of  men  to  apply  such  a  term  in  a  sense  of  reproach 
to  those  who  earn  their  bread  by  the  labour  of  their  hands. 
But  it  is  hard  to  find  terms  which  will  be  understood ;  and 
that  term,  whether  it  give  offence  or  no,  will  be  understood. 
Of  course  such  a  complaint  as  that  I  now  make  is  very  common 
as  made  against  the  States.  Men  in  the  States  with  horned 
hands  and  fustian  coats  are  very  often  most  unnecessarily  inso- 
lent in  asserting  their  independence.  What  I  now  mean  to  say 
is  that  precisely  the  same  fault  is  to  be  found  in  Canada.  I 
know  well  what  the  men  mean  when  they  offend  in  this  man- 
ner.   And  when  I  think  on  the  subject  with  deliberation,  at  my 


1             *     ' 

't, 

■  •( 

-lix 


Rtil- 


* 


■«♦*'' 


11 


72 


NORTH    AMJiltlCA. 


Ij^l 


HI 


own  desk,  I  can  not  only  excuse,  but  almost  approve  them.  But 
when  one  personally  encouhters  their  corduroy  braggadocio ; 
when  the  man  to  whose  services  one  is  entitled  answers  one 
with  determined  insolence ;  when  one  is  bidden  to  follow  "  that 
young  lady,"  meaning  the  chambermaid,  or  desired,  with  a  toss 
of  the  head,  to  wait  for  the  "  gentleman  who  is  coming,"  mean- 
ing the  boots,  the  heart  is  sickened,  and  the  English  traveller 
pines  ^ov  the  civility, — for  the  servility,  if  my  American  friends 
choose  to  call  it  so, — of  a  well-ordered  servant.  But  the  whole 
scene  is  easily  construed,  and  turned  into  English.  A  man  is 
asked  by  a  stranger  some  Question  about  his  employment,  and 
he  replies  in  a  tone  which  seems  to  imply  anger,  insolence,  and 
a  dishonest  intention  to  evade  the  service  ^or  which  he  is  paid. 
Or  if  there  be  no  question  of  service  or  payment,  the  man's  man- 
ner will  be  the  same,  and  the  stranger  feels  that  he  is  slapped 
in  the  face  and  insulted.  The  translation  of  it  is  this.  The 
man  questioned,  who  is  aware  that  as  regards  coat,  hat,  boots, 
and  outward  cleanliness  he  is  below  him  by  whom  he  is  ques- 
tioned, unconsciously  feels  himself  called  upon  to  assert  his  po- 
litical equality.  It  is  his  shibboleth  that  he  is  politically  equal 
to  the  best,  that  ho  is  independent,  and  that  his  labour,  though 
it  earn  him  but  a  dollar  a  day  by  porterage,  places  him  as  a 
citizen  on  an  equal  rank  with  the  most  wealthy  fellow-man  that 
may  employ  or  ac30st  him.  But  being  so  inferior  in  that  coat, 
hat  and  boots  matter,  he  is  forced  to  assert  his  equality  by  some 
effort.  As  he  improves  in  externals  he  will  diminish  the  rough- 
Tiess  of  his  claim.  As  long  as  the  man  makes  his  claim  with 
any  roughness,  so  long  does  he  acknowledge  within  himself 
rome  feeling  of  external  inferiority.  When  that  has  gone, — 
when  the  American  has  polished  himself  up  by  education  and 
general  well  being  to  a  feeling  of  external  equality  with  gentle- 
men, he  shows,  I  think,  no  more  of  that  outward  braggadocio 
of  independence  than  a  Frenchman. 

Bu^  the  blow  at  the  moment  of  the  stroke  is  very  galling. 
I  confess  that  I  have  occasionally  all  but  broken  down  bereath 
it.  But  when  it  is  thought  of  afterwards  it  admits  of  full  ex- 
cuse. No  effort  that  a  man  can  make  is  better  than  a  true  ef- 
fort at  independence.  But  this  insolence  is  a  false  effort,  it  will 
be  said.  It  should  rather  be  called  a  false  accompaniment  to  a 
life-long  true  eifort.  The  man  probably  is  not  dishonest,  does  not 
desire  to  shirk  any  service  which  is  due  from  him, — is  not  even 
inclined  to  insolence.  Accept  his  first  declaration  of  equality 
for  that  y/]iich  it  is  intended  to  represent,  and  the  man  after- 
wards will  be  found  obliging  and  communicative.     If  occasion 


^■^< 


Ul'l'KR   CANADA. 


73 


otfer  he  will  sit  down  in  tlie  room  with  you,  and  will  talk  with 
you  on  any  subject  that  he  may  clioose ;  but  having  once  as- 
certained that  you  show  no  resentment  for  this  assertion  of 
equality,  he  will  do  pretty  nearly  all  ihat  he  is  asked.  He  will 
at  any  rate  do  as  m"ch  in  that  way  as  an  Englishman.  I  say 
thus  much  on  this  subject  now  especially,  because  I  was  quite 
as  much  struck  by  the  feeling  in  Canada  as  I  was  within  the 
States. 

From  Prescott  we  went  on  by  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  to 
Toronto,  and  stayed  there  for  a  few  days.  Toronto  is  the  cap- 
ital of  the  province  of  Upper  Canada,  and  I  presume  will  in 
some  degree  remain  so  in  spite  of  Ottawa  and  its  pretensions. 
That  is,  the  law  courts  will  still  be  held  there.  I  do  not  know 
that  it  will  enjoy  any  other  supremacy,  unless  it  be  that  of 
trade  and  population.  Some  few  years  ago  Toronto  was  ad- 
vancing with  rapid  strides,  and  was  bidding  fair  to  rival  Qucr 
bee,  or  even  perliaps  Montreal.  Hamilton,  also,  another  town 
of  Upper  Canada,  was  going  a  head  ni  the  true  American  style ; 
but  then  reverses  came  in  trade,  and  the  towns  were  checked 
for  a  while.  Toronto,  with  a  n  Mghbouring  suburb  which  is  a 
part  of  it,  as  Southwark  is  of  London,  contains  now  over  50,000 
inhabitants.  The  Lcroets  are  all  parallelogramical,  and  there  is 
not  a  single  curvature  to  rest  the  eye.  It  is  built  down  closo 
upon  Lake  Ontario ;  and  as  it  is  also  on  the  Grand  Trunk  Rail- 
way it  has  all  the  aid  which  facility  of  trp,ffic  can  give  it. 

The  two  sights  of  Toronto  are  the  Osgoode  Hall  and  the  Uni- 
versity. The  Osgoode  Hall  is  to  Upper  Canada  what  the  Four 
Courts  are  to  L-eland.  The  law  courts  are  all  held  there.  Ex- 
teriorly Hitlc  can  be  said  for  Osgoode  Hall,  whereas  the  exte- 
rior of  the  Four  Courts  in  Dublin  is  very  fine ;  but  as  an  inte- 
rior the  temple  of  Themis  at  Toronto  beats  hollow  that  which 
the  goddess  owns  in  Dublin.  In  Dublin  the  Courts  themselves 
are  shabby,  and  the  space  under  the  dome  is  not  so  fine  as  tho 
exterior  seems  to  promise  that  it  should  be.  In  Toronto  the 
Courts  themselves  are,  I  think,  the  most  commodious  that  I 
ever  saw,  and  the  passages,  vestibules,  and  hall  are  very  hand- 
some. In  Upper  Canada  the  common  law  judges  and  those  in 
Chancery  are  divided  as  they  are  in  England ;  but  it  is,  as  I 
was  told,  the  opinion  of  Canadian  lawyers  that  the  work  may 
be  thrown  together.  Appeal  is  allowed  in  criminal  cases ;  but 
as  far  as  I  could  learn  such  power  of  appeal  is  held  to  be  both 
troublesome  and  useless.  In  Lower  Canada  the  old  French 
laws  are  still  administered. 

But  the  University  is  the  glory  of  Toronto.    This  is  a  Goth- 

D 


\ 


)\ 


'!.l 


,  ■I ii 

5  ' « 


74 


NUllTll    AMEKICA. 


ic  building  and  will  take  rank  after,  but  next  to  the  buildings 
at  Ottawa.  It  will  be  the  second  piece  of  noble  architecture 
in  Canada,  and  as  far  as  I  know  on  the  American  continent. 
It  is,  I  believe,  intended  to  be  purely  Norman,  though  I  doubt 
whether  the  received  types  of  Norman  architecture  have  not 
been  departed  from  in  many  of  the  windows.  Be  this  as  it 
may  the  College  is  a  manly,  noble  structure,  free  from  false 
decoration,  and  infinitely  creditable  to  those  who  projected  it. 
I  was  informed  by  the  head  of  the  College  that  it  has  been 
open  only  two  years,  and  here  also  I  fancy  that  the  colony  has 
been  much  indebted  to  the  taste  of  the  late  Governor,  Sir  Ed- 
mund Head. 

Toronto  as  a  city  is  not  generally  attractive  to  a  traveller. 
The  country  around  it  is  flat ;  and,  though  it  stands  on  a  lake, 
that  lake  has  no  attributes  of  beauty.  Large  inland  seas  such 
as  are  these  great  Northern  lakes  of  America  never  have  such 
attributes.  Picturesque  mountains  rise  from  narrow  valleys, 
such  as  form  the  beds  of  lakes  in  Switzerland,  Scotland,  and 
Northern  Italy.  But  from  such  broad  waters  as  those  of  Lake 
Ontario,  Lake  Erie,  and  Lake  Michigan,  the  shores  shflve  very 
gradually,  and  have  none  of  the  materials  of  lovely  e^oiiery. 

The  streets  in  Toronto  are  framed  with  wood,  or  rather 
planked,  as  are  those  of  Montreal  and  Quebec ;  but  they  are 
kept  in  better  order.  I  should  say  that  the  planks  are  first 
used  at  Toronto,  then  sent  down  by  the  lake  to  Montreal,  and 
when  all  but  rotted  out  there,  are  again  floated  off  by  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  be  used  in  the  tlioroughfares  of  the  old  French 
capital.  But  if  the  streets  of  Toronto  are  better  than  those  of 
the  other  towns,  the  roads  round  it  are  worse.  I  had  the  hon- 
our of  meeting  two  distinguished  members  of  the  Provincial 
Parliament  at  dinner  some  few  miles  out  of  town,  and,  return- 
ing back  a  short  while  after  they  had  left  our  host's  house,  was 
glad  to  be  of  use  in  picking  them  up  from  a  ditch  into  which 
their  carriage  had  been  upset.  To  me  it  appeared  all  but  mi- 
raculous that  any  carriage  should  make  its  way  over  that  road 
without  such  misadventure.  I  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to 
hope  that  the  discomfiture  of  those  worthy  legislators  may  lead 
to  some  improvement  in  the  thoroughfare. 

I  had  on  a  previous  occasion  gone  down  the  St.  Lawrence, 
through  the  thousand  isles,  and  over  the  rapids  in  one  of  those 
large  summer  steamboats  which  ply  upon  the  lake  and  river. 
I  cannot  say  that  I  was  much  struck  by  the  scenery,  and  there- 
fore did  not  encroach  upon  my  time  by  making  the  journey 
again.     Such  an  opinion  will  be  I'egarded  a&  heresy  by  many 


CONNEXION    OF   THE   CANADAS    WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN.        VS 

who  tliink  much  of  the  thousand  islands.  I  do  not  believe  that 
they  would  be  expressly  noted  by  any  traveller  who  was  not 
expressly  bidden  to  admire  them. 

From  Toronto  we  went  across  to  Niagara,  re-entering  the 
States  at  Lewiston  in  New  York. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    CONNEXION    OF   THE    CANADAS    WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN. 

When  the  American  war  began  troops  were  sent  out  to 
Canada,  and  when  I  was  in  the  Provinces  more  troops  ^\ere 
then  expected.  The  matter  was  much  talked  of,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  in  Canada ;  and  it  had  been  discussed  in  England  be- 
fore I  left.  I  had  seen  much  said  about  it  in  the  Elnglish  pa- 
pers since,  and  it  also  had  become  the  subject  of  very  hot 
question  among  the  politicians  of  the  Northern  States.  The 
measure  had  at  that  time  given  more  umbrage  to  the  North 
than  anything  else  done  or  said  by  England  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  up  to  that  time,  except  the  declaration  made 
by  Lord  John  Russell  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  to  the  neu- 
trality to  be  preserved  by  England  between  the  two  belliger- 
ents. The  argument  used  by  the  Northern  States  was  this. 
If  France  collects  men  and  material  of  war  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  England,  England  considers  herself  injured,  calls  for  an 
explanation,  and  talks  of  invasion.  Therefore  as  England  is 
now  collecting  men  and  material  of  war  in  our  neighbourhood, 
we  will  consider  ourselves  injured.  It  does  not  suit  us  to  ask 
for  an  explanation,  because  it  is  not  our  habit  to  interfere  with 
other  nations.  We  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  we  think  we 
are  to  be  invaded.  But  as  we  clearly  are  injured,  we  will  ex- 
press our  anger  at  that  injury,  and  when  the  opportunity  shall 
come  will  take  advantage  of  having  that  new  grievance. 

As  we  all  know,  a  very  large  increase  of  force  w.ns  sent  when 
we  were  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  termination  of  the  Trent  affair, 
and  imagined  that  war  was  imminent.  But  the  sending  of  that 
large  force  did  not  aftger  the  Americans,  as  the  first  despatch 
of  troops  to  Canada  had  angered  them.  Things  had  so  turned 
out  that  measures  of  military  precaution  were  acknowledged 
by  them  to  be  necessary.  I  cannot,  however,  but  think  that 
Mr.  Seward  might  have  spared  that  offer  to  send  British  troops 
across  Maine ;  and  so,  also,  have  all  his  countrymen  thought  by 
whom  I  have  heard  the  matter  discussed. 

As  to  any  attempt  at  invasion  of  Canada  by  the  Americans, 


* 

■  M  f 

w 


'\: 


!?      i 


5   -      ■    . 


V6 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


or  idea  of  punishing  tlie  alleged  injuries  suffered  by  the  States 
from  Great  Britain  -by  the  annexation  of  those  provinces,  I  do 
not  believe  that  any  sane-minded  citizens  of  the  States  believe 
in  the  possibility  of  such  retaliation.  Some  years  since  the 
Americans  thought  that  Canada  might  shine  in  the  Union  fir- 
mament as  a  new  star,  but  that  delusion  is,  I  think,  over.  Such 
annexation  if  ever  made,  must  have  been  made  not  only  against 
the  arms  of  England  but  must  also  have  been  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  wishes  of  the  people  so  annexed.  It  was  then 
believed  that  the  Canadians  were  not  averse  to  such  a  change, 
and  there  may  possibly  have  then  been  among  them  the  rem- 
nant of  such  a  wish.  There  is  certainly  no  such  desire  now, 
not  even  a  remnant  of  such  a  desire ;  and  the  truth  on  this 
matter  is,  I  think,  generally  acknowledged.  The  feeling  in 
Canada  is  one  of  strong  aversion  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, and  of  predilection  for  self-government  under  the  English 
Crown.  A  faineant  Governor  and  the  prestige  of  British  power 
is  now  the  political  aspiration  of  the  Canadians  in  general ;  and 
I  think  that  this  is  understood  in  the  States.  Moreover  the 
States  have  a  job  of  work  on  hand  which,  as  they  themselves 
are  well  aware,  is  taxing  all  their  energies.  Such  being  the 
case  I  do  not  think  that  England  needs  to  fear  any  invasion  of 
Canada,  authorized  by  the  States  Government. 

This  feeling  of  a  grievance  on  the  part  of  the  States  was  a 
manifest  absurdity.  The  new  reinforcement  of  the  garrisons 
in  Canada  did  not,  when  I  was  in  Canada,  amount  as  I  believe 
to  more  than  2,000  men.  But  had  it  amounted  to  20,000  the 
States  would  have  had  no  just  ground  for  complaint.  Of  all 
nationalities  that  in  modern  days  have  risen  to  power,  they 
above  all  others  have  shown  that  they  would  do  what  they 
liked  with  their  own,  indifferent  to  forHgn  councils,  and  deaf 
to  foreign  remonstrance.  "Do  you  gc  your  way,  and  let  us 
go  ours.  We  will  trouble  you  with  no  question,  nor  do  you 
trouble  us."  Such  has  been  their  national  policy,  and  it  has  ob- 
tained for  them  great  respect.  They  have  resisted  the  tempta- 
tion of  putting  their  fingers  into  the  caldron  of  foreign  policy; 
and  foreign  politicians,  acknowledging  their  reserve  in  this  re- 
spect, have  not  been  offended  at  the  bristles  with  which  their 
Noli  me  tangere  has  been  proclaimed.  Their  intelligence  has 
been  appreciated,  and  their  conduct  has  been  respected.  But 
if  this  has  been  their  line  of  policy,  they  must  be  entirely  out 
of  court  in  raising  any  question  as  to  the  position  of  British 
troops  on  British  soil. 

"It  shows  us  that  you  doubt  us,"  an  American  says,  with  an 


'-;.  ^ 

»>,-;» 


CONNEXION   OP  THE   CANADAS   WITII   GREAT   BRITAIN.       77 


air  of  injured  honour — or  did  say,  before  that  Trent  affair. 
"And  it  is  done  to  express  sympathy  with  the  South.  The 
Southerners  understand  it,  and  we  understand  it  also.  We 
know  wliere  your  hearts  are;  nay,  your  very  souls.  They  are 
among  the  slave-begotten  cotton  bales  of  the  rebel  South." 
Then  comes  the  whole  of  the  long  argument,  in  which  it  seems 
so  easy  to  an  Englishman  to  prove  that  England  in  the  whole 
of  this  ead  matter  has  been  true  and  loyal  to  her  friend.  She 
could  not  interfere  when  the  husband  and  wife  would  quarrel. 
She  could  only  grieve,  and  wish  that  things  might  come  right 
and  smooth  for  both  parties.  But  the  argument  though  so 
easy  is  never  effectual. 

It  seems  to  me  foolish  in  an  American  to  quarrel  with  En- 
gland for  sending  soldiers  to  Canada ;  but  I  cannot  say  that  I 
thought  it  was  well  done  to  send  them  at  the  begmning  of  the 
war.  The  English  Government  did  not,  I  presume,  take  this 
step  with  reference  to  any  possible  invasion  of  Canada  by  the 
Government  of  the  States.  We  are  fortifying  Portsmouth,  and 
Portland,  and  Plymouth,  because  we  would  fain  be  safe  against 
the  French  army  acting  under  a  French  Emperor.  But  we 
sent  2,000  troops  to  Canada,  if  I  understand  the  matter  rightly, 
to  guard  our  provinces  against  the  filibustering  energies  of  a 
mass  of  unemployed  American  soldiers,  when  those  soldiers 
should  come  to  be  disbanded.  When  this  war  shall  be  over — 
a  war  during  which  not  much,  if  any,  under  a  million  of  Amer- 
ican citizens  will  have  been  under  arms — it  will  not  be  easy  for 
all  who  survive  to  return  to  their  old  homes  and  old  occupa- 
tions. Nor  does  a  disbanded  soldier  always  make  a  good  hus- 
bandman, notwithstanding  the  great  examples  of  Cincinnatus 
and  Bird-o'-freedom  Sawin.  It  may  be  that  a  considerable 
amount  of  filibustering  energy  will  be  afloat,  and  that  the  then 
Government  of  those  who  neighbour  us  m  Canada  will  have 
other  matters  in  hand  more  important  to*  them  than  the  con- 
trolling of  these  unruly  spirits.  That,  as  I  take  it,  was  the  evil 
against  which  we  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Canada  desired  to 
guard  ourselves. 

But  I  doubt  whether  2,000  or  10,000  British  soldiers  would 
bo  any  effective  guard  against  such  inroads,  and  I  doubt  more 
strongly  whether  any  such  external  guarding  will  be  necessary. 
If  the  Canadians  were  prepared  to  fraternize  with  filibusters 
from  the  States,  neither  three  nor  ten  thousand  soldiers  would 
avail  ao;ainst  such  a  feelinc:  over  a  frontier  stretchinjy  from  the 
State  of  jViainc  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Erie.  If 
such  a  feeling  did  exist,  if  the  Canadians  wished  the  change,  in 


\ 


)% 


I  i 


78 


NORTH   AMKUICA. 


God's  name  let  them  go.  (Is  it  for  their  eakes  and  not  for  our 
own  that  we  would  have  them  bound  to  us^  But  the  Canadi- 
ans are  averse  to  such  a  change  with  a  degree  of  feeling  that 
amounts  to  national  intensity.  Their  sympathies  are  with  the 
Southern  States,  not  because  they  care  for  cotton,  not  bec.uuso 
they  are  anti-abolitionists,  not  because  they  admire  the  hearty 
pluck  of  tliose  who  are  endeavouring  to  work  out  for  them- 
selves a  new  revolution.  They  sympathize  with  the  South  from 
strong  dislike  to  the  aggression,  the  braggadocio,  and  the  inso- 
lence they  have  felt  upon  their  own  borders.  They  dislike  Mr. 
Seward's  weak  and  vulgar  joke  with  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
They  dislike  Mr.  Everett's  flattering  hints  to  his  countrymen  as 
to  the  one  nation  that  is  to  occupy  the  whole  continent.  They 
dislike  the  Monroe  doctrine.  They  wonder  at  the  meekness 
with  which  England  has  endured  the  vauntings  of  the  North- 
ern States,  and  are  endued  with  no  such  meekness  of  their  own. 
They  would,  I  believe,  be  well  prepared  to  meet  and  give  an  ac- 
count of  any  filibusters  who  might  visit  them ;  and  I  am  not 
sure  that  it  is  wisely  done  on  our  part  to  show  any  intention 
of  taking  the  work  out  of  their  hands. 

But  I  am  led  to  this  opinion  in  no  degree  by  a  feeling  that 
Great  Britain  ought  to  grudge  the  cost  of  the  soldiers.  If  Can- 
ada will  be  safer  with  them,  in  heaven's  name  let  her  have  them. 
It  has  been  argued  in  many  places  not  only  with  regard  to 
Canada,  but  as  to  all  our  self-governed  colonies,  that  military 
service  should  not  be  given  at  British  expense  and  with  British 
men  to  any  colony  which  has  its  own  representative  govern- 
ment, and  which  levies  its  own  taxes.  "  While  Great  Britain 
absolutely  held  the  reins  of  government,  and  did  as  it  pleased 
with  the  affairs  of  its  dependencies,"  such  politicians  say,  "it 
was  ju.-,t  and  right  that  she  should  pay  the  bill.  As  long  as 
her  government  of  a  colony  was  paternal,  so  long  was  it  right 
that  the  mother  country  should  put  herself  in  the  place  of  a  fa- 
ther, and  enjoy  a  father's  undoubted  prerogative  of  putting  his 
hand  into  his  breeches  pocket  to  provide  for  all  the  wants  of 
his  child.  But  when  the  adult  son  set  up  for  himself  in  busi- 
ness, having  received  education  from  the  parent,  and  having 
had  his  apprentice  fees  duly  paid,  then  that  son  should  settle 
his  own  bills,  and  look  no  longer  to  the  paternal  pocket."  Such 
is  the  law  of  the  world  all  over,  from  little  birds  whose  young 
fly  away  when  fledged,  upwards  to  men  and  nations.  Let  the 
father  work  for  the  child  while  he  is  a  child,  but  when  the  child 
has  become  a  man  let  him  lean  no  longer  on  his  father's  staff. 

The  argument  is,  I  think,  very  good ;  but  it  proves,  not  that 


{ 


]i^U>e£ 


Ir  IM^>i>j 


CONNEXION    OF   TIIK    LANADAS    WITH    GRKAT    URITAIN. 


we  arc  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  assisting  our  colonies 
with  payments  made  out  of  Britimh  taxes,  but  that  we  arc  still 
bound  to  give  such  assistance ;  and  that  wo  shall  continue  to 
be  so  bound  as  long  as  we  allow  these  colonies  to  adhere  to  us, 
or  as  they  allow  us  to  adhere  to  them.  In  foct  the  young  bird 
is  not  yet  fully  fledged.  That  illustration  of  the  father  and  the 
child  is  a  just  one,  but  in  order  to  make  it  just  it  should  bo 
followed  throughout.  When  the  son  is  in  fact  established  on 
his  own  bottom,  then  the  father  expects  that  lie  will  live  with- 
out assistance.  But  when  the  son  does  so  live  he  is  freed  from 
all  paternal  control.  The  father,  while  lie  expects  to  be  obey- 
ed, continues  to  fill  the  paternal  ofiicc  of  paymaster, — of  pay- 
master, at  any  rate,  to  some  extent.  And  so,  I  think,  it  must 
be  with  om"  colonies.  The  Canadas  at  present  arc  not  inde- 
pendent, and  have  not  political  power  of  their  own  apart  from 
the  political  power  of  Great  Britain.  England  has  declared 
herself  neutral  as  regards  the  Northern  and  Southern  States, 
and  by  that  neutrality  the  Canadas  are  bound ;  and  yet  the 
Canadas  were  not  consulted  in  the  matter.  Should  England 
go  to  war  with  France,  Canada  must  close  her  ports  against 
French  vessels.  If  England  chooses  to  send  her  troops,  to  Ca- 
nadian barracks,  Canada  cannot  refuse  to  accept  them.*/ If  En- 
gland should  send  to  Canada  an  unpopular  Governor,  Canada 
has  no  power  to  reject  his  servicesj,**^  As  long  as  Canada  is  a 
colony,  so  called,  she  cannot  be  independent,  and  should  not  be 
expected  to  walk  alone.  It  is  exactly  the  same  with  the  colo- 
nies of  Australia,  with  New  Zealand,  with  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  with  Jamaica.  While  England  enjoys  the  prestige 
of  her  colonies,  while  she  boasts  that  such  large  and  now  pop- 
ulous territories  are  her  dependencies,  she  must  and  should  be 
content  to  pay  some  portion  of  the  bill.  Surely  it  is  absurd  on 
our  part  to  quarrel  with  Caffre  warfare,  with  New  Zealand 
fighting,  and  the  rest  of  it.  Such  complaints  remind  one  of  an 
ancient  paterfamilias,  who  insists  on  having  his  children  and 
his  grandchildren  under  the  old  paternal  roof,  and  then  grum- 
bles because  the  butcher's  bill  is  high.  Those  who  will  keep 
large  households  and  bountiful  tables  should  not  bo  afraid  of 
facing  the  butcher's  bill,  or  unhappy  at  the  tonnage  of  the  coal. 
It  is  a  grand  thing,  that  power  of  keeping  a  large  table ;  but  it 
ceases  to  be  grand  when  the  items  heaped  upon  it  cause  in- 
ward groans  and  outward  moodiness. 

Why  should  the  colonies  remain  true  to  us  as  children  are 
true  to  their  parents,  if  we  grudge  them  the  assistance  which 
is  due  to  a  child  ?    They  raise  their  own  taxes,  it  is  said,  and 


ii 
n 


■^ 


■f; 


60 


NOUTII    AMEKICA. 


administer  them.  True ;  and  it  is  well  that  the  growing?  Bon 
sliould  do  something  lor  himself.  While  the  father  does  all  for 
liim  the  son's  labour  belongs  to  the  father.  Then  comes  a  mid- 
dle state  in  which  the  son  docs  nmch  for  himself,  but  not  all. 
In  that  middle  state  now  stand  our  prosperous  colonies.  Then 
comes  the  time  when  the  son  shall  stand  alone  by  his  own 
strength ;  and  to  that  period  of  manly  self-respected  strength 
let  us  all  hope  that  those  colonies  are  advancmg.  It  is  very 
hard  for  a  mother  country  to  know  when  such  a  time  has  come ; 
and  hard  also  for  the  child-colony  to  recognize  justly  the  pe- 
riod of  its  own  maturity.  Whether  or  no  such  severance  may 
ever  take  place  without  a  quarrel,  without  weakness  on  one 
side  and  pride  on  the  other,  is  a  problem  in  the  world's  history 
yet  to  be  solved.  The  most  successful  child  that  ever  yet  has 
gone  off  from  a  successful  parent  and  taken  its  own  path  int' 
the  world,  is  without  doubt  the  nation  of  the  United  States. 
Their  present  troubles  are  the  result  and  the  proofs  of  their 
success.  The  people  that  were  too  great  to  be  dependent  on 
any  nation  have  now  spread  till  they  are  themselves  too  great 
for  a  single  nationality.  Ko  one  now  thinks  that  that  daugh- 
ter should  have  remained  longer  subject  to  her  mother.  But 
the  severance  was  not  made  m  amity,  r.ud  the  shrill  notes  of 
the  old  family  quarrel  are  still  sometimes  beard  across  tho 
waters. 

From  all  this  the  question  arises  whether  that  problem  may 
ever  be  solved  with  reference  to  the  Canadas.  That  it  will 
never  be  their  dcslitiy  to  join  themselves  to  the  States  of  the 
Union,  I  feel  fully  convinced.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  becoming 
evident  from  the  present  circumstances  of  the  Union, — if  it 
had  never  been  made  evident  by  history  before, — that  diiferent 
people  with  different  habits  living  at  long  distances  from  each 
other  cannot  well  be  brought  together  on  equal  terms  under 
one  Government.  That  noble  ambition  of  the  Americans  that 
all  the  continent  north  of  the  Isthmus  should  be  united  under 
one  flag,  has  already  been  thrown  from  its  saddle.  The  North 
and  South  ai*o  virtually  separated,  and  the  day  will  come  in 
which  the  West  also  will  secede.  As  population  increases  and 
trades  arise  peculiar  to  those  different  climates,  the  interests  of 
the  people  will  differ,  and  a  new  secession  will  take  place  ben- 
eficial alike  to  both  parties.  If  this  be  so,  if  even  there  be  any 
tendency  this  way.  It  affords  the  strongest  argument  against 
the  probability  of  any  future  annexation  of  the  Canadas.  And 
then,  in  the  second  place,  the  feeling  of  Canada  is  not  Amer- 
ican, but  British.    If  ever  she  be  separated  from  Great  Britain, 


CONNEXION    OP   TUB   CANADA8   WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN.       81 

sho  will  be  scparatcil  as  the  States  were  separated.  She  will 
desire  to  stand  alone,  and  to  enter  herselt*  as  one  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

She  will  desire  to  stand  alone ; — alone,  that  is  without  de- 
pendenee  either  on  England  or  on  the  States.  J3ut  she  is  so 
circumstanced  geographically  that  she  can  never  stand  alone 
without  amalgamation  with  our  other  North  American  prov- 
inces. She  has  an  outlet  to  the  sea  at  t!ie  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
but  it  is  only  a  summer  outlet.  Her  winter  outlet  is  by  rail- 
way through  the  States,  and  no  other  winter  outlet  is  possible 
for  her  except  through  the  sister  proincos.  Before  Canada 
can  be  nationally  great,  the  line  of  raih^':iy  which  now  runs  for 
some  hundred  miles  below  Quebec  to  Riviere  du  Loup,  must 
be  continued  on  through  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia  to 
the  port  of  Halifax. 

When  I  was  in  Canada  I  lieard  the  question  discussed  of  a 
Federal  Government  between  the  provinces  of  the  two  Cana- 
das.  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  To  these  were  added, 
or  not  added,  according  to  the  opinion  of  those  who  spoke, 
the  smaller  outlying  colonies  of  Newfoundland  and  Prince  Ed- 
ward's Island.  If  a  scheme  for  such  a  Government  were  pro- 
jected in  Downing  Street,  all  would  no  doubt  be  included, 
and  a  clean  sweep  would  be  made  without  difficulty.  But  tlio 
project  as  made  in  the  colonies  appears  in  different  guises  as  it 
comes  either  from  Canada  or  from  one  of  the  other  provinces. 
The  Canadian  idea  would  be  that  the  two  Canadas  should  form 
two  States  of  such  a  confederation,  and  the  other  provinces  a 
third  State.  But  this  slight  participation  in  power  would  hard- 
ly suit  the  views  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  In 
speaking  of  such  a  Federal  Government  as  this,  I  shall  of  coarse 
be  understood  as  meaning  a  confederation  acting  in  connexion 
with  a  British  Governor,  and  dependent  upon  Great  Britain  as 
far  as  the  different  colonies  are  now  dependent. 

I  cannot  but  think  that  such  a  confederation  might  be  formed 
with  great  advantage  to  all  the  colonies  and  to  Great  Britain. 
At  present  the  Canadas  are  in  effect  almost  more  distant  from 
Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  than  they  are  from  England. 
The  intercourse  between  them  is  very  slight — so  slight  that  it 
may  almost  be  said  that  there  is  no  intercourse.  A  few  men 
of  science  or  of  political  importance  may  from  time  to  time 
make  their  way  from  one  colony  into  the  other,  but  even  this 
is  not  common.  Beyond  that  they  seldom  see  each  other. 
Though  New  Brunswick  borders,  both  Avith  Lower  Canada 
and  with  Nova  Scotia,  thus  making  one  whole  of  the  three  col- 

D2^ 


1 

t 

\ 

* 

1 

r 

I  "'4 


82 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


oniefl,  there  is  neither  raih'oad  nor  Btacjo  conveyance  running 
from  one  to  tlio  other.  And  yet  their  intoreats  kIiouIcI  be  Hira- 
ilar.  From  ^ooi^raphical  position  their  moden  of  life  nuiat  bo 
alike,  and  a  close  conjunction  between  them  is  essentially  nec- 
essary to  give  British  North  America  any  ])oIiticaI  iniportanco 
in  the  world.  There  can  bo  no  such  conjunction,  no  amalp^a- 
mation  of  interests,  imtil  a  railway  shall  have  been  made  join- 
ing the  Canada  Grand  Trunk  Line  with  the  two  outlying  colo- 
nies. Upper  Canada  can  feed  all  England  with  wheat,  and 
could  do  so  without  any  aid  of  railway  through  the  States,  if  a 
railway  were  made  from  Quebec  to  Halifax.  15ut  then  comes 
the  question  of  the  cost.  The  Canada  Grand  Trunk  is  at  the 
present  moment  at  the  lowest  ebb  of  conmiercial  misfortune, 
and  with  such  a  fact  patent  to  the  world  what  company  will 
come  forward  with  funds  for  making  four  or  live  hundred  miles 
of  railway,  through  a  district  of  which  one  half  is  not  yet  pre- 
pared for  population  ?  It  would  be,  I  imagine,  out  of  the  ques- 
tion that  such  a  speculation  should  for  many  years  give  any 
fair  commercial  interest  on  the  money  to  be  expended.  But 
nevertheless  to  the  colonies, — that  is,  to  the  enormous  regions 
of  British  North  America, — such  a  railroad  would  be  invalua- 
ble. Under  such  circumstances  it  is  for  the  Home  Government 
and  the  colonies  between  them  to  sec  how  such  a  measure  may 
be  carried  out.  As  a  national  expenditure  to  bo  defrayed  in 
the  course  of  years  by  the  territories  interested,  the  sura  of 
money  required  would  be  very  small. 

But  how  would  this  affect  England?  And  how  would  En- 
gland  bo  affected  by  a  union  of  the  British  North  American 
colonies  under  ono  Federal  Government?  Before  this  ques- 
tion can  be  answered, ho  who  prepaies  to  answer  it  must  con- 
sider what  interest  England  has  in  her  colonies,  and  for  what 
purpose  she  holds  them.  Does  she  hold  them  for  profit,  or  for 
glory,  or  for  power;  or  does  she  hold  them  in  order  that  she 
may  carry  out  the  duty  which  has  devolved  upon  her  of  ex- 
tending civilization,  freedom,  and  well-being  through  the  new 
uprising  nations  of  the  world?  Does  she  hold  them,  in  fiict, 
for  her  own  benefit,  or  does  she  hold  them  for  theirs  ?  I  know 
nothing  of  the  ethics  of  the  Colonial  Office,  and  not  much  per- 
haps of  those  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  looking  at  what 
Great  Britain  has  hitherto  done  in  the  way  of  colonization,  I 
cannot  but  think  that  the  national  ambition  looks  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  colonists,  and  not  to  home  aggrandisement.  That 
the  two  may  run  together  is  most  probable.  Indeed  there  can 
be  no  glory  to  a  people  so  great  or  so  readily  recognized  by 


<;ONNKXION    OF  THE   CANADAH   WITT!    OHFAT   IJIMTAIN.        fl3 


*»J 


nifinkind  at  Jjirgo  as  tlmt  of  Hprcadinpf  civilization  from  Kast  lo 
Wost,  and  from  North  to  South.  J>ut  tho  one  ol»jcct  should 
bo  tho  prosperity  of  tho  colonists ;  and  not  profit,  nor  glory, 
nor  oven  power  to  tlu?  parent  country. 

There  is  no  virtue  of  which  more  hns  boon  Raid  and  sunGj 
tlian  patriotism,  and  none  whi(!h  when  pure  and  true  lias  led  to 
iiner  results.  J)ulce  ct  decorum  est  pro  natriti  mori.  To  live 
for  one's  country  also  is  a  very  beautilul  and  proper  thing. 
IJut  if  wo  examine  closely  much  i)atriotism,  that  is  so  called, 
wo  shall  find  it  goincf  hand  in  hand  with  a  good  deal  that  is 
selHsh,  and  with  not  a  little  that  is  devilisli.  It  was  some  fine 
fury  of  patriotic  feeling  which  enabled  tho  national  jtoet  to  put 
into  the  mouth  of  every  Englishman  that  horrible  prayer  with 
regard  to  our  enemies,  which  wo  sing  when  we  wish  to  do  hon- 
our to  our  sovereign.  It  did  not  seem  to  him  that  it  might  bo 
well  to  pray  t)iat  their  hearts  should  bo  softened,  and  our  own 
liearts  softened  also.  National  success  was  all  that  a  i)atriotic 
poet  could  desire,  and  therefore  in  our  national  hynm  have  wo 
gone  on  imploring  the  Lord  to  arise  and  scatter  our  enemies ; 
to  confound  their  politics,  whether  they  bo  good  or  ill ;  and  to 
expose  their  knavish  tricks, — such  knavish  tricks  being  taken 
for  granted.  And  then  with  a  steady  confidence  wo  used  to 
declare  how  certain  wo  ■were  that  wo  should  achieve  all  that 
was  desirable,  not  exactly  by  trusting  to  our  prayer  to  heav- 
en, but  by  relying  almost  exclusively  on  George  the  Third  or 
George  tho  Fourth.  Now  I  have  always  thought  that  that 
was  rather  a  poor  patriotism.  Luckily  for  us  our  national  con- 
duct has  not  squared  itself  with  our  national  anthem.  Any 
patriotism  must  be  poor  which  desires  glory  or  even  j)rofit  for 
a  few  at  the  expense  of  many,  even  though  the  few  bo  brothers 
and  tho  many  aliens.  As  a  rule  patriotism  is  a  virtue  only  be- 
cause man's  aptitude  for  good  is  so  finite,  that  he  cannot  seo 
and  comprehend  a  wider  humanity.  He  can  hardly  bring  him- 
self to  understand  that  salvaticu  should  be  extended  to  Jew 
and  Gentile  alike.  The  word  philanthropy  has  become  odious, 
and  I  would  fain  not  use  it ;  but  the  thing  itself  is  as  much 
higher  than  patriotism,  as  heaven  is  above  the  earth. 

A  wish  that  British  North  America  should  ever  be  severed 
from  England,  or  that  the  Australian  colonies  should  ever  be 
so  severed,  will  by  many  Englishmen  be  deemed  unpatriotic. 
But  I  think  that  such  severance  is  to  be  wished  if  it  bo  the 
case  that  the  colonies  standing  alone  would  become  more  pros- 
perous than  they  are  under  British  rule.  We  have  before  us 
an  example  in  the  United  States  of  the  prosperity  which  has 


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84 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


attended  such  a  rupture  of  old  ties.  I  will  not  now  contest 
the  point  with  those  who  say  that  the  present  moment  of  an 
American  civil  war  is  ill  chosen  for  vaunting  that  prosperity. 
There  stand  the  cities  which  the  people  have  built,  and  their 
power  is  attested  by  the  world-wide  importance  of  their  pres- 
ent contest.  And  if  the  States  have  so  risen  since  they  left 
their  parent's  apron  -  string,  why  should  not  British  North 
America  rise  as  high  ?  That  the  time  has  as  yet  come  for  such 
rising  I  do  not  think ;  but  that  it  will  soon  come  I  do  most 
heartily  hope.  The  making  of  the  railway  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  and  the  amalgamation  of  the  provinces  would  greatly 
tend  to  such  an  event.  If,  therefore,  England  desires  to  keep 
these  colonies  in  a  state  of  dependency ;  if  it  be  more  essential 
to  her  to  maintain  her  own  power  with  regard  to  them  than 
to  increase  their  influence ;  if  her  main  object  be  to  keep  the 
colonies  and  not  to  improve  the  colonies,  then  I  should  say  that 
an  amalgamation  of  the  Canadas  with  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick  should  not  be  regarded  with  fnvor  by  statesmen  in 
Downing  Street.  But  if,  as  I  would  fain  hope,  and  do  partly 
believe,  such  ideas  of  national  power  as  these  are  now  out  of 
vogue  with  British  statesmen,  then  I  think  that  such  an  amal- 
gamation should  receive  all  the  support  which  Downing  Street 
can  give  it. 

The  United  States  severed  themselves  from  Great  Britain 
with  a  great  struggle  and  after  heartburnings  and  bloodshed. 
Whether  Great  Britain  will  ever  allow  any  colony  of  hers  to 
depart  from  out  of  her  nest,  to  secede  and  start  for  herself, 
without  any  struggle  or  heartburnings,  with  all  furtherance  for 
Buch  purpose  which  an  old  and  powerful  country  can  give  to  a 
new  nationality  then  first  taking  its  own  place  in  the  world's 
arena,  is  a  problem  yet  to  be  solved.  There  is,  I  think,  no  more 
beautiful  sight  than  that  of  a  mother,  still  in  all  the  glory  of 
womanhood,  preparing  the  wedding  trousseau  for  her  daugh- 
ter. The  child  hitherto  has  been  obedient  and  submissive.  She 
lias  been  one  of  a  household  in  which  she  has  held  no  com- 
mand. She  has  sat  at  table  as  a  child,  fitting  her«elf  in  all 
things  to  the  behests  of  others.  But  the  day  of  her  power  and 
her  glory,  and  also  of  her  cares  and  solicitude  is  at  hand.  She 
is  to  go  forth,  and  do  as  she  best  may  in  the  world  under  that 
teaching  which  her  old  home  has  given  her.  The  hour  of  sep- 
aration has  come ;  and  the  mother,  smiling  through  her  tears, 
sends  her  forth  decked  with  a  bounteous  hand  and  furnished 
with  full  stores,  so  that  all  may  be  well  with  her  as  she  enters 
on  her  new  duties.    So  is  it  that  England  should  send  forth 


m\ 


CONNEXION    OP   THE   CANADAS   WITH   GREAT   BRITAIN.        85 

her  dauglitcrs.  They  shonld  not  escape  from  her  arms  with 
shrill  screams  and  bleeding  wounds,  with  ill-omened  M'ords 
which  live  so  long,  though  the  speakers  of  them  lie  cold  in  their 
graves. 

But  this  sending  forth  of  a  child-nation  to  take  its  own  po- 
litical status  in  the  world  has  never  yet  been  done  by  Great 
Britain.  I  cannot  remember  that  such  has  ever  been  done  by 
any  great  power  with  reference  to  its  dependency ; — by  any 
power  that  was  powerful  enough  to  keep  such  dependency 
within  its  grasp.  But  a  man  thinking  on  these  matters  cannot 
but  hope  that  a  time  will  come  when  such  amicable  severance 
may  be  effected.  Great  Britain  cannot  think  that  through  all 
coming  ages  she  is  to  be  the  mistress  of  the  vast  continent 
of  Australia,  lying  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe's  surface  ;  that 
she  is  to  be  the  mistress  of  all  South  Africa,  as  civilization  shall 
extend  northward;  that  the  enormous  territories  of  British 
North  America  are  to  be  subject  for  ever  to  a  veto  from  Down- 
ing Street.  If  the  history  of  past  empires  does  not  teach  her 
that  this  may  not  be  so,  at  least  the  history  of  the  United 
States  might  so  teach  her.  "But  we  have  learned  a  lesson 
from  those  United  States,"  the  patriot  will  arguo  who  dares 
to  hope  that  the  glory  and  extent  of  the  British  Empire  may 
remain  unimpaired  in  scecula  sceculorum.  "  Since  that  day  we 
have  given  political  rights  to  our  colonies,  and  have  satisfied  the 
political  longings  of  their  inhabitants.  We  do  not  tax  their  tea 
and  stamps,  but  leave  it  to  them  to  tax  themselves  as  they  may 
please."  True.  But  in  political  aspirations  the  giving  of  an  inch 
has  ever  created  the  desire  for  an  ell.  If  the  Australian  colonies, 
even  now, — with  their  scanty  population  and  still  young  civiliz- 
ation, chafe  against  imperial  interference,  will  they  submit  to  it 
when  they  feel  within  their  veins  all  the  full  blood  of  political 
manhood  ?  What  is  the  cry  even  of  the  Canadians — of  the  Cana- 
dians who  are  thoroughly  loyal  to  England  ?  Send  us  a  faineant 
Governor,  a  King  Log,  who  will  not  presume  to  interfere  with 
us ;  a  Governor  who  will  spend  his  money  and  live  like  a  gen- 
tleman and  care  little  or  nothing  for  politics.  That  is  the 
Canadian  hcau  ideal  of  a  Governor.  They  are  to  govern  them- 
selves ;  and  he  who  comes  to  them  from  England  is  to  sit  among 
them  as  the  silent  representative  of  England's  protection.  If 
that  be  true — and  I  do  not  think  tbat  any  who  know  the 
Canadas  will  deny  it — must  it  not  be  presumed  that  they  will 
soon  also  desire  a  faineant  minister  in  Downing  Street  ?  Of 
course  they  will  so  desire.  Men  do  not  become  milder  in  their 
aspirations  for  political  power,  the  more  that  political  power  is 


I: 


'  I 


I. 


rx 


86 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


extended  to  tlieni.  Kor  would  it  be  well  that  they  should  be 
so  humble  in  their  desires.  Nations  devoid  of  political  power 
have  never  risen  high  in  the  world's  esteem.  Even  when  they 
liave  been  commercially  successful,  commerce  has  not  L  )ught 
to  them  the  greatness  which  it  has  always  given  when  ,jined 
with  a  strong  political  existence.  The  Greeks  are  commer- 
cially rich  and  active ;  but  "  Greece"  and  "  Greek"  are  bye- 
words  no\v'  for  all  that  is  mean.  Cuba  is  a  colony,  and  putting 
aside  the  cities  of  the  States,  the  Havana  is  the  richest  town 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  commercially  the  great- 
est ;  but  the  political  villainy  of  Cuba,  her  daily  importation  of 
slaves,  her  breaches  of  treaty,  and  the  bribery  of  her  all  but 
royal  Governor  are  known  to  all  men.  But  Canada  is  not  dis- 
honest ;  Canada  is  no  bye-word  for  anything  evil ;  Canada  eats 
her  own  bread  in  the  sweat  of  her  brow,  and  fears  a  bad  word 
from  no  man.  True.  But  why  does  New  York  with  its  sub- 
urbs boast  a  million  of  inhabitants,  while  3Iontreal  has  85,000? 
Why  has  that  babe  in  years,  Chicago,  120,000,  while  Toronto 
has  not  half  the  number?  I  do  not  say  that  Montreal  and  To- 
ronto should  have  gone  ahead  abreast  with  New  York  and 
Chicago.  In  such  races  one  must  be  first,  and  one  last.  But 
I  do  say  that  the  Canadian  towns  will  have  no  equal  chance, 
till  they  are  actuated  by  that  feeling  of  political  independence 
which  has  created  the  growth  of  the  towns  in  the  United 
States. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  time  has  yet  come  in  which  Great 
Britain  should  desire  the  Canadians  to  start  for  themselves. 
There  is  the  making  of  that  railroad  to  be  effected,  and  some- 
thing done  towards  the  union  of  those  provinces.  Canada 
could  no  more  stand  alone  without  New  Brunswick  and  Nova 
Scotia,  than  could  those  latter  colonies  without  Canada.  But 
I  think  it  would  be  well  to  be  prepared  for  such  a  coming  day ; 
and  that  it  would  at  any  rate  be  well  to  bring  home  to  ourselvea 
and  realize  the  idea  of  such  secession  on  the  part  of  our  colonies, 
when  the  time  shall  have  come  at  which  such  secession  may  be 
carried  out  with  profit  and  security  to  them.  Great  Britain, 
should  she  ever  send  forth  her  child  alone  into  the  world,  must 
of  course  guarantee  her  security.  Such  guarantees  are  given 
by  treaties ;  and  in  the  wording  of  them,  it  is  presumed  that 
such  treaties  will  last  for  ever.  It  will  be  argued  that  in  start- 
ing British  North  America  as  a  political  power  on  its  own  bot- 
tom, we  should  bind  ourself  to  all  the  expense  of  its  defence, 
while  we  should  give  up  all  right  to  any  interference  in  its  con- 
cerns ;  and  that  from  a  state  of  things  so  unprofitable  as  this 


CONNEXION   OP  THE   CANADAS    WITH    GREAT   KRITAIX.        87 

tbore  would  be  no  prospect  of  deliverance.  But  such  treaties, 
let  them  be  worded  how  they  will,  do  not  last  for  ever.  For 
a  time,  no  doubt.  Great  Britain  would  be  so  hampered — if  in- 
deed she  would  feel  herself  hampered  by  exteudhig  lier  name 
and  prestige  to  a  country  bound  to  her  by  ties  such  as  those 
which  would  then  exist  between  her  and  this  new  nation.  Such 
treaties  are  not  everlasting,  nor  can  they  be  made  to  last  even 
for  ages.  Those  who  word  them  seem  to  think  that  powers 
and  dynasties  will  never  pass  uway.  But  they  do  ])ass  away, 
and  the  balance  of  power  will  not  keep  itself  fixed  for  ever  on 
the  same  pivot.  The  time  may  come — that  it  may  not  come 
soon  we  will  all  desire — but  the  time  may  come  when  the  name 
and  prestige  of  what  we  call  British  North  America  will  be  as 
serviceable  to  Great  Britain  as  those  of  Great  Britain  are  now 
serviceable  to  her  colonies. 

But  what  shall  be  the  new  form  of  government  for  the  new 
kingdom?  That  is  a  speculation  very  interesting  to  a  politi- 
cian ;  though  one  which  to  follow  out  at  great  length  in  these 
early  days  would  be  rather  premature.  That  it  should  be  a 
kingdom — that  the  political  arrangement  should  be  one  ol' 
which  a  crowned  hereditary  king  should  form  a  part,  ninetef'  i 
o';"t  of  every  twenty  Englishmen  would  desire ;  and,  as  I  fancy, 
so  would  also  nineteen  out  of  every  twenty  Canadians.  A  king 
for  the  United  States  when  they  first  established  themselves 
was  impossible.  A  total  rupture  from  the  Old  World  and  all 
its  habits  was  necessary  for  them.  The  name  of  a  king,  or 
monarch,  or  sovereign  had  become  horrible  to  their  ears.  Even 
to  this  day  they  have  not  learned  the  difference  between  arbi- 
trary power  retained  in  the  hand  of  one  man,  such  as  that  now 
held  by  the  Emperor  over  the  French,  and  such  hereditary 
headship  in  the  State  as  that  which  belongs  to  the  Crown  in 
Great  Britain.  And  this  was  necessary,  seeing  that  their  divi- 
sion from  us  was  effected  by  strife,  and  carried  out  with  war 
and  bitter  animosities.  In  those  days  also  there  was  a  rem- 
nant, though  but  a  small  remnant,  of  the  power  of  tyranny  left 
within  the  scope  of  the  British  Crown.  That  small  remnant 
has  been  removed ;  and  to  me  it  seems  that  no  form  of  existing 
government — no  form  of  government  that  ever  did  exist,  gives 
or  has  given  so  large  a  measure  of  individual  freedom  to  all 
who  live  under  it  as  a  constitutional  monarchy  in  which  the 
Crown  is  divested  of  direct  political  power. 

I  will  venture  then  to  suggest  a  king  for  this  new  nation ; 
and  seeing  that  we  are  rich  in  princes  there  need  be  no  difficulty 
in  the  selection.   Would  it  not  be  beautiful  to  see  a  new  nation 


k^' 


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\ 


88 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


established  under  such  auspices,  and  to  establish  a  people  to 
whom  their  independence  had  been  given, — to  "whom  it  liad 
been  freely  surrendered  as  soon  as  they  were  capable  of  holding 
the  position  assigned  to  them  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 


NIAGARA. 


Op  all  the  sights  on  this  earth  of  ours  which  tourists  travel 
to  see, — at  least  of  all  those  which  I  have  seen, — I  am  inclined 
to  give  the  palm  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  In  the  catalogue  of 
such  sights  I  intend  to  include  all  buildings,  pictures,  statues, 
and  wonders  of  art  made  by  men's  hands,  and  also  all  beauties 
of  nature  prepared  by  the  Creator  for  the  delight  of  his  creat- 
ures. This  is  a  long  word ;  but  as  far  as  my  taste  and  judg- 
ment go,  it  is  justified.  I  know  no  other  one  thing  so  beauti- 
ful, so  glorious,  and  so  powerful.  I  would  not  by  this  be  un- 
derstood as  saying  that  a  traveller  wishing  to  do  the  best  with 
his  time  should  first  of  all  places  seek  Niagara.  In  visiting 
Florence  he  may  learn  almost  all  that  modern  art  can  teach. 
At  Rome  he  will  be  brought  to  understand  the  cold  hearts, 
correct  eyes,  and  cruel  ambition  of  the  old  Latin  race.  In 
Switzerland  he  will  surround  himself  with  a  flood  of  grandeur 
and  loveliness,  and  fill  himself,  if  he  be  capable  of  such  filling, 
with  a  flood  of  romance.  The  Tropics  will  unfold  to  him  all 
that  vegetation  in  its  greatest  richness  can  produce.  In  Paris 
he  will  find  the  supreme  of  polish,  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  varnish 
according  to  the  world's  capability  of  varnishing.  And  in  Lon- 
don he  will  find  the  supreme  of  power,  the  ne  2)lus  ultra  of  work 
according  to  the  world's  capability  of  working.  Any  one  of 
such  journeys  may  be  more  valuable  to  a  man, — nay,  any  one 
such  journey  must  be  more  valuable  to  a  man,  than  a  visit  to 
Niagara.  At  Niagara  there  is  that  fall  of  waters  alone.  But 
that  fall  is  more  graceful  than  Giotto's  tower,  more  noble  than 
the  Apollo.  The  peaks  of  the  Alps  are  not  so  astounding  in 
their  solitude.  The  valleys  of  the  Blue  Mountains  in  Jamaica 
are  less  green.  The  finished  glaze  of  life  in  Paris  is  less  invaria- 
ble ;  and  the  full  tide  of  trade  round  the  Bank  of  England  is  not 
so  inexorably  powerful. 

I  came  across  an  artist  at  Niagara  W'ho  was  attempting  to 
draw  the  spray  of  the  w^aters.  "You  have  a  diflicult  subject," 
said  I.  "All  subjects  are  diflUcult,"  he  replied,  " to  a  man  who 
desires  to  do  well.''     "But  yours,  I  fear,  is  impossible,"  I  said. 


NIAGARA. 


89 


■'I 


"  Yoli  liavo  no  right  to  say  so  till  I  liave  finislicd  my  picture," 
he  re]  uliod.  I  acknowledged  the  justice  of  his  rebuke,  regretted 
that  1  could  not  remain  till  the  completion  of  his  work  should 
enable  me  to  revoke  my  words,  and  passed  on.  Then  I  began  to 
reflect  whether  I  did  not  intend  to  try  a  task  as  difficult  in  de- 
scribing the  falls,  and  whether  I  felt  any  of  that  proud  self-con- 
fidence which  kept  him  happy  at  any  rate  while  his  task  was 
in  hand.  I  will  not  say  that  it  is  as  difficult  to  describe  aright 
that  rush  of  waters,  as  it  is  to  paint  it  well.  But  I  doubt 
whether  it  is  not  quite  as  difficult  to  write  a  description  that 
shall  interest  the  reader,  as  it  is  to  paint  a  picture  of  them  that 
shall  be  pleasant  to  the  beholder.  My  friend  the  artist  was  at 
any  rate  not  afraid  to  make  the  attempt,  and  I  also  will  try  my 
hand. 

That  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  have  come  down  in  their  courses 
from  the  broad  basins  of  Lake  Michigan,  Lake  Superior,  and 
Lake  Huron ;  that  these  waters  fall  into  Lake  Ontario  by  the 
short  and  rapid  river  of  Niagara,  and  that  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
are  made  by  a  sudden  break  in  the  level  of  this  rapid  river,  is 
I)robably  known  to  all  who  will  read  this  book.  All  the  waters 
of  these  huge  northern  inland  seas  run  over  that  breach  in  the 
rocky  bottom  of  the  stream ;  and  thence  it  comes  that  the  flow  is 
unceasing  in  its  grandeur,  and  that  no  eye  can  perceive  a  differ- 
ence in  the  Aveight,  or  sound,  or  violence  of  the  fall,  whether  it 
be  visited  in  the  drought  of  autumn,  amidst  the  storms  of  win- 
ter, or  after  the  melting  of  the  upper  worlds  of  ice  in  the  days 
of  the  early  summer.  How  many  cataracts  does  the  habitual 
tourist  visit  at  which  the  w^aters  fail  him  ?  But  at  Niagara  the 
waters  never  fail.  There  it  thunders  over  its  ledge  in  a  volume 
that  never  ceases  and  is  never  diminished ; — as  it  has  done  from 
times  previous  to  the  life  of  man,  and  as  it  will  do  till  tens  of 
thousands  of  years  shall  see  the  rocky  bed  of  the  river  worn 
away,  back  to  the  upper  lake. 

This  stream  divides  Canada  from  the  States,  the  western  or 
farthermost  bank  belonging  to  the  British  Crown,  and  the 
eastern  or  nearer  bank  being  in  the  State  of  New  York.  In 
visiting  Niagara  it  always  becomes  a  question  on  which  side 
the  visitor  shall  take  up  his  quarters.  On  the  Canada  side 
there  is  no  town,  but  there  is  a  large  hotel,  beautifully  placed 
immediately  opposite  to  the  falls,  and  this  is  generally  thought 
to  be  the  best  locality  for  tourists.  In  the  State  of  New  York 
is  the  town  called  Niagara  Falls,  and  here  there  are  two  large 
hotels,  which,  as  to  their  immediate  site,  are  not  so  well  placed 
as  that  in  Canada.    I  first  visited  Niagara  some  three  years 


V 


'-^     i 


i* 


I  1^ 


)■ 


■  f 


\ 


\. 


00 


NORTH   AMKKICA. 


since.  I  stayed  then  at  the  Clifton  House  on  the  Canada  side, 
and  have  since  sworn  by  that  position.  ]5ut  the  Clifton  House 
was  closed  for  the  season  when  I  was  last  there,  and  on  that 
account  wo  went  to  the  Cataract  House  in  the  town  on  the 
other  side.  I  now  think  that  I  should  set  up  my  staff  on  the 
American  side  if  I  went  again.  My  advice  on  the  subject  to 
any  party  starting  for  Niagara  would  depend  upon  their  hab- 
its, or  on  their  nationality.  I  would  send  Americans  to  the 
Canadian  side,  because  they  dislike  walking ;  but  English  peo- 
ple I  would  locate  on  the  American  side,  seeing  that  they  arc 
generally  accustomed  to  the  frequent  use  of  their  own  legs. 
The  two  sides  are  not  very  easily  approached,  one  from  the 
other.  Immediately  below  the  falls  there  is  a  ferry,  which 
may  be  traversed  at  the  expense  of  a  shilling ;  but  the  labour 
of  getting  up  and  down  from  the  ferry  is  considerable,  and  the 
passage  becomes  wearisome.  There  is  also  a  bridge,  but  it  is 
two  miles  down  the  river,  making  a  walk  or  drive  of  four  miles 
necessary,  and  the  toll  for  passing  is  four  shilHngs  or  a  dollar 
in  a  carriage,  and  one  shilling  on  foot.  As  the  greater  variety 
of  prospect  can  be  had  on  the  American  side,  as  the  island  be- 
tween the  two  falls  is  approachable  from  the  American  side 
and  not  from  the  Canadian,  and  as  it  is  in  this  island  that 
visitors  will  best  love  to  linger  and  learn  to  measure  in  their 
minds  the  vast  triumph  of  waters  before  them,  I  recommend 
such  of  my  readers  as  can  trust  a  little — it  need  be  but  a  little 
— to  their  own  legs,  to  select  their  hotel  at  Niagara  Falls  town. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  matters  much  from  what  point  the 
falls  are  first  seen,  but  to  this  I  demur.  It  matters,  I  think, 
very  little,  or  not  at  all.  Let  the  visitor  first  see  it  all,  and 
learn  the  whereabouts  of  every  point,  so  as  to  understand  his 
own  position  and  that  of  the  waters ;  and  then  having  done 
that  in  the  way  of  business  let  him  proceed  to  enjoyment.  I 
doubt  whether  it  be  not  the  best  to  do  this  with  all  sight  see- 
ing. I  am  quite  sure  that  it  is  the  way  in  which  acquaintance 
may  be  best  and  most  pleasantly  made  with  a  new  picture. 

The  falls  are,  as  I  have  said,  made  by  a  sudden  breach  in 
the  level  of  the  river.  All  cataracts  are,  I  presume,  made  by 
such  breaches;  but  generally  the  waters  do  not  fall  precipi- 
tously as  they  do  at  Niagara,  and  never  elsewhere,  as  far  as 
the  w^orld  yet  knows,  has  a  breach  so  sudden  been  made  in  a 
river  carrying  in  its  channel  such  or  any  approach  to  such  a 
body  of  water.  Up  above  the  falls,  for  more  than  a  mile,  the 
waters  leap  and  burst  over  rapids,  as  though  conscious  of  the 
destiny  that  awaits  them.    Here  the  river  is  very  broad,  and 


NIAGARA. 


01 


comparatively  filiallow,  but  from  shore  to  sli<)ro  it  frets  itself 
into  little  torrents,  and  begins  to  assume  the  majesty  of  its 
j)ONver.  Looking  at  it  even  here,  in  the  expanse  which  forms 
itself  over  the  greater  fall,  one  feels  sure  that  no  strongest 
swimmer  could  have  a  chance  of  saving  liimself,  if  fate  had 
cast  him  in  even  among  those  petty  whirlpools.  The  waters, 
though  so  broken  in  their  descent,  are  deliciously  green.  This 
colour  as  seen  early  in  the  morning,  or  just  as  the  sun  has  set, 
is  so  bright  as  to  give  to  the  place  of  its  chiefest  charms. 

This  will  be  best  seen  from  the  further  end  of  the  island, — 
Goat  Island,  as  it  is  called,  which,  as  the  reader  will  under- 
stand, divides  the  river  immediately  above  the  falls.  Indeed 
the  island  is  a  part  of  that  precipitously  broken  ledge  over 
which  the  river  tumbles;  and  no  doubt  in  process  of  time  will 
be  worn  away  and  covered  with  water.  The  time,  liowever, 
will  be  very  long.  In  the  meanwhile  it  is  perhaps  a  mile 
round,  and  is  covered  thickly  with  timber.  At  the  upper  end 
of  the  island  the  waters  are  divided,  and  coming  down  in  two 
courses,  each  over  its  own  rapids,  form  two  separate  falls. 
The  bridge  by  which  the  island  is  entered  is  a  hundred  yards 
or  more  above  the  smaller  fall.  The  waters  hero  Jiave  been 
turned  by  the  island,  and  make  their  leap  into  the  body  of  the 
river  below  at  a  right  angle  with  it, — about  two  hundred  yards 
below  the  greater  fall.  Taken  alone  this  smaller  cataract  would, 
I  imagine,  be  the  heaviest  fall  of  water  known,  but  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  other  it  is  terribly  shorn  of  its  majesty. 
The  waters  here  are  not  green  as  they  are  at  the  larger  cata- 
ract, and  though  the  ledge  has  been  hollowed  and  bowed  by 
them  so  as  to  form  a  curve,  that  curve  does  not  deepen  itself 
into  a  vast  abyss  as  it  does  at  the  horse-shoe  up  above.  This 
smaller  fall  is  again  divided,  and  the  visitor  passing  down  a 
flight  of  steps  and  over  a  frail  wooden  bridge  finds  himself  on 
a  smaller  island  in  the  midst  of  it. 

But  we  will  go  at  once  on  to  the  glory,  and  the  thunder,  and 
the  majesty,  and  the  wrath  of  that  upper  hell  of  waters.  We 
are  still,  let  the  reader  remember,  on  Goat  Island,  still  in  the 
States,  and  on  what  is  called  the  American  side  of  the  main 
body  of  the  river.  Advancing  beyond  the  path  leading  down 
to  the  lesser  fall,  we  come  to  that  point  of  the  island  at  which 
the  waters  of  the  main  river  begin  to  descend.  From  hence 
across  to  the  Canadian  side  the  cataract  continues  itself  in  one 
unabated  line.  But  the  line  is  very  far  from  being  direct  or 
straight.  After  stretching  for  some  little  way  from  the  shore, 
to  a  point  in  the  river  which  is  reached  by  a  wooden  bridge  at 


\ 


\ 


f; 


I. 


98 


NOnm   AMERICA. 


the  end  of  wljich  stands  a  tower  upon  the  rock, — after  stretch- 
ing to  this,  the  line  of  the  ledge  bends  inwards  against  the  Hood, 
— in,  and  in,  and  in,  till  one  is  led  to  think  that  the  depth  of 
that  liorse-shoe  is  immeasureable.  It  has  been  cut  with  no 
stinting  hand.  A  monstrous  cantle  has  been  worn  back  out  of 
the  centre  of  the  rock,  so  that  the  fury  of  the  waters  converges, 
and  tiie  spectator  as  he  gazes  into  the  hollow  with  wishful  eyes 
fancies  that  he  can  hardly  trace  out  the  centre  of  the  abyss. 

Go  down  to  the  end  of  that  wooden  bridge,  seat  yourself  on 
the  rail,  and  tliere  sit  till  «11  the  outer  world  is  lost  to  you. 
There  is  no  grander  spot  about  Niagara  than  this.  The  waters 
are  absolutely  around  you.  If  you  have  that  power  of  eye-con- 
trol which  is  so  necessary  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  scenery  you 
will  see  nothing  but  the  water.  You  will  certainly  hear  nothing 
else ;  and  the  sound,  I  beg  you  to  remember,  is  not  an  ear-crack- 
ing, agonizing  crash  and  clang  of  noises;  but  is  melodious,  and 
soft  withal,  though  loud  as  thunder.  It  fills  your  ears,  and  as 
it  were  envelopes  them,  but  at  the  same  time  you  can  speak  to 
your  neighbour  without  an  effort.  But  at  this  place,  and  in  these 
moments,  the  less  of  speaking  I  should  say  the  better.  There 
is  no  grander  spot  than  this.  Here,  seated  on  the  rail  of  the 
bridge,  you  will  not  see  the  whole  depth  of  the  fall.  In  look- 
ing at  the  grandest  works  of  nature,  and  of  art  too,  I  fancy,  it 
is  never  well  to  see  all.  There  should  be  something  left  to  the 
imagination,  and  much  should  be  half  concealed  in  mystery. 
The  greatest  charm  of  a  mountain  range  is  the  wild  feeling  that 
there  must  be  strange  unknown  desolate  worlds  in  those  far-off 
valleys  beyond.  And  so  here,  at  Niagara,  that  converging  rush 
of  waters  may  fiill  down,  down  at  once  into  a  hell  of  rivers  for 
what  the  eye  can  see.  It  is  glorious  to  watch  them  in  their 
first  curve  over  the  rocks.  They  come  green  as  a  bank  of  em- 
eralds ;  but  with  a  fitful  flying  colour,  as  though  conscious  that 
in  one  moment  more  they  would  be  dashed  into  spray  and  rise 
into  air,  pale  as  driven  snow.  The  vapour  rises  high  into  the 
air,  and  is  gathered  there,  visible  always  as  a  permanent  white 
cloud  over  the  cataract ;  but  the  bulk  of  the  spray  which  fills 
the  lower  hollow  of  tliat  horse-shoe  is  like  a  tumult  of  snow. 
This  you  will  not  fully  see  from  your  seat  on  the  rail.  The 
head  of  it  rises  ever  and  anon  out  of  that  caldron  below,  but 
the  caldron  itself  will  be  invisible.  It  is  ever  so  far  down, — far 
as  your  own  imagination  can  sink  it.  But  your  eyes  will  rest 
full  upon  the  curve  of  the  waters.  The  shape  you  Avill  be  look- 
ing at  is  that  of  a  horse-shoe,  but  of  a  horse-shoe  miraculously 
deep  from  toe  to  heel ; — and  this  depth  becomes  greater  as  you 


NIAGAKA. 


03 


sit  iJicrc.  That  which  at  first  was  only  great  and  boautirul,  be- 
comes gigantic  and  sublime  till  the  mind  is  at  loss  to  find  an 
epithet  lor  its  own  use.  To  realize  Niagara  you  must  sit  there 
till  you  see  nothing  else  than  that  which  you  have  come  to 
see.  You  wdll  hear  nothing  else,  and  tliink  of  nothing  else. 
At  length  you  will  bo  at  one  with  the  tumbling  river  before 
you.  You  will  find  yourself  among  the  waters  as  though  you 
belonged  to  them.  The  cool  liquid  green  will  run  througli  your 
veins,  and  the  voice  of  the  cataract  will  be  the  expression  of 
your  own  heart.  You  will  fall  as  the  bright  waters  fall,  rush- 
ing down  into  your  new  world  with  no  hesitation  and  with  no 
dismay ;  and  you  will  rise  again  as  the  spray  rises,  bright,  beau- 
tiful, and  pure.  Then  you  will  How  away  in  your  course  to  tlio 
uncompassed,  distant,  and  eternal  ocean. 

When  this  state  has  been  reached  and  has  passed  away  you 
may  get  ofi'your  rail  and  mount  the  tower.  I  do  not  quite  ap- 
prove of  that  tower,  seeing  that  it  has  about  it  a  gingerbread  air, 
and  reminds  one  of  those  well-arranged  scenes  of  romance  in 
which  one  is  told  that  on  the  left  you  turn  to  the  lady's  bower, 
price  sixpence;  and  on  the  right  ascend  to  the  kniglit's  bed, 
price  sixpence  more,  with  a  view  of  the  hermit's  tomb  thrown 
in.  But  nevertheless  the  tower  is  worth  mounting,  and  no 
money  is  charged  for  the  use  of  it.  It  is  not  very  high,  and 
there  is  a  balcony  at  the  top  on  which  some  half  dozen  persons 
may  stand  at  ease.  Here  the  mystery  is  lost,  but  the  whole 
fall  is  seen.  It  is  not  even  at  this  spot  brought  so  fully  before 
your  eye, — made  to  show  itself  in  so  complete  and  entire  a 
shape,  as  it  Avill  do  when  you  come  to  stand  near  to  it  on  the 
opposite  or  Canadian  shore.  But  I  think  that  it  shows  itself 
more  beautifully.  And  the  form  of  the  cataract  is  such,  that, 
here  in  Goat  Island,  on  the  American  side,  no  spray  will  reach 
you,  although  you  are  absolutely  over  tlie  waters.  But  on  the 
Canadian  side,  the  road  as  it  approaches  the  fall  is  wet  and 
rotten  with  spray,  and  you,  as  you  stand  close  upon  the  edge, 
will  be  wet  also.  The  rainbows  as  they  are  seen  through  the 
rising  cloud — for  the  sun's  rays  as  seen  through  these  waters 
show  then>selves  in  a  bow  as  they  do  when  seen  through  rain 
— are  pretty  enough,  and  are  greatly  loved.  For  myself  I  do 
not  care  for  this  prettiness  at  Niagara.  It  is  there,  but  I  for- 
get it, — and  do  not  mind  how  soon  it  is  forgotten. 

But  we  are  still  on  the  tower ;  and  here  I  must  declare  that 
though  I  forgive  the  tower,  I  cannot  forgive  the  horrid  obelisk 
which  has  latterly  been  built  opposite  to  it,  on  the  Canadian 
side,  up  above  the  fall ;  built  apparently, — for  I  did  not  go  to 


V 


it 


}\ 


I 


04 


^OU'i'II    AMUKKJA. 


! 


I     • 


it, — with  some  canicra  obsciira  iiitontion  for  wliich  tlic  ])ro- 
jector  deserves  to  be  put  in  C^oventry  by  all  good  Cluistian 
men  and  women.  At  such  a  i>laee  as  Niagara  tasteless  build- 
ings, run  up  in  wrong  i)laees  with  a  view  to  money  making,  are 
perhaps  neeessary  evils.  It  may  be  that  they  are  not  evils  at 
all ; — that  they  give  more  pleasure  than  pain,  seeing  that  they 
tend  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  multitude.  J5ut  there  arc  edifie<*s 
of  this  description  which  cry  aloud  to  the  gods  by  the  force  of 
their  own  ugliness  and  malposition.  As  to  sucli  it  may  be  said 
that  there  sliould  somewhere  exist  a  power  capable  of  crushing 
them  in  their  birth.  This  new  obelisk  or  picture-building  at 
Niagara  is  one  of  such. 

And  now  we  will  cross  the  water,  and  witli  this  object  will 
return  by  the  bridge  out  of  Goat  Island  on  the  main  land  of  the 
American  side.  But  as  wo  do  so  let  mo  say  that  one  of  the 
great  ciiarms  of  Niagara  consists  in  this, — that  over  and  above 
that  one  great  object  of  wonder  and  beauty,  there  is  so  mucli 
little  loveliness ; — loveliness  especially  of  water  I  mean.  There 
are  little  rivulets  running  here  and  there  over  little  falls,  with 
pendent  boughs  above  them,  and  stones  shining  under  their 
siiallow  de])ths.  As  the  visitor  stands  and  looks  through  the 
t;-ees  the  rapids  glitter  before  him,  and  then  hide  themselves 
behind  islands.  They  glitter  and  sparkle  in  far  distances  under 
the  bright  foliage  till  the  remembrance  is  lost,  and  one  knows 
not  which  way  they  run.  And  then  the  river  below,  with  its 
whirlpool ; — but  we  shall  come  to  that  by-and-by,  and  to  the 
mad  voyage  which  was  made  down  the  rapids  by  that  mad 
captain  who  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the  waters  at  the  risk  of  his 
own  life,  with  fifty  to  one  against  him,  in  order  that  he  might 
save  another  man's  property  from  the  Sheriff. 

The  readiest  way  across  to  Canada  is  by  the  ferry ;  and  on 
the  American  side  this  is  very  pleasantly  done.  You  go  into  a 
little  house,  pay  20  cents,  take  a  seat  on  a  wooden  car  of  won- 
derful shape,  and  on  the  touch  of  a  spring  find  yourself  traveU 
ling  down  an  inclined  plane  of  terrible  declivity  and  at  a  very 
fast  rate.  You  catch  a  glance  of  the  river  below  you,  and 
recognize  the  fact  that  if  the  rope  by  which  you  are  held  should 
break,  you  would  go  down  at  a  very  fast  rate  indeed, — and 
find  your  final  resting  place  in  the  river.  As  I  have  gone  down 
some  dozen  times  and  have  come  to  no  such  grief,  I  will  not 
presume  that  you  will  be  less  lucky.  Below  there  is  a  boat 
generally  ready.  If  it  be  not  there,  the  place  is  not  chosen 
amiss  for  a  rest  of  ten  minutes,  for  the  lesser  fall  is  close  at 
hand,  and  the  larger  one  is  in  full  view.    Looking  at  the  rapid- 


u 


NIAGARA. 


05 


ity  of  tho  river  you  will  think  that  tlio  pasBapfc  must  be  daupjer- 
ous  and  clittieult.  15ut  no  accidents  ever  happen,  and  the  lad 
who  takes  you  over  neeins  to  do  it  with  Huflicient  ease.  The 
walk  up  the  hill  on  tho  other  side  is  another  thincr.  It  is  very 
steep,  and  for  those  who  have  not  good  locomotive  power  of 
their  own,  will  be  found  to  be  disagreeable.  In  the  full  sea- 
son, however,  carriages  are  generally  waiting  there.  In  so  short 
a  distance  I  have  always  been  ashamed  to  trust  to  other  legs 
than  my  own,  but  I  have  observed  that  Americans  are  idways 
dragged  up.  I  have  seen  single  young  men  of  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-five,  from  whose  outward  appearance  no  story  of  idle 
luxurious  life  can  be  read,  carried  about  alone  in  carriages  over 
distances  which  would  bo  counted  as  nothing  by  any  healthy 
English  lady  of  fifty.  None  but  the  old  and  invalids  should 
require  the  assistance  of  carriages  in  seeing  Niagara,  but  tho 
trade  in  carriages  is  to  all  appearance  the  most  brisk  trade 
there. 

Having  mounted  the  hill  on  the  Canada  side  you  will  walk 
on  towards  the  falls.  As  I  have  said  before,  you  will  from 
this  side  look  directly  into  the  full  circle  of  the  upper  cataract, 
while  you  will  Iiave  before  you  at  your  left  hand  the  whole  ex- 
panse of  the  lesser  fall.  For  those  who  desire  to  see  all  at  a 
glance,  who  wish  to  comprise  the  whole  with  their  eyes,  and 
to  leave  nothing  to  be  guessed,  nothing  to  be  surmised,  this, 
no  doubt,  is  the  best  point  of  view. 

You  will  bo  covered  with  spray  as  you  walk  up  to  the  ledge 
of  rocks,  but  I  do  not  think  that  the  spray  will  hurt  you.  If  a 
man  gets  wet  through  going  to  his  daily  work,  cold,  catarrh, 
cough,  and  all  their  attendant  evils  may  be  expected ;  but  these 
maladies  usually  spare  the  tourist.  Change  of  air,  plenty  of 
air,  excellence  of  air,  and  increased  exercise  make  these  things 
powerless.  I  should  therefore  bid  you  disregard  the  spray. 
If,  however,  you  are  yourself  of  a  different  opinion,  you  may 
hire  a  suit  of  oil-cloth  clothes,  for,  I  believe,  a  quarter  of  a  dol- 
lar. They  are  nasty  of  course,  and  have  this  further  disadvant- 
age, that  you  become  much  more  wet  having  them  on  than 
you  would  be  without  them. 

Here,  on  this  side,  you  walk  on  to  the  very  edge  of  the  cat- 
aract, and,  if  your  tread  be  steady  and  your  legs  firm,  you  dip 
your  foot  into  the  water  exactly  at  the  spot  where  the  thin 
outside  margin  of  the  current  reaches  the  rocky  edge  and  jumps 
to  join  the  mass  of  the  fall.  The  bed  of  white  foam  beneath  is 
certainly  seen  better  here  than  elsewhere,  and  the  green  curve 
of  the  water  is  as  bright  here  as  when  seen  from  the  wooden 


V 


■■I 


i\ 


iV'  I  i 


\ 


'f 


!' 


I. 


OG 


NORTU    AMERICA. 


rail  across.  But  nevertheless  I  say  again  that  that  wooden 
rail  is  the  one  point  from  whence  Niagara  may  be  best  seen 
aright. 

Close  to  the  cataract,  exactly  at  the  spot  from  whence  in 
former  days  the  Table  Rock  used  to  project  from  the  land  over 
the  boiling  caldron  below,  there  is  now  a  shaft  down  which  you 
will  descend  to  the  level  of  the  river,  and  pass  between  the  rock 
and  the  torrent.  This  Table  Rock  broke  away  from  the  clift* 
and  fell,  as  up  the  whole  course  of  the  river  the  seceding  rocks 
have  split  and  fallen  from  time  to  time  through  countless  years, 
and  will  continue  to  do  till  the  bed  of  the  upper  lake  is  reached. 
"You  will-descend  this  shaft,  taking  to  yourself  or  not  taking  to 
yourself  a  suit  of  oil-clothe%  as  you  may  think  best.  I  have 
gone  with  and  without  the  suit,  and  again  recommend  that  they 
be  left  behind.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  ordinary  paj'^- 
ment  should  be  made  for  their  use,  as  otherwise  it  will  appear 
to  those  whose  trade  it  is  to  prepare  them  that  you  are  injuring 
them  in  their  vested  rights. 

Some  three  years  since  I  visited  Niagara  on  my  way  back  to 
England  from  Bermuda,  and  in  a  volume  of  travels  which  I 
then  published  I  endeavoured  to  explain  the  impression  made 
upon  me  by  this  passage  between  the  rock  and  the  waterfall. 
An  author  should  not  quote  himself;  but  as  I  feel  myself  bound, 
in  writing  a  chapter  specially  about  Niagara,  to  give  some  ac- 
count of  this  strange  position,  I  will  venture  to  repeat  ray  own 
words. 

In  the  spot  to  which  I  allude  the  visitor  stands  on  a  broad 
safe  path,  made  of  shingles,  between  the  rock  over  which  the 
water  rushes  and  the  rushing  water.  He  will  go  in  so  far  that 
the  spray  rising  back  from  t'ua  bed  of  the  torrent  does  not  in- 
commode him.  With  this  exception,  the  further  he  can  go  in 
the  better;  but  circumstances  will  clfrly  show  him  the  spot 
to  which  he  should  advance.  Unless  the  water  be  driven  in 
by  a  very  strong  wind,  five  yards  make  the  difference  between 
a  comparatively  dry  coat  ^.nd  an  absolute  wet  one.  And  then 
let  him  stand  with  his  back  to  the  entrance,  thus  hiding  the 
last  glimmer  of  the  expiring  day.  So  standing  he  will  look  up 
among  the  falling  waters,  or  down  into  the  deep  misty  pit, 
from  which  they  reascend  in  almost  as  palpable  a  bulk.  The 
rock  will  be  at  his  right  hand,  high  and  hard,  and  dark  and 
straight,  like  the  wall  of  some  huge  cavern,  such  as  children 
enter  in  their  dreams.  For  the  first  five  minutes  he  will  be 
looking  but  at  the  waters  of  a  cataract, — at  the  waters,  indeed, 
of  such  a  cataract  as  we  know  no  other,  and  at  their  interior 
curves  which  elsewhere  we  can  not  see.     But  by-and-by  all  this 


NIAGARA. 


97 


will  change.  He  will  no  longer  be  on  a  shingly  path  beneath 
a  waterfftll ;  but  that  feeling  of  a  cavern  wall  will  grow  upon 
hira,  of  a  cavern  deep,  below  roaring  seas,  in  which  the  waves 
are  there,  though  they  do  not  enter  in  upon  him ;  or  rather  not 
the  waves,  but  the  very  bowels  of  the  ocean.  He  will  feel  as 
though  the  floods  surrounded  hin?,  coming  and  going  with  their 
wild  sounds,  and  he  will  hardly  recognize  that  tho  igh  among 
them  he  is  not  in  them.  And  they,  as  they  fall  with  a  con- 
tinual roar,  not  hurting  the  ear,  but  musical  withal,  will  seem 
to  move  as  the  vast  ocean  waters  may  perhaps  move  in  their 
internal  currents.  He  will  lose  the  sense  of  one  continued  de- 
scent, and  think  that  they  are  passing  round  him  in  their  ap- 
pointed courses.  The  broken  spray  that  rises  from  the  depth 
below,  rises  so  strongly,  so  palpably,  so  rapidly,  that  the  mo- 
tion in  every  direction  will  seem  equal.  And,  as  he  looks  on, 
strange  colours  will  show  themselves  through  the  mist ;  the 
shades  of  grey  will  become  green  or  blue,  with  ever  and  anon 
a  flash  of  white ;  and  then,  when  some  gust  of  wind  blows  in 
with  greater  violence,  the  sea-girt  cavern  will  become  all  dark 
and  black.  Oh,  my  friend,  let  there  be  no  one  there  to  speak 
to  thee  then;  no,  not  even  a  brother.  As  you  stand  there 
speak  only  to  the  waters. 

Two  miles  below  the  falls  the  river  is  crossed  by  a  suspen- 
sion bridge  of  marvellous  construction.  It  affords  two  thor- 
oughfares, one  above  the  other.  The  lower  road  is  for  car- 
riages and  horses,  and  the  upper  one  bears  a  railway  belonging 
to  the  Great  Western  Canada  line.  The  view  from  hence  both 
up  and  down  the  river  is  very  beautiful,  for  the  bridge  is  built 
immediately  over  the  f.rst  of  a  series  of  rapids.  One  mile  be- 
low the  bridge  these  rapids  end  in  a  broad  basin  called  the 
whirlpool,  and,  issuing  out  of  this,  the  current  tarns  to  the 
right  through  a  narrow  channel  overhung  by  cliffs  and  trees, 
and  then  makes  its  way  down  to  Lake  Ontario  with  compara- 
tive tranquillity. 

But  I  will  beg  you  to  take  notice  of  those  rapids  from  the 
bridge  and  to  ask  yourself  what  chance  of  life  would  remain  to 
any  ship,  craft,  or  boat  required  by  destiny  to  undergo  naviga- 
tion beneath  the  bridge  and  down  into  that  whirlpool.  Here- 
tofore all  men  would  have  said  that  no  chance  of  life  could  re- 
main to  so  ill-starred  a  bark.  The  navigation,  however,  has 
been  effected.  But  men  used  to  the  river  still  say  that  the 
chances  would  be  fifty  to  one  against  any  vessel  which  should 
attempt  to  repeat  the  experiment. 

The  story  of  that  wondrous  voyage  was  as  follows.    A  small 

E 


•    • 

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■  I 


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•IS  5  11 


(« 


rr 


98 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


Steamer  called  the  Maid  of  the  Mist  was  built  upon  the  river, 
between  the  falls  and  the  rapids,  and  Avas  used  for  taking  ad- 
venturous tourists  up  amidst  the  spray,  as  near  to  the  cataract 
as  was  possible.  The  Maid  of  the  Mist  plied  in  this  way  for  a 
year  or  two,  and  was,  I  believe,  much  patronized  during  the 
season.  But  in  the  early  part  of  last  summer  an  evil  time  had 
come.  Either  the  Maid  got  into  debt,  or  her  owner  had  em- 
barked in  other  and  less  profitable  speculations.  At  any  rate 
he  became  subject  to  the  law,  and  tidings  reached  him  that  the 
Sheriff  would  seize  the  Maid.  On  most  occasions  the  Sheriif  is 
bound  to  keep  such  intentions  secret,  seeing  that  property  is 
moveable,  and  that  an  insolvent  debtor  will  not  always  await 
the  officers  of  justice.  But  with  the  poor  Maid  there  was  no 
need  of  such  secresy.  There  was  but  a  mile  or  so  of  water  on 
which  she  could  ply,  and  she  was  forbidden  by  the  nature  of 
her  properties  to  make  any  way  upon  land.  The  Sheriff's  prey 
therefore  was  easy  and  the  poor  Maid  was  doomed. 

In  any  country  in  the  world  but  America  such  would  have 
been  the  case,  but  an  American  would  steam  down  Phlegethon 
to  save  his  property  from  the  Sheriff;  he  would  steam  down 
Phlegethon  or  get  some  one  else  to  do  it  for  him.  Whether  or 
no  in  this  case  the  captain  of  the  boat  was  the  proprietor,  or 
whether  as  I  was  told,  he  was  paid  for  the  job,  I  do  not  know; 
but  he  determined  to  run  the  rapids,  and  he  j^rocured  two  oth- 
ers to  accompany  him  in  the  risk.  He  got  up  his  steam,  and 
took  the  Maid  up  amidst  the  spray  according  to  his  custom. 
Then  suddenly  turning  on  his  course,  he  with  one  of  his  com- 
panions fixed  himself  at  the  wheel,  while  the  other  remained  at 
his  engine.  I  wish  I  could  look  into  the  mind  of  that  man  and 
understand  what  his  thoughts  were  at  that  moment;  what 
were  his  thoughts  and  what  his  beliefs.  As  to  one  of  the  men 
I  was  told  that  he  was  carried  down,  not  knowing  what  he  was 
about  to  do,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  all  the  three  were 
joined  together  in  the  attempt. 

I  was  told  by  a  man  who  saw  the  boat  pass  under  the  bridge, 
that  she  made  one  long  leap  down  as  she  came  thither,  that  her 
funnel  was  at  once  knocked  flat  on  the  deck  by  the  force  of  the 
blow,  that  the  waters  covered  her  from  stem  to  stern,  and  that 
then  she  rose  again  and  sk.'mmed  into  the  whirlpool  a  mile  be- 
low. When  there  she  rode  with  comparative  ease  upon  the 
waters,  and  took  the  sharp  turn  round  into  the  river  below 
without  a  struggle.  The  feat  was  done,  and  the  Maid  was  res- 
cued from  the  Sheriff.  It  is  said  that  she  was  sold  below  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  carried  from  thence  over  Lake  On- 
tario and  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Quebec. 


NORTH   AND  WEST.  99 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

NORTH    AND    WEST. 

From  Niagara  we  determined  to  proceed  north-west ;  as  far  to 
the  north-west  as  we  could  go  with  any  reasonable  hope  of  find- 
ing American  citizens  in  a  state  of  political  civilization,  and  per- 
haps guided  also  in  some  measure  by  our  hopes  as  to  hotel  accom- 
modation. Looking  to  these  two  matters  we  resolved  to  get  across 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  to  go  up  that  river  as  far  as  the  town  of 
St.  Paul  and  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  which  are  some  twelve  miles 
above  the  town ;  then  to  descend  the  river  as  far  as  the  States  of 
Iowa  on  the  west,  and  Illinois  on  the  east;  and  to  return  east- 
wards through  Chicago  and  the  large  cities  on  the  southern  shores 
of  Lake  Erie,  from  whence  we  would  go  across  to  Albany,  the 
capital  of  New  York  State,  and  down  the  Hudson  to  New  York, 
the  capital  of  the  Western  world.  For  such  a  journey,  in  which 
scenery  was  one  great  object,  we  were  rather  late,  as  we  did  not 
leave  Niagara  till  the  10th  of  October;  but  though  the  winters 
are  extremely  cold  through  all  this  portion  of  the  American  con- 
tinent— 15,  20,  and  even  25  degrees  below  zero  being  an  ordinary 
state  of  the  atmosphere  in  latitudes  equal  to  those  of  Florence, 
Nice,  and  Turin  —  nevertheless  the  autumns  are  mild,  the  noon- 
day being  always  warm,  and  the  colours  of  the  foliage  are  then  in 
all  their  glory.  I  was  also  very  anxious  to  ascertain,  if  it  might 
be  in  my  power  to  do  so,  with  what  spirit  or  true  feeling  as  to  the 
matter,  the  work  of  recruiting  for  the  now  enormous  army  of  the 
States  was  going  on  in  those  remote  regions.  That  men  should 
be  on  fire  in  Boston  and  New  York,  in  Philadelphia,  and  along 
the  borders  of  secession,  I  could  understand.  I  could  understand 
also  that  they  should  be  on  fire  throughout  the  cotton,  sugar,  and 
rice  plantations  of  the  South.  But  I  could  hardly  understand 
that  this  political  fervour  should  have  communicated  itself  to  the 
far-off  farmers  who  had  thinly  spread  themselves  over  the  enor- 
mous wheat-growing  districts  of  the  North-West.  St.  Paul,  the 
capital  of  Minnesota,  is  900  miles  directly  north  of  St.  Louis,  the 
most  northern  point  to  which  slavery  extends  in  the  Western 
States  of  the  Union,  and  the  farming  lands  of  Minnesota  stretch 
away  again  for  some  hundreds  of  miles  north  and  west  of  St.  Paul. 
Could  it  be  that  those  scanty  and  far-off  pioneers  of  agriculture, 
those  frontier  farmers  who  are  nearly  one  half  German  and  near- 
ly the  other  half  Irish,  would  desert  their  clearings  and  ruin  their 


'•# 


I, 


v« 


I 


•k 


u . 


100 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


Ill 


chances  of  progress  in  the  world  for  distant  wars  of  which  the 
causes  must,  as  I  thouo;ht,  be  to  them  unintelligible  ?  I  had  been 
told  that  distance  had  but  lent  enchantment  to  the  view,  and  that 
the  war  was  even  more  popular  in  the  remote  and  newly-settled 
States  than  in  those  which  have  been  longer  known  as  great  po- 
litical bodies.     So  I  resolved  that  I  would  go  and  see. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  explain  here  that  that  great  political  Union 
hitherto  called  the  United  States  of  America  may  be  more  prop- 
erly divided  into  three  than  into  two  distinct  interests.  In  En- 
gland we  have  long  heard  of  North  and  South  as  pitted  against 
each  other,  and  we  have  always  understood  that  the  southern 
politicians  or  democrats  have  prevailed  over  the  northern  poli- 
ticians or  republicans,  because  they  were  assisted  in  their  views  by 
northern  men  of  mark  who  have  held  southern  principles : — that 
is,  by  northern  men  who  have  been  willing  to  obtain  political  pow- 
er by  ioining  themselves  to  the  southern  party.  That  as  far  as  I 
can  understand  has  been  the  general  idea  in  England,  and  in  a 
broad  way  it  has  been  true.  But  as  years  have  advanced,  and  as 
the  States  have  extended  themselves  westward,  a  third  large  par- 
ty has  been  formed,  which  sometimes  rejoices  to  call  itself  The 
Great  West ;  and  though  at  the  present  time  the  West  and  the 
North  are  joined  together  against  the  South,  the  interests  of  the 
North  and  the  West  are  not,  I  think,  more  closely  interwoven 
than  are  those  of  the  West  and  South ;  and  when  the  final  settle- 
ment of  this  question  shall  be  made,  there  will  doubtless  be  great 
difiiculty  in  satisfying  the  different  aspirations  and  feelings  of  two 
great  free  soil  populations.  The  North,  I  think,  will  ultimately 
perceive  that  it  will  gain  much  by  the  secession  of  the  South ;  but 
it  will  be  very  difficult  to  make  the  West  believe  that  secession 
will  suit  its  views. 

I  will  attempt  in  a  rough  way  to  divide  the  States,  as  they  seem 
to  divide  themselves,  into  these  three  parties.  As  to  the  majority 
of  them  there  is  no  difficulty  in  locating  them ;  but  this  cannot  be 
done  with  absolute  certainty  as  to  some  few  that  lie  on  the  bor- 
ders. 

New  England  consists  of  six  States,  of  which  all  of  course  be- 
long to  the  North.  They  are  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Khode  Island,  and  Connecticut ;  the  six  States 
which  should  be  most  dear  to  England,  and  in  which  the  political 
success  of  the  United  States  as  a  nation  is  to  my  eyes  the  most 
apparent.  But  even  in  them  there  was  till  quite  of  late  a  strong 
section  so  opposed  to  the  republican  party  as  to  give  a  material 
aid  to  the  South.     This,  I  think,  was  particularly  so  in  New 


(   i 


KORTH  AND  WEST. 


101 


Hampshire,  from  whence  President  Pierce  came.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  senators  from  New  Hampshire ;  and  yet  to  him  as 
President  is  affixed  the  disgrace,  whether  truly  affixed  or  not  I 
do  not  say,  of  having  first  used  his  power  in  secretly  organizing 
those  arrangements  which  led  to  secession  and  assisted  at  its  birth. 
In  Massachusetts  also  itself  there  was  a  strong  democratic  party, 
of  which  Massachusetts  now  seems  to  be  somewhat  ashamed. 
Then,  to  make  up  the  North,  must  be  added  the  two  great  States 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  the  small  State  of  New  Jer- , 
sey.  The  West  will  not  agree  even  to  this  absolutely,  seeing  that 
they  claim  all  territory  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  that  a  portion 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  some  part  also  of  New  York  lie  westward 
of  that  range ;  but  in  endeavouring  to  make  these  divisions  ordi- 
narily intelligible  I  may  say  that  the  North  consists  of  the  nine 
States  above  named.  But  the  North  will  also  claim  Maryland 
and  Delaware,  and  the  eastern  half  of  Virginia.  The  North  will 
claim  them  though  they  are  attached  to  the  South  by  joint  par- 
ticipation in  the  great  social  institution  of  slavery,  for  Maryland, 
Delaware,  and  Virginia  are  slave  States  ; — and  I  think  that  the 
North  will  ultimately  make  good  its  claim.  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware lie,  as  it  were,  behind  the  capital,  and  Eastern  Virginia  is 
close  upon  the  capital.  And  these  regions  are  not  tropical  in  their 
climate  or  influences.  They  are  and  have  been  slave  States ;  but 
will  probably  rid  themselves  of  that  taint  and  become  a  portion 
of  the  free  North. 

The  southern  or  slave  States,  properly  so  called,  are  easily  de- 
fined. They  are  Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Ala- 
bama, Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  North  Carolina. 
The  South  will  also  claim  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Virginia, 
Delaware,  and  Maryland,  and  will  endeavour  to  prove  its  right  to 
the  claim  by  the  fact  of  the  social  institution  being  the  law  of  the 
land  in  those  States.  Of  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Eastern  Vir- 
ginia, I  have  already  spoken.  Western  Virginia  is,  I  think,  so 
little  tainted  with  slavery,  that,  as  she  stands  even  at  present,  she 
properly  belongs  to  the  West.  As  I  now  write  the  struggle  is 
going  on  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  In  Missouri  the  slave  pop- 
ulation is  barely  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  whole,  while  in  South 
Carolina  and  Mississippi  it  is  more  than  half.  And,  therefore,  I 
venture  to  count  Missouri  among  the  western  States,  although 
slavery  is  still  the  law  of  the  land  within  its  borders.  It  is  sur- 
rounded on  three  sides  by  free  States  of  the  West,  and  its  soil,  let 
us  hope,  must  become  free.  Kentucky  I  must  leave  as  doubtful, 
though  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  slavery  will  be  abolished 


\ 


'\] 


■1;      .'i 


I' 


1'4 


U^ 


r 


]  ■'•lij 


^r^ 


102 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


|(  i 


there  also.  Kentucky  at  any  rate  will  never  throw  in  its  lot  with 
the  Southern  States.  As  to  Tennessee,  it  seceded  heart  and  soul, 
and  I  fear  that  it  must  be  accounted  as  southern,  although  the 
northern  army  has  now,  in  May  1862,  possessed  itself  of  the  great- 
er part  of  the  State. 

To  the  great  "West  remains  an  enormous  territory,  of  which, 
however,  the  population  is  as  yet  but  scanty ;  though  perhaps  no 
portion  of  the  world  has  increased  so  fast  in  population  as  have 
.  these  western  States.  The  list  is  as  follows :  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Kansas, — to  which  I 
would  add  Missouri,  and  probably  the  western  half  of  Virginia. 
We  have  then  to  account  for  the  two  already  admitted  States  on 
the  Pacific,  California  and  Oregon,  and  also  for  the  unadmitted 
Territories,  Dacotah,  Nebraska,  Washington,  Utah,  New  Mexico, 
Colorado,  and  Neveda.  I  should  be  refining  too  much  for  my 
present  very  general  purpose,  if  I  were  to  attempt  to  marshal  these 
huge  but  thinly  populated  regions  in  either  rank.  Of  California 
and  Oregon  it  may  probably  be  said  that  it  is  their  ambition  to 
form  themselves  into  a  separate  division ; — a  division  which  may 
be  called  the  further  West. 

I  know  that  all  statistical  statements  are  tedious,  and  I  believe 
that  but  few  readers  believe  them.  I  will,  however,  venture  to 
give  the  populations  of  these  States  in  the  order  I  have  named 
them,  seeing  that  power  in  America  depends  almost  entirely  on 
population.     The  census  of  1860  gave  the  following  results : — 

In  the  North. 

Maine 619,000 

New  Hampshire 326,873 

Vermont 325,827 

Massachusetts  ....^ 1,231,494 

Rhode  Island 174,621 

Connecticut 460,670 

New  York , 3,851,663 

Pennsylvania 2,916,018 

New  Jersey 676,034 

Total 10,682,099 

In  the  South — the  population  of  which  must  be  divided  into 
free  and  slave. 


o 


NORTH   AND   WEST. 


103 


■iS 


Texas 

Louisiaim 

Arkansas 

Mississippi 

Alabama 

Florida 

Georgia 

South  Carolina.... 
North  Carolina.... 
Tennessee 

Total. 


I'rec. 


415,999 
354,245 
331,710 
407,051 
620,444 
81,885 
615,366 
308,186 
079,965 
859,578 


4,574,429 


Slftvo. 


184,956 
312,186 
109,065 
479,007 
435,473 
63,809 
467,461 
407,185 
328,377 
287,112 


3,075,231 


Total. 


600,955 

666,431 

440,775 

886,658 

955, 9 IT 

145,694 

1,082,827 

715,371 

1,008,342 

1,146,690 

7,6497600 


In  the  West. 

Ohio 2,377,917 

Indiana 1,350,802 

-     Illinois 1,691,238 

Michigan 754,291 

Wisconsin % 763,485 

Minnesota 172,796 

Iowa 682,002 

Kansas 143,645 

Missouri % *1, 204,214 

Total 9,140,390 

♦  Of  which  number,  in  Missouri,  115,619  are  slaves. 

In  the  doubtful  States. 


Maryland 
Delaware , 
Virginia  .. 
Kentucky . 


Total. 


Free. 


646,183 

110,648 

1,097,373 

920,077 


2,774,181 


Slave. 


85,382 

1,805 

495,826 

225,490 


808,503 


Total. 


731,565 

112,353 

1,593,199 

1,145,567 


3,582,684 


V, 


} 


To  these  must  be  added  to  make  up  the  population  of  the  United 
States,  as  it  stood  in  1860. 

The  separate  district  of  Columbia,  in  which  is 
included  Washington,  the  seat  of  the  Federal 

Government 75,321 

California 384,770 

Oregon 62,566 

The  Territories  of 

Dacotah 4,839 

Nebraska 28,892 

Washington 11,624 

Utah 49,000 

New  Mexico 93,024 

Colorado 34,197 

Neveda 6,867 

Total 741,090 


\ 


1^- 


if 


)  .  ■■-, 


104 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


And  thus  the  total  population  may  be  given  as  follows  :— 

North 10,582,091) 

South 7,04J),6(>0 

West 9,140,390 

^      Doubtful 3,582,684 

Outl^'ing  States  and  Territories 741,090 

Total 31,095,923 

Each  of  the  three  interests  would  consider  itself  wronged  by 
the  division  above  made,  but  the  South  would  probably  be  the 
loudest  in  asserting  its  grievance.  The  South  claims  all  the  slave 
States,  and  would  point  to  secession  in  Virginia  to  justify  such 
claim, — and  would  point  also  to  Maryland  and  Baltimore,  declaring 
that  secession  would  be  as  strong  there  as  at  New  Orleans,  if  se- 
cession were  practicable.  Maryland  and  Baltimore  lie  behind 
Washington,  and  are  under  the  heels  of  the  northern  troops,  so 
that  secession  is  not  practicable ;  but,  the  South  would  say  that 
they  have  seceded  in  heart.  In  this  the  South  would  have  some 
show  of  reason  for  its  assertion ;  but,  nevertheless,  I  shall  best  con- 
vey a  true  idea  of  the  position  of  these  States  by  classing  them  as 
doubtful.  When  secession  shall  have  been  accomplished, — if  ever 
it  be  accomplished, — it  will  hardly  be  possible  that  they  should 
adhere  to  the  South. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  tables  that  the  population  of  the 
West  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  North,  and  that  therefore 
western  power  is  almost  as  great  as  northern.  It  is  almost  as 
great  already,  and  as  population  in  the  West  increases  faster  than 
it  does  in  the  North,  the  two  will  soon  be  equalized.  They  are 
already  sufficiently  on  a  par  to  enable  them  to  fight  on  equal  terms, 
and  they  will  be  prepared  for  fighting — political  fighting,  if  no  oth- 
er^as  soon  as  they  have  established  their  supremacy  over  a  com- 
mon enemy. 

Whilst  I  am  on  the  subject  of  population,  I  should  explain — 
though  the  point  is  not  one  which  concerns  the  present  argument 
— that  the  numbers  given,  as  they  regard  the  South,  include  both 
the  whites  and  blacks,  the  free  men  and  the  slaves.  The  political 
power  of  the  South  is  of  course  in  the  hands  of  the  white  race 
only,  and  the  total  white  population  should  therefore  be  taken  as 
the  number  indicating  the  southern  power.  The  political  power 
of  the  South,  however,  as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  North,  has, 
since  the  commencement  of  the  Union,  been  much  increased  by  the 
slave  population.  The  slaves  have  been  taken  into  account  in  de- 
termining the  number  of  representatives  which  should  be  sent  to 
Congress  by  each  State.     That  number  depends  on  the  popula- 


ii^'^ 


NORTH   AND   WEST. 


105 


0 


tioii,  but  it  was  decided  in  1787,  that  in  counting  up  the  number 
of  representatives  to  which  each  State  should  be  held  to  be  en- 
titled, live  slaves  should  represent  three  white  men.  A  Southern 
population,  therefore,  of  five  thousand  free  men  and  five  thousand 
slaves  would  claim  as  many  representatives  as  a  Northern  popula- 
tion of  eight  thousand  free  men,  although  the  voting  would  bo 
confined  to  the  free  population.  This  has  ever  since  been  the  law 
of  the  United  States. 

The  western  power  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  North,  and 
this  fact,  somewhat  exaggerated  in  terms,  is  a  frequent  boast  in 
the  mouths  of  western  men.  "  We  ran  Fremont  for  President," 
they  say,  "  and  had  it  not  been  for  northern  men  with  southern 
principles,  we  should  have  put  him  in  the  White  House  instead 
of  the  traitor  Buchanan.  If  that  had  been  done,  there  would 
have  been  no  secession."  How  things  might  have  gone  had  Fre- 
mont been  elected  in  lieu  of  Buchanan,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say ; 
but  the  nature  of  the  argument  shows  the  difference  that  exists  be- 
tween northern  and  western  feeling.  At  the  time  that  I  was  in 
the  West,  General  Fremont  was  the  great  topic  of  public  interest. 
Every  newspaper  was  discussing  his  conduct,  his  ability  as  a  sol- 
dier, his  energy,  and  his  fate.  At  that  time  General  Maclellan 
was  in  command  at  Washington  on  the  Potomac,  it  being  under- 
stood that  he  held  his  power  directly  under  the  President, — free 
from  the  exercise  of  control  on  the  part  of  the  veteran  General 
Scott,  though  at  that  time  General  Scott  had  not  actually  resign- 
ed his  position  as  head  of  the  army.  And  G(  aeral  Fremont,  who 
some  five  years  before  had  been  "  run"  for  President  by  the  West- 
ern States,  held  another  command  of  nearly  equal  independence 
in  Missouri.  He  had  been  put  over  General  Lyon  in  the  western 
command,  and  directly  after  this  General  Lyon  had  fallen  in  battle 
at  Springfield,  in  the  first  action  in  which  the  opposing  armies 
were  engaged  in  the  West.  General  Fremont  at  once  proceeded 
to  carry  matters  with  a  very  high  hand.  On  the  30th  of  August, 
1861,  he  issued  a  proclamation  by  which  he  declared  martial  law 
at  St.  Louis,  the  city  at  which  he  held  his  head  quarters,  and  in- 
deed throughout  the  State  of  Missouri  generally.  In  this  procla- 
mation he  declared  his  intention  of  exercising  a  severity  beyond 
that  ever  threatened,  as  I  believe,  in  modern  warfare.  He  defines 
the  region  presumed  to  be  held  by  his  army  of  occupation,  draw- 
ing his  lines  across  the  State,  and  then  declares  "  that,  all  persons 
who  shall  be  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands  within  those  lines 
shall  be  tried  by  Court  Marfial,  and  if  found  guilty  will  be  shot.'* 
He  then  goes  on  to  say  that  he  will  confiscate  all  the  property  of 

E2 


t*>'^'  I  i 


X 


If 


.V 


'^?l 


106 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


persons  in  the  Stato  who  shall  havo  taken  up  arms  against  the 
Union,  or  who  shall  have  taken  part  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Union,  and  that  he  tvill  make  free  all  slaves  belonging  to  such  persons. 
This  pro(;lamation  was  not  approved  at  Washington,  and  was 
modified  by  the  order  of  the  President.  It  was  understood  also 
that  he  issued  orders  for  military  expenditure,  which  were  not 
recognized  at  Washington,  and  men  began  to  understiind  that  the 
army  in  the  West  was  gradually  assuming  that  irresponsible  mili- 
tary position,  which  in  disturbed  countries  and  in  times  of  civil 
war  has  so  frequently  i*esulted  in  a  military  dictatorship.  Then 
there  arose  a  clamour  for  the  removal  of  General  Fremont.  A 
semi-oflicial  account  of  his  proceedings,  which  had  reached  Wash- 
ington from  an  officer  under  his  command,  was  made  public ;  and 
also  the  correspondence  which  took  place  on  the  subject  between 
the  President  and  General  Fremont's  wife.  The  officer  in  ques- 
tion was  thereupon  placed  under  arrest,  but  immediately  released 
by  orders  from  Washington.  He  then  made  official  complaint 
of  his  General,  sending  forward  a  list  of  charges  in  which  Fre- 
mont was  accused  of  rashness,  incompetency,  want  of  fidelity  of 
the  interests  of  the  Government,  and  disobedience  to  orders  from 
head  quarters.  After  a  while  the  Secretary  of  War  himself  pro- 
ceeded from  Washington  to  the  quarters  of  General  Fremont  at 
St.  Louis,  and  remained  there  for  a  day  or  two,  making  or  pre- 
tending to  make  inquiry  into  the  matter.  But  when  he  returned 
he  left  the  General  still  in  command.  During  the  whole  month 
of  October  the  papers  were  occupied  in  declaring  in  the  njorning 
that  General  Fremont  had  been  recalled  from  his  command,  and 
in  the  evening  that  he  was  to  remain.  In  the  mean  time  they 
who  befriended  his  cause,  and  this  included  the  whole  West,  were 
hoping  from  day  to  day  that  he  would  settle  the  matter  for  him- 
self and  silence  his  accusers,  by  some  great  military  success.  Gen- 
eral Price  held  the  command  opposed  to  him,  and  men  said  that 
Fremont  would  sweep  General  Price  and  his  army  down  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi  into  the  sea.  But  General  1  nee  would  not 
be  so  swept,  and  it  began  to  appear  that  a  guerilla  warfare  would 
prevail ;  that  General  Price,  if  driven  southwards,  would  reappear 
behind  the  backs  of  his  pursuers,  and  that  General  Fremont  would 
not  accomplish  all  that  wes  expected  of  him  with  that  rapidity  for 
which  his  friends  had  given  him  credit.  So  the  newspapers  still 
went  on  waging  the  war,  and  pyery  morning  General  Fremont  was 
recalled,  and  every  evening  they  who  had  recalled  him  were  shown 
up  as  having  known  nothing  of  the  matter. 

<<  Never  mind ;  he  is  a  pioneer  man,  and  will  do  a' most  any- 


NOETH   AND   WEST. 


107 


thing  he  puts  his  hand  to,"  his  friends  in  the  West  still  said.  "  lie 
understands  the  frontier."  Understanding  the  frontier  is  a  proat 
thing  in  Western  America,  across  which  the  vanguard  of  civiliza- 
tion continues  to  march  on  in  advance  from  year  to  year.  *'  And 
it's  he  that  is  bound  to  sweep  slavery  from  ott'tho  face  of  this  Con- 
tinent, lie's  the  man,  and  he's  about  the  only  man.'*  I  am  not 
(lualilied  to  write  the  life  of  General  Fremont,  and  can  at  present 
only  make  this  slight  reference  to  the  details  of  his  romantic  ca- 
reer. That  it  has  been  full  of  romance,  and  that  the  man  himself 
is  indued  with  a  singular  energy  and  a  high  romantic  idea  of  what 
may  be  done  by  power  and  will,  there  is  no  doubt.  Five  times  ho 
has  crossed  the  continent  of  North  America  from  Missouri  to  Or- 
egon and  California,  enduring  great  hardships  in  the  service  of  ad- 
vancing civilization  and  knowledge.  That  he  has  considerable 
talent,  immense  energy,  and  strong  self-confidence,  I  believe.  He 
is  a  frontier  man  ;  one  of  those  who  care  nothing  for  danger,  and 
who  would  dare  anything  with  the  hope  of  accomplishing  a  great 
career.  But  I  have  never  heard  that  he  has  shown  any  practical 
knowledge  of  high  military  matters.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
a  man  of  this  stamp  is  well  fitted  to  hold  the  command  of  a  na- 
tion's army  for  great  national  purposes.  May  it  not  even  be  pre- 
sumed that  a  man  of  this  class  is  of  all  men  the  least  fitted  for 
such  a  work?  The  officer  required  should  be  a  man  with  two 
specialities — a  speciality  for  military  tactics,  and  a  speciality  for 
national  duty.  The  army  in  the  West  was  far  removed  from  head 
quarters  in  Washington,  and  it  was  peculiarly  desirable  that  the 
General  commanding  it  should  be  one  possessing  a  strong  idea  of 
obedience  to  the  control  of  his  own  Government.  Those  frontier 
capabilities,  that  self-dependent  energy  for  which  his  friends  gave 
Fremont, — and  probably  justly  gave  him, — such  unlimited  credit 
are  exactly  the  qualities  which  are  most  dangerous  in  such  a  po- 
sition. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  the  circumstances  of  the  West- 
ern command  in  Missouri,  as  they  existed  at  the  time  when  I  was 
in  the  North-Western  States,  in  order  that  the  double  action  of 
the  North  and  West  may  be  understood.  I,  of  course,  was  not  in 
the  secret  of  any  official  persons,  but  I  could  not  but  feel  sure  that 
the  Government  in  Washington  would  have  been  glad  to  have  re- 
moved Fremont  at  once  from  the  command,  had  they  not  feared 
that  by  doing  so  they  would  have  created  a  schism,  as  it  were,  in 
their  own  camp,  and  have  done  much  to  break  up  the  integrity 
or  oneness  of  Northern  loyalty.  The  western  people  almost  to  a 
man  desired  abolition.     The  States  there  were  sending  out  their 


1 
• 

1 

■'I     i 

t 

\\  > 

I  '  » 


t%( 


\il 


<< 


'  ■  {' 


\ 


108 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


^'      , 


tens  of  thousands  of  younpj  men  into  the  army  with  a  prodigality 
as  to  tilcir  only  source  of  wealth  which  they  hardly  nicognized 
themselves,  because  this  to  them  was  u  fight  against  slavery.  The 
western  population  has  been  increased  to  a  wonderful  degree  by  a 
Gorman  infusion ; — so  much  so  that  the  western  towns  appear  to 
have  been  peopled  with  Germans.  I  found  regiments  of  volun- 
teers consisting  wholly  of  Germans.  And  the  Germans  are  all 
abolitionists.  To  all  the  men  of  the  West  the  name  of  Fremont 
is  dear.  He  is  their  Hero,  and  their  Hercules.  He  is  to  cleanso 
the  stables  of  the  southern  king,  and  turn  the  waters  of  emancipa- 
tion through  the  foul  stalls  of  slavery.  And,  therefore,  though  the 
Cabinet  in  Washington  would  have  been  glad  for  many  reasons  to 
have  removed  Fremont  in  October  last,  it  was  at  first  scared  from 
committing  itself  to  so  strong  a  measure.  At  last,  however,  the 
charges  made  against  him  were  too  fully  substantiated  to  allow  of 
their  being  set  on  one  side,  and  early  in  November,  18G1,  he  was 
superseded.  I  shall  bo  obliged  to  allude  again  to  General  Fre- 
mont's career  as  I  go  on  with  my  narrative. 

At  this  time  the  North  was  lool'.ing  for  a  victory  on  the  Poto- 
mac ;  but  they  were  no  longer  looking  for  it  with  that  impatience 
which  in  the  summer  had  led  to  the  disgrace  at  Bull's  Run.  They 
had  recognized  the  fact  that  their  troops  must  be  equipped,  drilled, 
and  instructed ;  and  they  had  also  recognized  the  perhaps  greater 
fact,  that  their  enemies  were  neither  weak,  cowardly,  nor  badly 
officered.  I  have  always  thought  that  the  tone  and  manner  with 
which  the  North  bore  the  defeat  at  Bull's  Run  was  creditable  to 
it.  It  was  never  denied,  never  explained  away,  never  set  down  as 
trifling.  "We  have  been  whipped!"  was  what  all  Northerners 
said, — "We've  got  an  almighty  whipping, and  here  we  are."  I 
have  heard  many  Englishmen  complain  of  this,  saying  that  the 
matter  was  taken  almost  as  a  joke, — that  no  disgrace  was  felt, 
and  the  licking  was  owned  by  a  people  who  ought  never  to  have 
allowed  that  they  had  been  licked  To  all  this,  however,  I  de- 
mur. Their  only  chance  of  speedy  success  consisted  in  their  see- 
ing and  recognizing  the  truth.  Had  they  confessed  the  whipping 
and  then  sat  down  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets, — had  they 
done  as  second-rate  boys  at  school  will  do,  declare  that  they  had 
been  licked,  and  then  feel  that  all  the  trouble  is  over, — they  would 
indeed  have  been  open  to  reproach.  The  old  mother  across  the 
water  would  in  such  case  have  disowned  her  son.  But  they  did 
the  very  reverse  of  this.  "I  have  been  whipped,"  Jonathan  said, 
and  he  immediately  went  into  training  under  a  new  system  for  an- 
other fight. 


NORTH    AND    WEST. 


109 


And  80  all  through  September  uiid  ()ctol)cr  the  great  armies  on 
the  Potomac  rested  comparatively  in  quiet,  tlio  Northern  forces 
drawing  to  themselves  immense  levies.  The  general  conlidtmco  in 
iMaclellan  was  then  very  groat,  and  the  cautious  measures  by  which 
ho  endeavoured  to  bring  his  vast  untrained  body  of  men  under  dis- 
cipline were  such  as  did  at  that  time  recommend  themselves  to 
most  military  critics.  Early  in  September  the  northern  party  ob- 
tained a  considerable  advantage  by  taking  the  fort  at  Capo  Jlat- 
teras,  in  North  Carolina,  situated  on  one  of  those  long  banks  -which 
lie  along  the  shores  of  the  Southern  States  ;  but  towards  tho  end 
of  October  they  experienced  a  considerable  reverse  in  an  attack 
which  was  made  on  the  Secessionists  by  General  Stone,  and  in 
which  Colonel  IJaker  was  killed.  Colonel  Baker  had  been  senator 
for  Oregon,  and  was  well  known  as  an  orator.  Taking  all  things 
together,  however,  nothing  material  had  been  done  up  to  the  end 
of  October  j  and  at  that  time  northern  men  were  waiting — not  per- 
haps impatiently,  considering  the  great  hopes,  and  perhaps  great 
fears  which  filled  their  hearts,  but  with  eager  expectation  for  some 
event  of  which  they  raighl'  talk  with  pride. 

Tho  man  to  whom  they  had  trusted  all  their  hopes  was  young 
for  so  great  a  command.  I  think  that  at  this  time  (October  18G1) 
General  Maclellan  was  not  yet  thirty-five.  He  had  served  early 
in  life  in  the  Mexican  war,  having  come  originally  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  having  been  educated  at  the  military  college  at  West 
Point.  During  our  war  with  Kussia  he  was  sent  to  the  Crimea 
by  his  own  Government  in  conjunction  with  two  other  officers  of 
the  United  States  army,  that  they  might  learn  all  that  was  to  bo 
learned  there  as  to  military  tactics,  and  report  especially  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  fortifications  were  made  and  attacked.  I  have 
been  informed  that  a  very  able  report  was  sent  in  by  them  to  the 
Government,  on  their  return,  and  that  this  was  drawn  up  by  Mac- 
lellan. But  in  America  a  man  is  not  only  a  soldier  or  always  a 
soldier ;  nor  is  he  always  a  clergyman  if  once  a  clergyman.  He 
takes  a  spell  at  anything  suitable  that  may  be  going.  And  in  this 
way  Maclellan  was  for  some  years  engaged  on  the  Central  Illinois 
Railway,  and  was  for  a  considerable  time  the  head  manager  of  that 
concern.  We  all  know  with  what  suddenness  he  rose  to  the  high- 
est command  in  the  army  immediately  after  the  defeat  at  BulFs 
Run. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  describe  what  were  the  feelings  of  the 
West  in  the  autumn  of  1861  with  regard  to  the  war.  The  excite- 
ment and  eagerness  there  were  veiy  great,  and  they  were  perhaps 
as  great  in  the  North.  But  in  the  North  the  matter  seemed  to 
me  to  be  regarded  from  a  different  point  of  view.     As  a  rule,  the 


AK 


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t, 

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no 


NOKTM  AMERICA. 


E  H 


H'  ? 


men  of  the  North  are  not  abolitionists.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
they  were  nci  so  before  secession  began.  They  hate  slavery  as 
we  in  England  hate  it ;  but  they  are  aware,  as  also  are  we,  that 
the  disposition  of  four  million  of  black  men  and  women  forms  a 
question  which  cannot  be  solved  by  the  chivalry  of  any  modern 
Orlando.  The  property  invested  in  these  four  million  slaves  forms 
the  entire  wealth  of  the  South.  If  they  could  be  wafted  by  a  phil- 
anthropic breeze  back  to  the  shores  of  Africa, — a  breeze  of  which 
the  philanthropy  would  certainly  not  be  appreciated  by  those  so 
wafted, — the  South  would  be  a  wilderness.  The  subject  is  one  as 
full  of  difficulty  as  any  with  which  politicians  of  these  days  are 
tormented.  The  Northerners  fully  appreciate  this,  and  as  a  rule 
are  not  abolitionists  in  the  western  sense  of  the  word.  To  them 
the  war  is  recommended  by  precisely  those  feelings  which  ani- 
mated us  when  we  fought  for  our  colonies, — wiien  we  strove  to 
put  down  American  independence.  Secession  is  rebellion  against 
the  government :  and  is  all  the  more  bitter  to  the  North  because 
that  rebellion  broke  out  at  the  first  moment  of  northern  ascendan- 
cy. "We  submitted,"  the  North  says,  "to  southern  Presidents, 
and  southern  statesmen,  and  southern  councils,  because  we  obeyed 
the  vote  of  the  people.  But  aa  to  you — the  voice  of  the  people  is 
nothing  in  your  estimation !  At  the  first  moment  in  which  the 
popular  vote  places  at  Washington  a  President  with  Northern  feel- 
ings, you  rebel.  We  submitted  in  your  days ;  and  by  heaven,  you 
shall  submit  in  ours !  We  submitted  loyal'y ;  through  love  of  the 
law  and  the  Constitution.  You  have  disregarded  the  law,  and 
thrown  over  the  Constitution.  But  you  shall  be  made  to  submit, 
as  a  child  is  made  to  submit  to  its  governor." 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  on  commercial  questions  the 
North  and  the  West  are  divided.  The  Morrill  tariff  is  as  odious 
to  the  West  as  it  is  to  the  South.  The  South  and  West  are  both 
agricultural  productive  regions,  desirous  of  sending  cotton  and  corn 
to  foreign  countries  and  of  receiving  back  foreign  manufactures  on 
the  best  terms.  But  the  North  is  a  manufacturing  country.  A 
T)oor  manufacturing  country  as  regards  excellence  of  manufacture 
—and  therefore  the  more  anxious  to  foster  its  own  growth  by  pro- 
tective laws.  The  Morrill  tariff  is  very  injurious  to  the  West,  and 
is  odious  there.  I  might  add  that  its  folly  has  already  been  so  far 
recognized  even  in  the  North,  as  to  make  it  very  generally  odious 
there  also. 

So  much  I  have  said  endeavouring  to  make  it  understood  how 
far  the  North  and  West  were  united  in  feeling  against  the  South 
in  the  autumn  of  1861,  and  how  far  there  existed  between  them  a 
diversity  of  intt^rests. 


FROM  NIAGARA  TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


Ill 


nr, 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM   NIAGARA  TO  THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

From  Niagara  we  went  by  the  Canada  Great  Western  Rail- 
way to  Detroit,  the  big  city  of  Michigan,  It  is  an  American 
institution  that  thu  States  should  have  a  commercial  capital, 
or  what  I  call  their  big  city,  as  well  as  a  political  capital,  which 
may  as  a  rule  be  call^^d  the  State's  central  city.  The  object  in 
choosing  the  political  capital  is  average  nearness  of  approach 
from  the  various  confines  of  the  St.ite ;  but  commerce  submits 
to  no  such  Procrustean  laws  in  selecting  her  capitals,  and  con- 
sequently she  has  placed  Detroit  on  the  borders  of  Michigan, 
on  the  shore  of  the  neck  of  water  which  joins  Lake  Huron  to 
Lake  Erie,  through  which  all  the  trade  must  flow  which  comes 
down  from  Lakes  Michigan,  Superior,  and  Huron,  on  its  way 
to  the  Eastern  States  and  to  Europe.  We  had  thought  of  go- 
ing from  Buffalo  across  Lake  Erie  to  Detroit;  but  we  found 
that  the  better  class  of  steamers  had  been  taken  off  the  waters 
for  the  winter.  And  we  also  found  that  navigation  among 
these  lakes  is  a  mistake  whenever  the  necessary  journey  can  be 
taken  by  railway.  Their  waters  are  by  no  means  smooth ;  and 
then  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen.  I  do  not  know  whether  oth- 
ers may  have  a  feeling,  almost  instinctive,  that  lake  navigation 
must  be  pleasant, — that  lakes  must  of  necessity  be  beautiful.  I 
have  such  a  feeling ;  but  not  now  so  strong  as  formerly.  Such 
an  idea  should  be  kept  for  use  in  Europe,  and  never  brought 
over  to  America  with  other  travelling  gear.  The  lakes  in  Amer- 
ica are  cold,  cumbrous,  uncouth,  and  uninteresting ;  intended 
by  nature  for  the  conveyance  of  cereal  produce,  but  not  for  the 
comfort  of  travelling  men  and  women.  So  we  gave  up  our 
plan  of  traversing  the  lake,  and  passing  back  into  Canada  by 
the  suspension  bridge  at  Niagara,  we  reached  the  Detroit 
river  at  Windsor  by  the  Great  Western  linr.  and  passed 
thence  by  the  ferry  into  the  city  of  Detroit. 

In  making  this  journey  at  night  we  introduced  ourselves  to 
the  thoroughly  American  institution  of  sleeping-cars ; — that  is, 
of  cars  in  which  beds  are  made  up  for  travellers.  The  travel- 
ler may  have  a  whole  bed,  or  half  a  bed,  or  no  bed  at  all  as  he 
pleases,  paying  a  dollar  or  half  a  dollar  extra  should  he  choose 
the  partial  or  full  fruition  of  a  couch.  I  confess  I  have  always 
taken  a  delight  in  seeing  these  beds  made  up,  and  consider 
that  the  operations  of  the  change  are  generally  as  well  executed 


.1'  . 


(■' 


^#  I J' 


'       I 


'\ 


^i 


■*''!*:  I 


T^ 


112 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


as  the  manoeuvres  of  any  pantomime  at  Drury  Lane.  The  work 
is  usually  done  by  negroes  or  coloured  men ;  and  the  domestic 
negroes  of  America  are  always  light-handed  and  adroit.  The 
nature  of  an  American  car  is  no  doubt  knWn  to  all  men.  It 
looks  as  far  removed  from  all  bedroom  accommodation,  as  the 
baker's  barrow  does  from  the  steam-engine  into  which  it  is  to 
be  converted  by  harlequin's  wand.  But  the  negro  goes  to 
work  much  more  quietly  than  the  harlequin,  and  for  every  four 
seats  in  the  railway  car  he  builds  up  four  beds,  almost  as 
quickly  as  the  hero  of  the  pantomime  goes  through  his  per- 
formance. The  great  glory  of  the  Americans  is  in  their  won- 
drous contrivances, — in  their  patent  remedies  for  the  usually 
troublous  operations  of  life.  In  their  huge  hotels  all  the  bell- 
ropes  of  each  house  ring  on  one  bell  only,  but  a  patent  indica- 
tor discloses  a  number,  and  the  whereabouts  of  the  ringer  is 
shown.  One  fire  heats  every  room,  passage,  hall,  and  cup- 
board,— and  does  it  so  effectually  that  the  inhabitants  are  all 
but  stifled.  Soda-water  bottles  open  themselves  without  any 
trouble  of  wire  or  strings.  Men  and  women  go  up  and  down 
stairs  without  motive  power  of  their  own.  Hot  and  cold  wa- 
ter are  laid  on  to  all  the  chambers ; — though  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  the  water  from  both  taps  is  boiling,  and  that  when 
once  turned  on  it  cannot  be  turned  off  again  by  any  human  en- 
ergy. Everything  is  done  by  a  new  and  wonderful  patent  con- 
trivance ;  and  of  all  their  wonderful  contrivances  that  of  their 
railroad  beds  is  by  no  means  the  least.  For  every  four  seats 
the  negro  builds  up  four  beds, — that  is,  four  half-beds  or  ac- 
commodation for  four  persons.  Two  are  supposed  to  be  be- 
low on  the  level  of  the  ordinary  four  seats,  and  two  up  above 
on  shelves  which  are  let  down  from  the  roof.  Mattresses  slip 
out  from  one  nook  and  pillows  from  another.  Blankets  are 
added,  and  the  bed  is  ready.  Any  over  particular  individual 
— an  islander,  for  instance,  who  hugs  his  chains — will  gener- 
ally prefer  to  pay  the  dollar  for  the  double  accommodation. 
Looking  at  the  bed  in  the  light  of  a  bed, — taking  as  it  were 
an  abstract  view  of  it, — or  comparing  it  with  some  other  bed 
or  beds  with  which  the  occupant  may  have  acquaintance,  I  can- 
not say  that  it  is  in  all  respects  perfect.  But  distances  are  long 
in  America;  and  he  who  declines  to  travel  by  night  will  lose 
very  much  time.  He  who  does  so  travel  will  find  the  railway 
bed  a  great  relief.  I  must  confess  that  the  feeling  of  dirt  on 
the  following  morning  is  rather  oppressive. 

From  Windsor  on  the  Canada  tide  we  passed  over  to  Detroit 
in  the  State  of  Michigan  by  a  steam  ferry.    But  ferries  in  En- 


FROM   NIAGABA  TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


113 


pland  and  ferries  in  America  are  very  different.  Here  on  this 
Detroit  ferry,  some  hundred  of  passengers  who  were  going  for- 
ward from  the  other  side  without  delay,  at  once  sat  down  to 
breakfast.  I  may  as  well  explain  the  way  in  which  disposition 
is  made  of  one's  luggage  as  one  takes  these  long  journeys.  The 
traveller  when  he  starts  has  his  baggage  checked.  He  abandons 
his  trunk — generally  a  box  studded  with  nails,  as  long  as  a  cof- 
fin and  as  high  as  a  linen  chest, — and  in  return  for  this  he  re- 
ceives an  iron  ticket  with  a  number  on  it.  As  he  approaches 
the  end  of  his  first  instalment  of  travel,  and  while  the  engine 
is  still  working  its  hardest,  a  man  comes  up  to  him,  bearing 
with  him  suspended  on  a  circular  bar  an  infinite  variety  of  other 
checks.  The  traveller  confides  to  this  man  his  wishes ;  and  if 
he  be  going  further  without  delay,  surrenders  his  check  and 
receives  a  counter-check  in  return.  Then  while  the  train  is  still 
in  motion,  the  new  destiny  of  the  trunk  is  imparted  to  it.  But 
another  man,  with  another  set  of  checks,  also  comes  the  way, 
walking  leisurely  through  the  train  as  he  performs  his  work. 
This  is  the  minister  of  the  hotel-omnibus  institution.  His  busi- 
ness is  with  those  who  do  not  travel  beyond  the  next  terminus. 
To  him,  if  such  be  your  intention,  you  make  your  confidence, 
giving  up  your  tallies  and  taking  other  tallies,  by  way  of  re- 
ceipt ;  and  your  luggage  is  afterwards  found  by  you  in  the  hall 
of  your  hotel.  There  is  undoubtedly  very  much  of  comfort  in 
this ;  and  the  mind  of  the  traveller  is  lost  in  amazement  as  he 
thinks  of  the  futile  efforts  with  which  he  would  struggle  to  re- 
gain his  luggage  were  there  no  such  arrangement.  Enormous 
piles  of  boxes  are  disclosed  on  the  platform  at  all  the  larger 
stations,  the  numbers  of  which  are  roared  forth  with  quick  voice 
by  some  two  or  three  railway  denizens  at  once.  A  modest  En- 
glish voyager  with  six  or  seven  small  packages,  would  stand  no 
chance  of  getting  anything  if  he  were  left  to  his  own  devices. 
As  it  is  I  am  bound  to  say  that  the  thing  is  well  done.  I  have 
had  my  desk  with  all  my  money  in  it  lost  for  a  day,  and  my 
black  leather  bag  was  on  one  occasion  sent  back  over  the 
line.  They,  however,  were  recovered ;  and  on  the  whole  I  feel 
grateful  to  the  check  system  of  the  American  railways.  And 
then,  too,  one  never  hears  of  extra  luggage.  Of  weight  they 
are  quite  regardless.  On  two  or  three  occasions  an  overwrought 
official  has  muttered  between  his  teeth  that  ten  packages  were 
a  great  many,  and  that  some  of  those  "light  fixings'*  miglt  have 
been  made  up  into  one.  And  when  I  came  to  understand  that 
the  number  of  every  check  was  entered  in  a  book,  and  re-en- 
tered at  every  change,  I  did  whisper  to  my  wife  that  she  ought 


I  "% 


:^:| 


114 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


f!   '   i 


to  do  without  a  bonnet-box.  The  ten,  however,  went  on,  and 
were  always  duly  protected.  I  must  add,  however,  that  arti- 
cles requiring  tender  treatment  will  sometimes  reappear  a  little 
the  worse  from  the  hardships  of  their  journey. 

I  have  not  much  to  say  of  Detroit ;  not  much,  that  is,  beyond 
what  I  have  to  say  of  all  the  North.  It  is  a  large  well-built 
half-finished  city,  lying  on  a  convenient  water  way,  and  spread- 
ing itself  out  with  promises  of  a  wide  and  still  wider  prosperity. 
It  has  about  it  perhaps  as  little  of  intrinsic  interest  as  any  of 
those  large  western  towns  which  I  visited.  It  is  not  so  pleas- 
ant as  Milwaukee,  nor  so  picturesque  as  St.  Paul,  nor  so  grand 
as  Chicago,  nor  so  civilized  as  Cleveland,  nor  so  busy  as  Buffalo. 
Indeed  Detroit  is  neither  pleasant  nor  picturesque  at  all.  I  will 
not  say  that  it  is  uncivilized,  but  it  has  a  harsh,  crude,  unpre- 
possessing appearance.  It  has  some  70,000  inhabitants,  and 
good  accommodation  for  shipping.  It  was  doing  an  enormous 
business  before  the  war  began,  and  when  these  troublous  times 
are  over  will  no  doubt  again  go  ahead.  I  do  not,  however, 
think  it  well  to  recommend  any  Englishman  to  make  a  special 
visit  to  Detroit,  who  may  be  wholly  uncommercial  in  his  views 
and  travel  in  search  of  that  which  is  either  beautiful  or  interest- 
ing. 

From  Detroit  we  continued  our  course  westward  across  the 
State  of  Michigan  through  a  country  that  was  absolutely  wild 
till  the  railway,  pierced  it.  Very  much  of  it  is  still  absolutely 
wild.  For  miles  upon  miles  the  road  passes  the  untouched  for- 
est, showing  that  even  in  Michigan  the  great  work  of  civiliza- 
tion has  hardly  more  than  been  commenced.  As  one  thinks  of 
the  all  but  countless  population  which  is  before  long  to  be  fed 
from  these  regions,  of  the  cities  which  will  grow  here,  and  of 
the  amount  of  government  which  in  due  time  will  be  required, 
one  can  hardly  fail  to  feel  that  the  division  of  the  United  States 
into  separate  nationalities  is  merely  a  part  of  the  ordained  work 
of  creation,  as  arranged  for  the  well-being  of  mankind.  The 
States  already  boast  of  thirty  millions  of  inhabitants, — not  of 
unnoticed  and  unnoticeable  beings,  requiring  little,  knowing 
little,  and  doing  little,  such  as  are  the  Eastern  hordes  which 
may  be  counted  by  tens  of  millions ;  but  of  men  and  women 
who  talk  loudly  and  are  ambitious,  who  eat  beef,  who  read 
and  write,  and  understand  the  dignity  of  manhood.  But  these 
thirty  millions  are  as  nothing  to  the  crowds  which  will  grow 
sleek  and  talk  loudly,  and  become  aggressive  on  these  wheat 
and  meat  producing  levels.  The  country  is  as  yet  but  touched 
by  thq  pioneering  hand  of  population.    In  the  old  countries 


FROM   NIAGARA  TO   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 


115 


agriculture,  following  on  the  heels  of  pastoral  patriarchal  life, 
preceded  the  birth  of  cities.  But  in  this  young  world  the  cities 
have  come  first.  The  new  Jasons,  blessed  with  the  experience 
of  the  old  world  adventurers,  have  gone  forth  in  search  of 
their  golden  fleeces  armed  with  all  that  the  science  and  skill 
of  the  East  had  as  yet  produced,  and  in  setting  up  their  now 
Colchis  have  begun  by  the  erection  of  first-class  hotels  and  the 
fabrication  of  railroads.  Let  the  old  world  bid  them  God  speed 
in  their  work.  Only  it  would  be  well  if  they  could  be  brought 
to  acknowledge  from  whence  they  have  learned  all  that  they 
know. 

Our  route  lay  right  across  the  State  to  a  place  called  Grand 
Haven  on  Lake  Michigan,  from  whence  we  were  to  take  boat 
for  Milwaukee,  a  town  in  Wisconsin  on  the  opposite  or  western 
shore  of  the  lake.  Michigan  is  sometimes  called  the  Peninsular 
State  from  the  fact  that  the  main  part  of  its  territory  is  sur- 
rounded by  Lakes  Michigan  and  Huron,  by  the  little  Lake  St. 
Clair,  and  by  Lake  Erie.  It  juts  out  to  the  northward  from 
the  main  land  of  Indiana  and  Ohio,  and  is  circumnavigable  on 
the  east,  north,  and  west.  These  particulars  refer,  however,  to 
part  of  the  State  only,  for  a  portion  of  it  lies  on  the  other  side 
of  Lake  Michigan,  between  that  and  Lake  Superior.  I  doubt 
whether  any  large  inland  territory  in  the  world  is  blessed  with 
such  facilities  of  water  carriage. 

On  arriving  at  Grand  Haven  we  found  that  there  had  been  a 
storm  on  the  lake,  and  that  the  passengers  from  the  trains  of 
the  preceding  day  were  still  remaining  there,  waiting  to  be  car- 
ried over  to  Milwaukee.  The  water,  however, — or  the  sea  as 
they  all  call  it, — was  still  very  high,  and  the  captain  declared  his 
intention  of  remaining  there  that  night.  Whereupon  all  our  fel- 
low-travellers huddled  themselves  into  the  great  lake  steam- 
boat, and  proceeded  to  carry  on  life  there  as  though  they  were 
quite  at  home.  The  men  took  themselves  to  the  bar-room  and 
smoked  cigars  and  talked  about  the  war  with  their  feet  upon 
the  counter,  and  the  women  got  themselves  into  rocking-chairs 
in  the  saloon  and  sat  there  listless  and  silent,  but  not  more  list- 
less and  silent  than  they  usually  are  in  the  big  drawing-rooms 
of  the  big  hotels.  There  was  supper  there,  precisely  at  six 
o'clock,  beefsteaks,  and  tea,  and  apple  jam,  and  hot  cakes,  and 
light  fixings,  to  all  which  luxuries  an  American  deems  himself 
entitled,  let  him  have  to  seek  his  meal  where  he  may.  And  I 
was  soon  informed  with  considerable  energy,  that  let  the  boat 
be  kept  there  as  long  as  it  might  by  stress  of  weather,  the  beef- 
steaks and  apple  jam,  light  fixings  and  heavy  fixings,  must  be 


fc 

1 

■ 

> 

■ 

! 
.1 

'.     '    f 


f  'H; 


V 


i( 


I- 


,i.  t; 


116 


KOBTH  AMEBICA. 


*  I 


supplied  at  the  cost  of  the  owners  of  the  ship.  "Your  first  sup- 
per you  pay  for,"  my  informant  told  rae,  "because  you  eat  that 
on  your  own  account.  What  you  consume  after  that  comes  of 
their  doing,  because  they  don't  start ;  and  if  it's  three  meals  a 
day  for  a  week,  it's  their  look  out."  It  occurred  to  me  that 
under  such  circumstances  a  captain  would  be  very  apt  to  sail 
either  in  foul  weather  or  in  fair. 

It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  moonlight  such  as  we  rarely 
have  in  England,  and  I  started  off  by  myself  for  a  walk,  that  I 
might  see  of  what  nature  were  the  environs  of  Grand  Haven. 
A  more  melancholy  place  I  never  beheld.  The  town  of  Grand 
Haven  itself  is  placed  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  creek,  and  was 
to  be  reached  by  a  ferry.  On  our  side,  to  which  the  railway 
came  and  from  which  the  boat  was  to  sail,  there  was  nothing 
to  be  seen  but  sandhills  which  stretched  away  for  miles  along 
the  shore  of  the  lake.  There  were  great  sand  mountains,  and 
sand  valleys,  on  the  surface  of  which  were  scattered  the  debris 
of  dead  trees,  scattered  logs  white  with  age,  and  boughs  half 
buried  beneath  the  sand.  Grand  Haven  itself  is  but  a  poor 
place,  not  having  succeeded  in  catching  much  of  the  commerce 
which  comes  across  the  lake  from  Wisconsin,  and  which  takes 
itself  on  eastwards  by  the  railway.  Altogether  it  is  a  dreary 
place,  such  as  might  break  a  man's  heart,  should  he  find  that 
inexorable  fate  required  him  there  to  pitch  his  tent. 

On  my  return  I  went  down  into  the  bar-room  of  the  steamer, 
put  my  feet  upon  the  counter,  lit  my  cigar,  and  struck  into  the 
debate  then  proceeding  on  the  subject  of  the  war.  Lwas  get- 
ting West,  and  General  Fremont  was  the  hero  of  the  hour. 
"  He's  a  frontier  man,  and  that's  what  we  want.  I  guess  he'll 
about  go  through.  Yes,  sir."  "As  for  relieving  General  Fre- 
mont,"— with  the  accent  always  strongly  on  the  "mont," — "I 
guess  you  may  as  well  talk  of  relieving  the  whole  West.  They 
won't  meddle  with  Fre-mont.  They  are  beginning  to  know  in 
Washington  what  stuff  he's  made  of.'*  "  Why,  sir ;  there  are 
60,000  men  in  these  States  who  will  follow  Fre-mont,  who 
would  not  stir  a  foot  after  any  other  man."  From  which,  and 
the  like  of  it  in  many  other  places,  I  began  to  understand  how 
difficult  was  the  task  which  the  statesmen  in  Washington  had 
in  hand. 

I  received  no  pecuniary  advantage  whatever  from  that  law 
as  to  the  steam-boat  meals  which  my  new  friend, had  revealed 
to  me.  For  my  one  supper  of  course  I  paid,  looking  forward 
to  any  amount  of  subsequent  gratuitous  provisions.  But  in 
the  course  of  the  night  the  ship  sailed,  and  we  found  our- 


FROM   NIAGABA  TO   TUB  MISSISSIPPI. 


117 


selves  at  Milwaukee  in  time  for  breakfast  on  the  following 
morning. 

Milwaukee  is  a  pleasant  town,  a  very  pleasant  town,  contain- 
ing 45,000  inhabitants.  How  many  of  my  readers  can  boast 
that  they  know  anything  of  Milwaukee,  or  even  have  heard  of 
it  ?  To  me  its  name  was  unknown  until  I  saw  it  on  huge  rail- 
way placards  stuck  up  in  the  smoking-rooms  and  lounging  \si\\a 
of  all  American  hotels.  It  is  the  big  town  of  Wisconsin, 
whereas  Madison  is  the  capital.  It  stands  immediately  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  is  very  pleasant.  Why 
it  should  be  so,  and  why  Detroit  should  be  the  contrary,  I  can 
hardly  tell ;  only  I  think  that  the  same  verdict  would  be  given 
by  any  English  tourist.  It  must  be  always  borne  in  mind  that 
10,000  or  40,000  inhabitants  in  an  American  town,  and  espe- 
cially in  any  new  western  town,  is  a  number  which  means  much 
more  than  would  be  implied  by  any  similar  number  as  to  an 
old  town  in  Europe.  Such  a  population  in  America  consumes 
double  the  amount  of  beef  which  it  would  in  England,  wears 
double  the  amount  of  clothes,  and  demands  double  as  much  of 
the  comforts  of  life.  If  a  census  could  be  taken  of  the  watches 
it  would  be  found,  I  take  it,  that  the  American  population  pos- 
sessed among  them  nearly  double  as  many  as  would  the  En- 
glish ;  and  I  fear  also  that  it  would  be  found  that  many  more 
of  the  Americans  were  readers  and  writers  by  habit.  In  any 
large  town  in  England  it  is  probable  that  a  higher  excellence 
of  education  would  be  found  than  in  Milwaukee,  and  also  a 
style  of  life  into  which  more  of  refinement  and  more  of  luxury 
had  found  its  way.  But  the  general  level  of  these  things,  of 
material  and  intellectual  well  being — of  beef,  that  is,  and  book 
learning — is  no  doubt  infinitely  higher  in  a  new  American  than 
in  an  old  European  town.  Such  an  animal  as  a  beggar  is  as 
much  unknown  as  a  mastodon.  Men  out  of  work  and  in  want 
are  almost  unknown.  I  do  not  say  that  there  are  none  of  the 
hardships  of  life, — and  to  them  I  will  come  by-and-by ;  but  want 
is  not  known  as  a  hardship  in  these  towns,  nor  is  that  dense 
ignorance  in  which  so  large  a  proportion  of  our  town  popu- 
lations is  still  steeped.  And  then  the  town  of  40,000  inhabit- 
ants is  spread  over  a  surface  which  would  suffice  in  England 
for  a  city  of  four  times  the  size.  Our  towns  in  England, — and 
the  towns,  indeed,  of  Europe  generally, — have  been  built  as  they 
have  been  wanted.  No  aspiring  ambition  as  to  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  people  warmed  the  bosoms  of  their  first  founders. 
Two  or  three  dozen  men  required  habitations  in  the  same  lo- 
cality, and  clustered  them  together  closely.    Many  such  have 


.1',, 


'  'm: 


\ 


^m 


•    k:hl 


i- 


V  'f   i 


1 

H 

'  ■<>: 

i> 

1. 

118 


NOltTII   AMERICA. 


M 


i 


failed  and  died  out  of  the  world's  notice.  Others  have  thriven, 
and  houses  have  been  packed  on  to  houses  till  London  and 
Manchester,  Dublin  and  Glasgow  have  been  produced.  Poor 
men  have  built,  or  have  had  built  for  them,  wretched  lanes ;  and 
rich  men  have  erected  grand  palaces.  From  the  nature  of  their 
beginnings  such  has,  of  necessity,  been  the  manner  of  their  cre- 
ation. But  in  America,  and  especially  in  Western  America, 
there  has  been  no  such  necessity  and  there  is  no  such  result. 
The  founders  of  cities  have  had  the  experience  of  the  world 
before  them.  They  have  known  of  sanitary  laws  as  they  began. 
That  sewerage,  and  water,  and  gas,  and  good  air  would  be 
needed  for  a  thriving  community  has  been  to  them  as  much  a 
matter  of  fact  as  are  the  well  understood  combinations  between 
timber  and  nails,  and  bricks  and  mortar.  They  have  known 
that  water  carriage  is  almost  a  necessity  for  commercial  success, 
and  have  chosen  their  sites  accordingly.  Broad  streets  cost  as 
little,  while  land  by  the  foot  is  not  as  yet  of  value  to  be  regard- 
ed, as  those  which  are  narrow ;  and  therefore  the  sites  of  towns 
have  been  prepared  with  noble  avenues,  and  imposing  streets. 
A  city  at  its  commencement  is  laid  out  with  an  intention  that 
it  shall  be  populous.  The  houses  are  not  all  built  at  once,  but 
there  are  the  places  allocated  for  them.  The  streets  are  not 
made,  but  there  are  the  spaces.  Many  an  abortive  attempt  at 
municipal  greatness  has  so  been  made  and  then  all  but  aban- 
doned. There  are  wretched  villages  with  huge  straggling 
parallel  ways  which  will  never  grow  into  towns.  They  are  the 
failures, — failures  in  which  the  pioneers  of  civilization,  frontier 
men  as  they  call  themselves,  have  lost  their  tens  of  thousands 
of  dollars.  But  when  the  success  comes ;  when  the  happy  hit 
has  been  made,  and  the  ways  of  commerce  have  been  truly  fore- 
seen with  a  cunning  eye,  then  a  great  and  prosperous  city 
springs  up,  ready  made,  as  it  were,  from  the  earth.  Such  a 
town  is  Milwaukee,  now  containing  45,000  inhabitants,  but  with 
room  apparently  for  double  that  number ;  with  room  for  four 
times  that  number,  were  men  packed  as  closely  there  as  they 
are  with  us. 

In  the  principal  business  streets  of  all  these  towns  one  sees 
vast  buildings.  They  are  usually  called  blocks,  and  are  often 
so  denominated  in  large  letters  on  their  front,  as  Portland  Block, 
Devereux  Block,  Buel's  Block.  Such  a  block  may  face  to  two, 
three,  or  even  four  streets,  and,  as  I  presume,  has  generally  been 
a  matter  of  one  special  speculation.  It  may  be  divided  into 
separate  houses,  or  kept  for  a  single  purpose,  such  as  that  of  an 
hotel,  or  grouped  into  shops  below,  and  into  various  sets  of 


FROM   NIAGARA  TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


119 


chambers  above.  I  have  had  occasion  in  various  towns  to 
mount  the  stairs  witliin  these  blocks,  and  have  generally  found 
some  portion  of  them  vacant; — have  sometimes  found  the  great- 
er portion  of  them  vacant.  Men  build  on  an  enormous  scale, 
three  times,  ten  times  as  much  as  is  wanted.  The  only  measure 
of  size  is  an  increase  on  what  men  have  built  before.  Monroe 
r.  Jones,  the  speculator,  is  very  probably  ruined,  and  then  be- 
gins the  world  again,  nothing  daunted.  But  Jones'  block  re- 
mains, and  gives  to  the  city  in  its  aggregate  a  certain  amount 
of  wealth.  Or  the  block  becomes  at  once  of  service  and  finds 
tenants.  In  which  case  Jones  probably  sells  it  and  immediately 
builds  two  others  twice  as  big.  That  Monroe  P.  Jones  will  en- 
counter ruin  is  almost  a  matter  of  course ;  but  then  he  is  none 
the  worse  for  being  ruined.  It  hardly  makes  him  unhappy. 
He  is  greedy  of  dollars  with  a  terrible  covetousness ;  but  he  is 
greedy  in  order  that  he  may  speculate  more  widely.  He  would 
sooner  have  built  Jones'  tenth  block,  with  a  prospect  of  com- 
pleting a  twentieth,  than  settle  himself  down  at  rest  for  life  as 
the  owner  of  a  Chatsworth  or  a  Woburn.  As  for  his  children 
he  has  no  desire  of  leaving  them  money.  Let  the  girls  marry. 
And  for  the  boys, — for  them  it  will  be  good  to  begm  as  he  be- 
gun. If  they  cannot  build  blocks  for  themselves,  let  them  earn 
their  bread  in  the  blocks  of  other  men.  So  Monroe  P.  Jones, 
with  his  million  of  dollars  accomplished,  advances  on  to  a  new 
frontier,  goes  to  work  again  on  a  new  city,  and  loses  it  all.  As 
an  individual  I  differ  very  much  from  Monroe  P.  Jones.  The 
first  block  accomplished,  with  an  adequate  rent  accruing  to  me 
as  the  builder,  I  fancy  that  I  should  never  try  a  second.  But 
Jones  is  undoubtedly  the  man  for  the  West.  It  is  that  love  of 
money  to  come,  joined  to  a  strong  disregard  for  money  made, 
which  constitutes  the  vigorous  frontier  mind,  the  true  pioneer- 
ing organization.  Monroe  P.  Jones  would  be  a  great  man  to 
all  posterity,  if  only  he  had  a  poet  to  sing  of  his  valour. 

It  may  be  imagined  how  large  in  proportion  to  its  inhabit- 
ants will  be  a  town  which  spreads  itseli  in  this  way.  There 
are  great  houses  left  untenanted,  and  great  gaps  left  unfilled. 
But  if  the  place  be  successful, — if  it  promise  success,  it  will  be 
seen  at  once  that  th(>re  is  life  all  through  it.  Omnibuses,  or 
street  cars  working  on  rails  run  hither  and  thither.  The  shops 
that  have  been  opened  are  well  filled.  The  great  hotels  are 
thronged.  The  quays  are  crowded  with  vessels,  and  a  general 
feeling  of  progress  pervades  the  place.  It  is  easy  to  perceive 
whether  or  no  an  American  town  is  going  ahead.  The  days 
of  my  vi^t  to  Milwaukee  were  days  of  civil  war  and  national 


t: 


'm; 


I 


'V 


120 


NOATII   AMEUICA. 


II 


trouble,  but  in  spite  of  civil  war  and  national  trouble  Milwau- 
kee looked  healthy. 

I  have  said  that  there  was  but  little  poverty, — little  to  be 
seen  of  real  want  in  these  thriving  towns,  but  that  they  who 
laboured  in  them  had  nevertheless  their  own  hardships.  This 
ifj  so.  I  would  not  have  any  man  believe  that  he  can  take  him- 
self to  the  Western  States  of  America, — to  those  States  of 
which  I  am  now  speaking, — Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesot.i, 
Iowa,  or  Illinois,  and  there  by  industry  escape  the  ills  to  which 
flesh  is  heir.  The  labouring  Irish  in  these  towns  eat  meat 
seven  days  a  week,  but  I  have  met  many  a  labouring  Irishman 
among  them  who  has  wished  himself  back  in  his  old  cabin.  In- 
dustry is  a  good  thing,  and  there  is  no  bread  so  sweet  as  that 
which  is  eaten  in  the  sweat  of  a  man's  brow ;  but  labour  car- 
ried to  excess  wearies  the  mind  as  well  as  body,  and  the  sweat 
that  is  ever  running  makes  the  bread  bitter.*  There  is,  I  think, 
no  task-master  over  free  labour  so  exacting  as  an  American. 
He  knows  nothing  of  hours,  and  seems  to  have  that  idea  of  a 
man  whis^h  a  lady  always  has  of  a  horse.  He  thinks  that  he 
will  go  for  ever.  I  wish  those  masons  in  London  who  strike 
for  nine  hours*  work  with  ten  hours'  pay  could  be  driven  to  the 
labour  market  of  Wes^.ern  America  for  a  spell.  And  moreover, 
which  astonished  me,  I  have  seen  men  driven  and  hurried, — as 
it  were  forced  forward  at  their  work,  in  a  manner  which  to  an 
English  workman  would  be  intolerable.  This  surprised  me 
much,  as  it  was  at  variance  with  our, — or  perhaps  I  should  say 
with  my, — preconceived  ideas  as  to  American  freedom.  I  had 
fancied  that  an  American  citizen  would  not  submit  to  be  driv- 
en ; — that  the  spirit  of  the  country  if  not  the  spirit  of  the  indi- 
vidual would  have  made  it  impossible.  I  thought  that  the  shoe 
would  have  pinched  quite  on  the  other  foot.  But  I  found  that 
such  driving  did  exist ;  and  American  masters  in  the  West  with 
whom  I  had  an  opportunity  of  discussing  the  subject  all  admit- 
ted it.  "Those  men  '11  never  half  move  unless  they're  driven," 
a  foreman  said  to  me  once  as  we  stood  together  over  some 
twenty  men  who  were  at  their  work.  "  They  kinder  look  for 
it,  and  don't  well  know  how  to  get  along  when  they  miss  it." 
It  was  not  his  business  at  this  moment  to  drive ; — nor  was  he 
driving.  He  was  standing  at  some  little  distance  from  the 
scene  with  me,  and  speculating  on  the  sight  before  him.  I 
thought  the  men  were  working  at  their  best ;  but  their  move- 
ments did  not  satisfy  his  practised  eye,  and  he  saw  at  a  glance 
that  there  was  no  one  immediately  over  them. 

But  there  is  worse  even  than  this.    Wages  in  these  regions 


FROM    NIAGARA   TO   TUB    MlSSISSirPI. 


121 


are  what  wo  fihonld  call  high.  An  aGrricultural  labouror  will 
earn  perhaps  filleen  dollars  a  month  and  his  board  ;  and  a  town 
labourer  will  earn  a  dollar  a  day.  A  dollar  may  bo  taken  as 
representing?  four  shillings,  though  it  is  in  fact  more.  Food  in 
these  parts  is  much  cheaper  than  in  England,  and  therefore  tho 
wages  must  be  considered  as  very  good.  In  making,  however, 
a  just  calculation  it  must  bo  borne  in  mind  that  clothing  is 
dearer  than  in  England  and  that  much  more  of  it  is  necessary. 
The  wag  i  nevertheless  are  high,  and  will  etiable  tho  labourer 
to  save  money, — if  only  he  can  get  them  i)aid.  The  complaint 
that  wages  are  held  back  and  not  even  ultimately  paid  is  very 
common.  There  is  no  fixed  rule  for  satisfying  all  such  claims 
once  a  week ;  and  thus  debts  to  labourers  are  contracted  and 
when  contracted  are  ignored.  With  us  there  is  a  feeling  that 
it  is  pitiful,  mean  almost  beyond  expression,  to  wrong  a  labour- 
er of  his  hire.  Wo  have  men  who  go  in  debt  to  tradesmen 
perhaps  without  a  thought  of  paying  them; — but  when  we 
speak  of  such  a  one  who  has  descended  into  the  lowest  miro 
of  insolvency,  wo  say  that  ho  has  not  paid  his  washerwoman. 
Out  there  in  the  West  tho  washerwoman  is  as  fair  game  as 
tho  tailor,  tho  domestic  servant  as  the  wino  merchant.  If  a 
man  be  honest  he  will  not  willingly  take  either  goods  or  labour 
without  payment ;  and  it  may  bo  hard  to  prove  that  ho  who 
takes  the  latter  is  moro  dishonest  than  he  who  takes  the  for- 
mer ;  but  with  us  there  is  a  prejudice  in  favour  of  one's  wash- 
erwoman by  which  tho  western  mind  is  not  weakened.  "  They 
certainly  have  to  bo  smart  to  get  it,"  a  gentleman  said  to  rao 
whom  I  taxed  on  the  subject.  "  You  see  on  the  frontier  a 
man  is  bound  to  be  smart.  If  he  ain't  smart  he'd  better  go 
back  East; — perhaps  as  far  as  Europe.  He'll  do  there."  I 
had  got  my  answer,  and  my  friend  had  turned  the  question. 
But  the  fact  was  admitted  by  him  as  it  had  been  by  many 
others. 

Why  this  should  be  so,  is  a  question,  to  answer  which  thor- 
oughly would  require  a  volume  in  itself.  As  to  the  driving, 
why  should  men  submit  to  it,  seeing  that  labour  is  abundant, 
and  that  in  all  newly  settled  countries  the  labourer  is  the  true 
hero  of  the  age  ?  In  answer  to  this  is  to  bo  alleged  tho  fact 
that  hired  labour  is  chiefly  done  by  fresh  comers,  by  Irish  and 
Germans,  who  have  not  as  yet  among  them  any  combination 
sufficient  to  protect  them  from  such  usage.  The  men  over 
them  are  new  as  masters, — masters  who  are  rough  themselves, 
who  themselves  have  been  roughly  driven,  and  who  have  not 
learned  to  be  gracious  to  those  below  them.    It  is  a  part  of 

F 


( 


»!.: 


I 


w 


122 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I      I 


their  contract  that  very  hard  work  shall  bo  exacted ;  and  the 
driving  resolves  itself  into  this, — that  the  master  looking  after 
his  own  interest  is  constantly  accusing  his  labourer  of  a  breach 
of  his  i)art  of  the  contract.     The  men  no  doubt  do  become  used 
to  it,  and  slacken  probably  in  their  endeavours  when  the  tongue 
of  the  master  or  foreman  is  not  heard.     Ihit  as  to  that  matter 
of  non-payment  of  wages,  tlie  men  must  live  ;  and  here  as  else- 
where the  master  M'ho  omits  to  pay  once,  will  hardly  find  la- 
bourers in  future.     The  matter  would  remedy  itself  elsewhere, 
and  does  it  not  do  so  here?     This  of  course  is  so,  and  it  is  not 
to  bo  understood  that  labour  as  a  rule  is  defrauded  of  its 
hire.     But  the  relation  of  the  master  and  the  man  admits  of 
such  fraud  hero  much  more  frequently  than  in  England.     In 
England  the  labourer  who  did  not  get  his  wages  on  the  Satur- 
day could  not  go  on  for  the  next  week.     To  him  under  such 
circumstances  the  world  would  be  coming  to  an  end.     But  in 
tho  Western  States,  the  labourer  does  not  live  so  completely 
from  hand  to  mouth.     He  is  rarely  paid  by  the  week,  is  accus- 
tomed to  give  some  credit,  and  till  hard  pressed  by  bad  circum- 
stances generally  has  sometliing  by  him.     They  do  save  money, 
and  are  thus  fattened  up  to  a  state  which  admits  of  victimiza- 
tion.    I  cannot  owe  money  to  tho  little  village  cobbler  who 
mends  my  shoes,  because  ho  demands  and  receives  his  payment 
when  his  job  is  done.     But  to  my  friend  in  Regent  Street  I  ex- 
tend my  custom  on  a  diiferent  system ;  and  when  I  make  my 
start  for  continental  life,  I  have  with  him  a  matter  of  unsettled 
business  to  a  considerable  extent.     The  American  labourer  is 
in  the  condition  of  tho  Recent  Street  boot-maker ; — excepting 
in  this  respect,  that  he  gives  his  credit  under  compulsion. 
"  But  does  not  the  law  set  him  right  ?     Is  there  no  law  against 
debtors  ?"    The  laws  against  debtors  are  plain  enough  as  they 
are  written  down,  but  seem  to  be  anything  but  plain  when 
called  into  action.    They  are  perfectly  understood,  and  opera- 
tions are  carried  on  with  the  express  purpose  of  evading  tliem. 
If  you  proceed  against  a  man,  you  find  that  his  property  is  in 
the  hands  of  some  one  else.     You  work  in  fact  lor  Jones  who 
lives  in  the  next  street  to  you ;  but  when  you  quarrel  with 
Jones  about  your  wages,  you  find  that  according  to  law  you 
have  been  working  for  Smith  in  another  State.    In  all  coun- 
tries such  dodges  are  probably  practicable.    But  men  will  or 
will  not  have  recourse  to  such  dodges  according  to  the  light 
in  which  they  are  regarded  by  the  community.    In  tho  West- 
ern States  such  dodges  do  not  appear  to  be  regarded  as  dis- 
graceful.   "  It  behoves  a  frontier  man  to  be  smart,  sir." 


FROM    NIAGARA   TO   THE   M1SSI8BIPPI. 


123 


Iloncaty  is  tho  best  policy.  Tlmt  is  a  doctrino  which  1ms 
been  widely  preached,  and  which  has  recoinni«ndcd  itHclf  to 
many  minds  as  being  one  of  absolute  truth.  It  is  not  very  en- 
nobhng  in  its  sentiment,  seeing  that  it  advocates  a  special  vir- 
tue, not  on  tho  ground  that  that  virtue  is  in  itself  a  thing  V)eau- 
tiful,  but  on  account  of  tho  inunediato  reward  Avhich  will  bo  its 
consequence.  Smith  is  enjoined  not  to  cheat  Jones,  because  ho 
will,  in  tho  long  run,  make  more  money  by  dealing  with  Jones 
on  tho  square.  This  is  not  teaching  of  the  highest  order ;  but 
it  is  teaching  well  adapted  to  human  circumstances,  and  has 
obtained  for  itself  a  wido  credit.  Ono  is  driven,  however,  to 
doubt  whether  even  this  teaching  is  not  too  high  for  the  frontier 
man.  Is  it  possible  that  a  frontier  man  should  bo  scrupulous 
and  at  tho  same  time  successful  ?  Hitherto  those  who  have  al- 
lowed scruples  to  stand  in  their  way  have  not  succeeded ;  and 
they  who  have  succeeded  and  made  for  themselves  great  names 
— who  have  been  the  pioneers  of  civilization — have  not  allowed 
ideas  of  exact  honesty  to  stand  in  their  way.  From  General 
Jason  down  to  General  Fremont  there  1j;i'  o  l)een  men  of  great 
aspirations  but  of  slight  scruples.  They  o  been  ambitious 
of  power  and  desirous  of  progress,  but  f  'cwhat  regardless 
how  power  and  progress  shall  bo  attained.  \Jlivo  and  Warren 
Hastings  were  great  frontier  men,  but  we  cannot  imagine  that 
thev  had  ever  realized  the  doctrino  that  honesty  is  tho  best 
policy.  Cortez,  and  even  Columbus,  tho  prince  of  frontier  men, 
are  in  tho  same  category.  Tho  names  of  such  lieroes  is  legion. 
But  with  none  of  them  has  absolute  honesty  been  a  favourite 
virtue.  "It  behoves  a  frontier  man  to  bo  smart,  sir."  Such, 
in  that  or  other  language,  has  been  tho  prevailing  idea.  Such 
is  the  prevailing  idea.  And  ono  feels  driven  to  ask  oneself 
whether  such  must  not  bo  tho  prevailing  idea  with  those  who 
leave  tho  world  and  its  rules  behind  them,  and  go  lorth  with 
the  resolve  that  the  world  and  its  rules  shall  follow  them. 

Of  filibustering,  annexation,  and  polishing  savages  off  the 
face  of  creation  there  has  been  a  great  deal,  and  who  can  deny 
that  humanity  has  been  the  gainer?  It  seems  to  those  who 
look  widely  back  over  history,  that  all  such  works  have  bqen 
carried  on  in  obedience  to  God's  laws.  When  Jacob  by  Re- 
becca's aid  cheated  his  elder  brother  he  was  very  smart ;  but 
we  cannot  but  suppose  that  a  better  race  was  by  this  smart- 
ness put  in  possession  of  the  patriarchal  sceptre.  Esau  was 
polished  off,  and  readers  of  Scripture  wonder  why  heaven  with 
Its  thunder  did  not  open  over  the  heads  of  Rebecca  and  her 
son.    But  Jacob  with  all  his-  fraud  was  the  chosen  one.    Per- 


.1    . 


^u 


ly 


\]Jn 


u 


'  ? 


124 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I ; 


1 


haps  tho  day  may  come  when  scrupulous  honesty  may  be  the 
best  policy  even  on  the  frontier.  I  can  only  say  that  hitherto 
that  day  seems  to  be  as  distant  as  ever.  I  do  not  pretend  to 
solve  the  problem,  but  simply  record  my  opinion  that  under 
circumstances  as  they  still  exist  I  should  not  willingly  select 
a  frontier  life  for  my  children. 

I  have  said  that  all  great  fronder  men  have  been  unscrupu- 
lous. There  is,  however,  an  exception  in  history  which  may 
perha};  s  serve  to  prove  the  rule.  The  Puritans  v»  ho  colonized 
iSTew  England  were  frontier  men,  and  were,  I  think,  in  general 
scrupulously  honest.  They  had  their  faults.  They  were  stern, 
austere  men,  tyrannical  at  the  backbone  when  power  came  in 
their  way, — as  are  all  pioneers ; — hard  upon  vices  for  which 
they  who  made  the  laws  had  themselves  no  minds ;  but  they 
were  not  dishonest. 

At  Milwaukee  I  went  up  to  see  the  Wisconsin  volunteers, 
who  were  then  encamped  on  open  ground  in  the  close  vicinity 
of  the  town.  Of  Wisconsin  I  had  heard  before, — and  have 
heard  the  same  opinion  repeated  since, — that  it  was  more  ^  .*ck- 
ward  in  its  volunteering  than  its  neighbour  States  in  the  West. 
Wisconsin  has  760,000  inhabitants,  and  its  tenth  thousand  of 
volunteers  was  not  then  made  up ;  wLoreas  Indiana  with  less 
than  double  its  number  had  already  sent  out  thirty-six  thou- 
sand. Iowa,  with  a  hundred  thousand  less  of  inhabitants,  had 
then  made  up  fifte<^n  thousand.  But  nevertheless  to  me  it 
seemed  that  Wisconsin  was  quite  alive  to  its  presumed  di  ty 
in  that  respect.  Wisconsin  with  its  three  quarters  of  a  million 
of  people  is  as  large  as  England.  Eve^y  acre  of  it  may  be 
made  productive,  but  as  yet  it  is  not  half  cleared.  Of  such  a 
country  its  young  men  are  its  heart's  blood.  Ten  thousand 
men  fit  to  bear  arms  carried  away  from  such  a  land  to  the  hor- 
rors of  civil  war  is  a  sight  as  full  of  sadness  as  any  on  which 
the  eye  can  rest.  Ah  me,  when  will  they  return,  and  with  what 
altered  hopes !  It  is,  I  fear,  easier  to  turn  the*  sickle  into  the 
sword,  than  to  recast  the  sword  back  again  into  the  sickle ! 

We  founj  a  completed  regim.ent  at  Wisconsin  consisting  en- 
tirply  of  Germans.  A  thousand  Germans  had  been  collected 
in  that  State  and  brought  together  in  one  regiment,  and  I  was 
informed  by  an  officer  on  the  ground  that  there  are  many  Ger- 
mans in  sundry  other  of  the  Wisconsin  regiments.  It  may  be 
well  to  mention  here  that  the  number  of  Germans  through  all 
these  western  States  is  very  great.  Their  number  and  well- 
being  were  to  me  astonishing.  That  they  form  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  population  of  New  York,  making  the  German  quar- 


ii 


mm- 


FROM  NIAGARA  TO  THE  MfSSISSIPPI. 


125 


ter  of  that  city  the  third  largest  German  town  in  the  world,  I 
have  long  known ;  but  I  had  no  previous  idea  of  their  expan- 
sion westward.  In  Detroit  nearly  Cv'ery  third  shop  bore  a 
German  name,  and  the  same  remark  was  to  bo  made  at  Mil- 
waukee ; — and  on  all  hands  I  heard  praises  of  their  morals,  of 
their  thrift,  and  of  their  new  patriotism.  I  was  continually 
told  how  far  they  exceeded  the  Irish  settlers.  To  me  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  an  Irishman  is  dear.  When  handled  ten- 
derly he  becomes  a  creature  most  loveable.  But  with  all  my 
judgment  in  the  Irishman's  favour,  and  with  my  prejudices 
leaning  the  same  way,  I  feel  myself  bound  to  state  what  I 
heard  and  what  I  saw  as  to  the  Germans. 

But  this  regiment  of  Germans,  and  another  not  completed 
regiment,  called  from  the  State  generally,  were  as  yet  without 
arms,  accoutrements,  or  clothing.  There  was  the  raw  mate- 
rial of  the  regiment,  but  there  was  nothing  else.  Winter  was 
coming  on, — winter  in  which  the  mercury  is  commonly  20  de- 
grees below  zero, — and  the  men  were  in  tents  with  no  provi- 
sion against  the  ''.old.  These  tents  held  each  two  men,  and 
were  just  large  enough  for  two  to  lie.  The  canvas  of  which 
they  were  made  seemed  to  me  to  be  thin,  but  was  I  think  al- 
ways double.  At  this  camp  there  was  a  house  in  which  the 
men  took  their  meals,  but  I  visited  other  camps  in  which  there 
was  no  Euch  accommodation.  I  saw  the  German  regiment 
called  to  its  supper  by  tuck  of  drum,  and  the  men  marched  in 
gallantly,  armed  each  with  a  knife  and  spoon.  I  managed  to 
make  my  way  in  at  the  door  after  them,  and  can  testify  to  the 
excellence  of  the  provisions  of  which  their  supper  consisted. 
A  poor  diet  never  enters  into  any  combination  of  circum- 
stances contemplated  by  an  American.  Let  him  be  where  he 
will,  animal  food  is,  with  him,  the  first  necessary  of  life,  and  he 
is  always  provided  accordingly.  As  to  those  Wisconsin  men 
whom  I  saw,  it  was  probable  that  they  might  be  marched  off, 
down  south  to  Washington,  or  to  the  doubtful  glories  of  the 
western  campaign  under  Fremont  before  the  winter  com- 
menced. The  same  might  have  been  said  of  any  special  regi- 
ment. But  taking  the  whole  mass  of  men  who  were  collected 
under  canvas  at  the  end  of  the  autumn  of  1861,  and  who  were 
so  collected  without  arms  or  military  clothing,  and  without 
protection  from  the  weather,  it  did  seem  that  the  task  taken 
in  hand  by  the  Commissariat  of  the  Northern  army  was  one 
not  devoid  of  difficulty. 

The  view  from  Milwaukee  over  Lake  Michigan  is  very  pleas- 
ing.   One  looks  upon  a  vast  expanse  of  water  to  which  the 


'  * 


I' 


%^. 


■'«i; 


'I 


»* 

■ 

'  s 

■  m 

^ 

4 

■ji 

MkM 

126 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


ti  I 


eye  llnds  no  bouncls,  and  therefore  there  are  none  of  the  com- 
mon attributes  of  lake  beauty ;  but  the  colour  of  the  lake  is 
bright,  and  within  a  walk  of  the  city  the  traveller  comes  to  the 
blutFs  or  low  round-topped  hills  from  which  he  can  look  down 
upon  the  shores.  These  bluffs  form  the  beauty  of  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota,  and  relieve  the  eye  after  the  flat  level  of  Michi- 
gan. Round  Detroit  there  is  no  rising  ground,  and  therefore, 
perhaps,  it  is  that  Detroit  is  uninterestmg. 

I  have  said  that  those  who  are  called  on  to  labour  in  these 
States  have  their  own  hardships,  and  I  have  endeavoured  to 
explain  what  are  the  sufferings  to  which  the  town  labourer  is 
subject.  To  escape  from  this  is  the  labourer's  great  ambition, 
and  his  mode  of  doing  so  consists  almost  universally  in  the 
purchase  of  land.  He  saves  up  money  in  order  that  he  may 
buy  a  section  of  an  allotment,  and  thus  become  his  own  mas- 
ter. All  his  savings  are  made  with  a  view  to  this  independ- 
ence. Seated  on  his  own  land  he  will  have  to  work  probably 
harder  than  ever,  but  he  will  work  for  himself.  No  taskmaster 
can  then  stand  over  him  and  wound  his  pride  with  harsh  words. 
He  will  be  his  own  master ;  will  eat  the  food  which  he  himself 
has  grown,  and  live  in  the  cabin  which  his  own  hands  have 
built.  This  is  the  object  of  his  life ;  and  to  secure  this  position 
he  is  content  to  work  late  and  early  and  to  undergo  the  indig- 
nities of  previous  servitude.  The  Government  price  for  land 
is  about  five  shillings  an  acre — one  dollar  and  a  quarter — and 
the  settler  may  get  it  for  this  price  if  he  be  contented  to  take 
it  not  only  untouched  as  regards  clearing,  but  also  far  removed 
from  any  completed  road.  The  traftic  in  these  lands  has  been 
the  great  speculating  business  of  western  men.  Five  or  six 
years  ago,  when  the  rage  for  such  purchases  was  at  its  height, 
land  was  becoming  a  scarce  article  in  the  market !  Individu- 
als or  companies  bought  it  up  with  the  object  of  reselling  it  at 
a  profit ;  and  many  no  doubt  did  make  money.  Railway  com- 
panies were,  in  fact,  companies  combined  for  the  purchase  of 
land.  They  purchased  land,  looking  to  increase  the  value  of  it 
five-fold  by  the  opening  of  a  railroad.  It  may  easily  be  under- 
stood that  a  railway,  which  could  not  be  in  itself  remunerative, 
might  in  this  way  become  a  lucrative  speculation.  No  settler 
could  dare  to  place  himself  absolutely  at  a  distance  from  any 
thoroughfare.  At  first  the  margins  of  nature's  highways,  the 
navigable  rivers  and  lakes,  were  cleared.  But  as  the  railway 
system  grew  and  expanded  itself,  it  became  manifest  that  lands 
might  bo  rendered  quickly  available  which  were  not  so  circum- 
stanced by  nature.    A  company  which  had  purchased  an  enor- 


"•>■■ 


FROM   NIAGARA   TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


127 


moiis  territory  from  the  United  States  Government  ai  five  shil- 
lings an  acre  might  well  repay  itself  all  the  cost  of  a  railway 
through  that  territory,  even  though  the  receipts  of  the  railway 
should  do  no  more  than  maintain  the  current  expenses.  It  is 
in  this  way  that  the  thousands  of  miles  of  American  railroads 
have  been  opened ;  and  here  again  must  be  seen  the  immense 
advantages  which  the  States  as  a  new  country  have  enjoyed. 
With  us  the  purchase  of  valuable  land  for  railways,  together 
with  the  legal  expenses  which  those  compulsory  purchases  en- 
tailed, have  been  so  great  that  with  all  our  traffic  railways  are 
not  remunerative.  But  in  the  States  the  railways  have  created 
the  value  of  the  land.  The  States  have  been  able  to  begin  at 
the  right  end,  and  to  arrange  that  the  districts  which  are  ben- 
efited shall  themselves  pay  13r  the  benefit  they  receive. 

The  Government  price  of  land  is  125  cents,  or  about  five 
shillings  an  acre;  and  even  this  need  not  be  jDaid  at  once  if  the 
settler  purchase  directly  from  the  Government.  lie  must  be- 
gin by  making  certain  improvements  on  the  selected  land, — 
clearing  and  cultivating  some  small  portion,  building  a  hut,  and 
probably  sinking  a  well.  When  this  has  been  done, — when  he 
has  thus  given  a  pledge  of  his  intentions  by  depositing  on  the 
land  the  value  of  a  certain  amount  of  labour,  he  cannot  bo  re- 
moved. He  cannot  be  renoved  for  a  term  of  years,  and  then 
if  he  pays  th  .^  price  of  the  land  it  becomes  his  own  with  an  in- 
defeasible ti  gIc.  Many  such  settlements  are  made  on  the  pur- 
chase of  warrants  for  land.  Soldiers  returning  from  the  Mex- 
ican w'ars  were  donated  with  warrants  for  land,—  the  amount 
being  160  acres,  or  the  quarter  of  a  section.  The  localities  of 
such  lands  were  not  specified,  but  the  privilege  granted  was 
that  of  occupying  any  quarter-section  not  hitherto  tenanted. 
It  will  of  course  be  understood  that  lands  favourably  situated 
would  be  tenanted.  Those  contiguous  to  railways  were  of 
course  so  occupied,  seeing  that  the  lines  were  not  made  till  the 
lands  were  in  the  hands  of  the  companies.  It  may  therefore  be 
understood  of  what  nature  would  be  the  traffic  in  these  war- 
rants. The  owner  of  a  single  warrant  might  find  it  of  no  value 
to  him.  To  go  back  utterly  into  the  woods,  away  from  riv- 
er or  road,  and  there  to  commence  with  160  acres  of  forest,  or 
even  of  prairie,  would  be  a  hopeless  task  even  to  an  American 
settler.  Some  mode  of  transport  for  his  produce  must  be  found 
before  his  produce  would  be  of  value, — before  indeed  he  could 
find  the  means  of  living.  But  a  company  buying  up  a  large 
aggregate  of  such  warrants  would  possess  the  means  of  making 
such  allotments  valuable  and  of  refuelling  them  at  greatly  in- 
creased prices. 


% 


\ 


•''^'> 


1 1. 


128 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


li  <- 


The  primary  settler,  therefore, — who,  however,  will  not  usu- 
ally have  been  the  primary  owner, — goes  to  work  upon  his  land 
amidst  all  the  wildness  of  nature.  He  levels  and  burns  the  first 
trees,  and  raises  his  first  crop  of  corn  amidst  stumps  still  stand- 
ing four  or  five  feet  above  the  soil ;  but  he  does  not  do  so  till 
some  mode  of  conveyance  has  been  found  for  him.  So  much  I 
have  said  hoping  to  explain  the  mode  in  which  the  frontier 
speculator  paves  the  way  for  the  frontier  agriculturist.  But 
the  permanent  farmer  very  generally  comes  on  the  land  as  the 
third  owner.  The  first  settler  is  a  rough  fellow,  and  seems  to 
be  so  Avedded  to  his  rough  life  that  he  leaves  his  land  after  his 
first  Avild  work  is  done,  and  goes  again  further  ofl"  to  some  un- 
touched allotment.  He  finds  that  he  can  sell  his  improvements 
at  a  profitable  rate  and  takes  the  price.  He  is  a  preparer  of 
farms  rather  than  a  farmer.  He  has  no  love  for  the  soil  which 
his  hand  has  first  turned.  He  regards  it  merely  as  an  invest- 
ment ;  and  when  things  about  him  are  beginning  to  wear  an 
aspect  of  comfort, — when  his  property  has  become  valuable,  he 
sells  it,  packs  up  his  wife  and  little  ones,  and  goes  again  into 
the  woods.  The  western  American  has  no  love  for  his  own 
soil,  or  his  own  house.  The  matter  with  him  is  simply  one  of 
dollars.  To  keep  a  farm  which  he  could  sell  at  an  advantage 
from  any  feeling  of  affection, — from  what  we  should  call  an  as- 
sociation of  ideas, — would  be  to  him  as  ridiculous  as  the  keep- 
ing of  a  family  pig  would  be  in  an  English  farmer's  establish- 
ment. The  pig  is  a  part  of  the  farmer's  stock  in  trade,  and 
must  go  the  Avay  of  all  pigs.  And  so  is  it  with  house  and  land 
in  the  life  of  the  frontier  man  in  the  western  States. 

But  yet  this  man  has  his  romance,  his  high  poetic  feeling,  and 
above  all  his  manly  dignity.  Visit  him,  and  you  will  find  him 
without  coat  or  waistcoat,  unshorn,  in  ragged  blue  trousers  and 
old  flannel  shirt,  too  often  bearing  on  his  lantern  jaws  the  signs 
of  ague  and  sickness ;  but  he  will  stand  upright  before  you  and 
speak  to  you  with  all  the  ease  of  a  lettered  gentleman  in  his 
own  library.  All  the  odious  incivility  of  the  republican  serv- 
ant has  been  banished.  He  is  his  own  master,  standing  on  his 
own  threshold,  and  finds  no  need  to  assert  his  equality  by  rude- 
ness. He  is  delighted  to  see  you,  and  bids  you  sit  down  on 
his  battered  bench  without  dreaming  of  any  such  apology  as  an 
English  cottier  offers  to  a  Lady  Bountiful  when  she  calls.  He 
has  worked  out  his  independence,  and  shows  it  in  every  easy 
movement  of  his  body.  He  tells  you  of  it  unconsciously  in  ev- 
ery tone  of  his  voice.  You  will  always  find  in  his  cabin  some 
newspaper,  some  book,  some  token  of  advance  in  education. 


THE   UPPER   MISSISSIPPI. 


129 


Wlien  he  questions  you  about  the  old  country  he  astonishes 
you  by  the  extent  of  his  knowledge.  I  defy  you  not  to  feel 
that  he  is  superior  to  the  race  from  whence  he  has  sprung  in 
England  or  in  Ireland.  To  me  I  confess  that  the  manliness  of 
such  a  man  is  very  charming.  He  is  dirty  and  perhaps  squalid. 
His  children  are  sick  and  he  is  without  comforts.  His  wife  is 
pale,  and  you  think  you  see  shortness  of  life  written  in  the 
faces  of  all  the  family.  But  over  and  above  it  all  there  is  an 
independence  which  sits  gracefully  on  their  shoulders,  and 
teaches  you  at  the  first  glance  that  the  man  has  a  right  to  as- 
sume himself  to  be  your  equal.  It  is  for  this  position  that  the 
labourer  works,  bearing  hard  words  and  the  indignity  of  tyran- 
ny,— suffering  also  too  often  the  dishonest  ill-usage  which  his 
superior  power  enables  the  master  to  inflict. 

"  I  have  lived  very  rough,"  I  heard  a  poor  woman  say,  whose 
husband  had  ill-used  and  deserted  her.  "  I  have  known  what 
it  is  to  be  hungry  and  cold,'  and  to  work  hard  till  my  bones 
have  ached.  I  only  wish  that  I  might  have  the  same  chance 
again.  If  I  could  have  ten  acres  cleared  two  miles  away  from 
any  living  being,  I  could  be  happy  with  my  children.  I  find  a 
kind  of  comfort  when  I  am  at  work  from  daybreak  to  sundown, 
and  know  that  it  is  all  my  own."  I  believe  that  life  in  the 
backwoods  has  an  allurement  to  those  who  have  been  used  to 
it,  that  dwellers  in  cities  can  hardly  comprehend. 

From  Milwaukee  we  went  across  Wisconsin  and  reached  the 
Mississippi  at  La  Crosse.  From  hence,  according  to  agree- 
ment, we  were  to  start  by  steamer  at  once  up  the  river.  But 
we  were  delayed  again,  as  had  happened  to  us  before  on  Lake 
Michigan  at  Grand  Haven. 


* 

1 
'      1 

( 

\ 

'4' 

m 

\ 

1 

CHAPTER  X. 


THE   UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 


It  had  been  promised  to  us  that  we  should  start  from  La 
Crosse  by  the  river  steamer  immediately  on  our  arrival  there ; 
but  on  reaching  La  Crosse  we  found  that  the  vessel  destined 
to  take  us  up  the  river  had  not  yet  come  down.  She  was  bring- 
ing a  regiment  from  Minnesota,  and  under  such  circumstances 
some  pardon  might  be  extended  to  irregularities.  This  plea 
was  made  by  one  of  the  boat  clerks  in  a  very  humble  tone,  and 
was  fully  accepted  by  us.  The  wonder  was  that  at  such  a  pe- 
riod all  means  of  public  conveyance  were  not  put  absolutely 
out  of  gear.     One  might  surmise  that  when  regiments  were 

F2 


i 

1'^    4 

130 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


iV^-^. 


constantly  being  moved  for  the  purposes  of  civil  war,  when  the 
whole  North  had  but  the  one  object  of  collecting  together  a 
sufficient  number  of  men  to  crush  the  South,  ordinary  travel- 
ling for  ordinary  purposes  would  be  difficult,  slow,  and  subject 
to  sudden  stoppages.  Such,  however,  was  not  the  case  either 
in  the  northern  or  western  States.  The  trains  ran  much  as 
usual,  and  those  connected  with  the  boats  and  railways  were 
just  as  anxious  as  ever  to  secure  passengers.  The  boat  clerk 
at  La  Crosse  apologised  amply  for  the  delay,  and  we  sat  our- 
selves down  with  patience  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  second 
Minnesota  regiment  on  its  way  to  Washington. 

During  the  four  hours  that  we  were  kept  waiting  we  were 
harboured  on  board  a  small  steamer,  and  r.t  about  eleven  the 
terribly  harsh  whistle  that  is  made  by  the  Mississippi  boats  in- 
formed us  that  the  regiment  was  arriving.  It  came  up  to  the 
quay  in  two  steamers,  750  being  brought  in  that  which  was  to 
take  us  back,  and  250  in  a  smalter  one.  The  moon  wa^very 
briglit,  and  great  flaming  torches  were  lit  on  the  vessePs  side, 
so  that  all  the  operations  of  the  men  were  visible.  The  two 
steamers  had  run  close  up,  thrusting  us  away  from  the  quay  in 
their  passage,  but  doing  it  so  gently  that  we  did  not  even  feel 
the  motion.  These  large  boats — and  their  size  may  be  under- 
stood from  the  fact  that  one  of  them  had  just  brought  down 
750  men, — are  moved  so  easily  and  so  gently  that  they  come 
gliding  in  among  each  other  without  hesitation  and  without 
pause.  On  English  waters  avc  do  not  willingly  run  ships 
against  each  other ;  and  when  we  do  so  unwillingly,  they  bump 
and  crush  and  crash  upon  each  other,  and  timbers  fly  while 
men  are  swearing.  But  here  there  was  neither  crashing  nor 
swearing,  and  the  boats  noiselessly  pressed  against  each  other 
as  though  they  were  cased  in  muslin  and  crinoline. 

I  got  out  upon  the  quay  and  stood  close  by  the  plank,  watch- 
ing each  man  as  he  left  the  vessel  and  walked  across  towards 
the  railway.  Those  whom  I  had  previously  seen  in  tents  were 
not  equipped,  but  these  men  were  in  uniform  and  each  bore  his 
musket.  Taking  them  all  together  they  were  as  fine  a  set  of 
men  as  I  ever  saw  collected.  No  man  could  doubt  on  seeing 
them  that  they  bore  on  their  countenances  the  signs  of  higher 
breeding  and  better  education  than  would  be  seen  in  a  thou- 
sand men  enlisted  in  England.  I  do  not  mean  to  argue  from 
this  that  Americans  are  better  than  English.  I  do  not  mean 
to  argue  here  that  they  are  even  better  educated.  My  asser- 
tion goes  to  show  that  the  men  generally  were  taken  from  a 
higher  level  in  the  community  than  that  which  fills  our  own 


THE    UPPER   MISSIBSIPPr. 


131 


ranks.  It  was  a  matter  of  regret  to  me,  here  and  on  many 
subsequent  occasions,  to  see  inc!i  bound  for  three  years  to  serve 
as  common  soldiers,  who  were  so  manifestly  fitted  for  a  better 
and  more  useful  life.  To  me  it  is  always  a  source  of  sorrow  to 
see  a  man  enlisted.  I  feel  that  the  individual  recruit  is  doing 
badly  with  himself — carrying  himself  and  the  strength  and  in- 
telligence which  belongs  to  him  to  a  bad  market.  1  know  that 
there  must  be  soldiers ;  but  as  to  every  separate  soldier  I  re- 
gret that  he  should  be  one  of  them.  And  the  higher  is  the 
class  from  which  such  soldiers  are  drawn,  the  greater  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  men  so  to  be  employed,  the  deeper  with  me  is 
that  feeling  of  regret.  But  this  strikes  one  much  less  in  an  old 
country  than  in  a  country  that  is  new.  In  the  old  countries 
population  is  thick,  and  food  sometimes  scarce.  Men  can  be 
spared,  and  any  employment  may  be  serviceable,  even  though 
that  employment  be  in  itself  so  improductive  as  that  of  fight- 
ing battles  or  preparing  for  them.  But  in  the  western  States 
of  America  every  arm  that  can  guide  a  plough  is  of  incalcrla- 
ble  value.  Minnesota  was  admitted  as  a  State  about  th  g 
years  before  this  time,  and  its  whole  population  is  not  much 
above  150,000.  Of  this  number  perhaps  40,000  may  be  work- 
ing men.  And  now  this  infant  State  with  its  huge  territory 
and  scanty  population  is  called  upon  to  send  its  heart's  blood 
out  to  the  war. 

And  it  has  sent  its  Iieart's  best  blood.  Forth  they  came — 
fine,  stalwart,  well-grown  fellows,  looking  to  my  eye  as  though 
they  liad  as  yet  but  faintly  recognised  the  necessary  severity 
of  military  discipline.  To  them  hitherto  the  war  had  seemed 
to  be  an  arena  on  which  each  might  do  something  for  his  coun- 
try, which  that  country  would  recognise.  To  themselves  as 
yet — and  to  me  also — they  were  a  band  of  heroes,  to  be  reduced 
by  the  compressing  power  of  military  discipline  to  the  lower 
level,  but  more  necessary  position  of  a  reg'raent  of  soldiers. 
Ah  me !  how  terrible  to  them  has  been  the  breaking  up  of  that 
delusion!  When  a  poor  yokel  in  England  is  enlisted  with  a 
shilling  and  a  promise  of  unlimited  beer  and  glory,  one  pities 
and  if  possible  would  save  him.  But  with  him  the  mode  of  life 
to  which  he  goes  may  not  be  much  inferior  to  that  he  leaves. 
It  may  be  that  for  him  soldiering  is  the  best  trade  possible  in 
his  circumstances.  It  may  keep  him  from  the  hen-roosts,  and 
perhaps  from  his  neighbours'  pantries ;  and  discipline  may  be 
good  for  him.  Population  is  thick  with  us,  and  there  are  many 
whom  it  may  be  well  to  collect  and  make  available  under  the 
strictest  surveillance.     But  of  these  men  whom  I  saw  entering 


'I 


4 


r;lil 


132 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


<  I 


I., 


w 


on  their  career  npon  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  many  were 
fathers  of  familieH,  many  were  owners  of  lands,  many  were  eclii- 
catcd  men  capable  of  high  asjjirations, — all  were  serviceable 
members  of  their  State.  There  were  probably  there  not  three 
or  four  of  whom  it  would  be  well  that  the  State  should  be  rid. 
As  soldiers  fit,  or  capable  of  being  made  fit  for  the  duties  they 
had  undertaken,  I  could  find  but  one  fault  with  them.  Their 
average  ago  was  too  high.  There  were  men  among  them  with 
grizzled  beards,  and  many  who  had  counted  thirty,  thirty-five, 
and  forty  years.  They  had,  I  believe,  devoted  themselves  with 
a  true  spirit  of  patriotism.  No  doubt  each  had  some  ulterior 
liopo  as  to  himself, — as  has  every  mortal  patriot.  Regulus 
when  ho  returned  hopeless  to  Carthage,  trusted  that  some 
Horace  would  tell  his  story.  Each  of  these  men  from  Min- 
nesota looked  probably  forward  to  his  reward ;  but  the  reward 
desired  was  of  a  high  class. 

The  first  great  misery  to  be  endured  by  these  regiments  will 
be  the  militarv  lesson  of  obedience  which  they  must  learn  be- 
fore they  can  be  of  any  service.  It  always  seemed  to  me  when 
I  came  near  them  that  they  had  not  as  yet  recognized  the  nec- 
essary austerity  of  an  officer's  duty.  Their  idea  of  a  captain 
was  the  stage  idea  of  a  leader  of  dramatic  banditti,  a  man  to 
be  followed  and  obeyed  as  a  leader,  but  to  be  obeyed  with  that 
free  and  easy  obedience  which  is  accorded  to  the  reigning  chief 
of  the  forty  thieves.  '^Wa'll  Captain,"  I  have  heard  a  private 
say  to  his  officer,  as  he  sat  on  one  seat  in  a  railway-car  with  his 
feet  upon  the  back  of  another.  And  the  captain  has  looked  as 
though  he  did  not  like  it.  The  captain  did  not  like  it,  but  the 
poor  private  was  being  fast  carried  to  that  destiny  which  he 
would  like  still  less.  From  the  first  I  have  had  faith  in  the 
northern  army ;  but  from  the  first  I  have  felt  that  the  suffering 
to  be  endured  by  these  free  and  independent  volunteers  would 
be  very  great.  A  man  to  be  available  as  a  private  soldier  must 
be  compressed  and  belted  in  till  he  be  a  machine. 

As  soon  as  the  men  had  left  the  vessel  we  walked  over  the 
side  of  it  and  took  possession.  "I  am  afraid  your  cabin  won't 
be  ready  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,"  said  the  clerk.  "  Such  a 
body  of  men  as  that  will  leave  some  dirt  after  them."  I  as- 
sured him  of  course  that  our  expectations  under  such  circum- 
stances were  very  limited,  and  that  I  was  fully  aware  that  the 
boat  and  the  boat's  company  were  taken  up  with  matters  of 
greater  moment  than  the  carriage  of  ordinary  passengers.  But 
to  this  he  demurred  altogether.  "The  regiments  were  very 
little  to  them,  but  occasioned  much  trouble.    Everything,  how- 


|!  ' 


THE   UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 


133 


ever,  fihoukl  bo  square  in  fifteen  minutes."  At  the  expiration 
of  the  time  named  the  key  of  our  state-room  was  given  to  us, 
and  we  found  the  appurtenances  as  clean  as  though  no  soldier 
had  ever  put  his  foot  upon  the  vessel. 

From  La  Crosse  to  St.  Paul,  the  distance  up  the  river  is 
something  over  200  miles,  and  from  St.  Paul  down  to  Dubuque, 
in  Iowa,  to  which  we  went  on  our  return,  the  distance  is  450 
miles.  We  were  therefore  for  a  considerable  time  on  board 
these  boats ;  more  so  than  such  a  journey  may  generally  make 
necessary,  as  we  were  delayed  at  first  by  the  soldiers,  and  af- 
terwards by  accidents,  such  as  the  breakmg  of  a  paddle-wheel, 
and  other  causes  to  which  navigation  on  the  Upper  Mississippi 
seems  to  be  liable.  On  the  whole  we  slept  on  board  four  nights, 
and  lived  on  board  as  many  days.  I  cannot  say  that  the  life 
was  comfortable,  though  I  do  not  know  that  it  could  be  made 
more  so  by  any  care  on  the  part  of  the  boat-owners.  My  first 
complaint  would  be  against  the  great  heat  of  the  cabins.  The 
Americans  as  a  rule  live  in  an  atmosphere  which  is  almost  un- 
bearable by  an  Englishman.  To  this  cause,  I  am  convinced,  is 
to  be  attributed  their  thin  faces,  their  pale  skins,  their  unen- 
ergetic  temperament, — unenergetic  as  regards  physical  motion, 
— and  their  cfarly  old  age.  The  winters  are  long  and  cold  in 
America,  and  mechanical  ingenuity  is  far  extended.  These  two 
facts  together  have  created  a  system  of  stoves,  hot-air  pipes, 
steam  chambers,  and  heating  apparatus,  so  extensive  that  from 
autumn  till  the  end  of  spring  all  inhabited  rooms  are  filled  with 
the  atmosphere  of  a  hot  oven.  An  Englishman  fancies  that  he 
is  to  be  baked,  and  for  a  while  finds  it  almost  impossible  to 
exist  in  the  air  prepared  for  him.  How  the  heat  is  engendered 
on  board  the  river  steamers  I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  engendered 
to  so  great  a  degree  that  the  sitting-cabins  are  unendurable. 
The  patient  is  therefore  driven  out  at  all  hours  into  the  out- 
side balconies  of  the  boat,  or  on  to  the  top  roof, — for  it  is  a  roof 
rather  than  a  deck, — and  there  as  he  passes  through  the  air  at 
the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  finds  himself  chilled  to  the 
very  bones.  That  is  my  first  complaint.  But  as  the  boats  are 
made  for  Americans,  and  as  Americans  like  hot  air,  I  do  not 
put  it  forward  with  any  idea  that  a  change  ought  to  be  effected. 
My  second  complaint  is  equally  unreasonable,  and  is  quite  as 
incapable  of  a  remedy  as  the  first.  Nine-tenths  of  the  travellers 
carry  children  with  them.  They  are  not  tourists  engaged  on 
pleasure  excursions,  but  men  and  women  intent  on  the  business 
of  life.  They  are  moving  up  and  down,  looking  for  fortune, 
and  in  search  of  new  homes.     Of  course  they  carry  with  them 


'^! 


11- 


■'■'Ji 


:Wf^i 


134 


NOUTII   AMERICA. 


all  their  household  gods.   Do  not  let  any  critic  say  that  T  grudge 
these  young  travellers  their  right  to  locomotion.    Neither  their 
right  to  locomotion  is  grudged  by  me,  nor  any  of  those  privi- 
leges which  are  accorded  in  America  to  the  rising  generation. 
Tlio  habits  of  their  country  and  the  choice  of  their  parents  give 
to  them  full  dominion  over  all  hours  and  over  all  places,  and  it 
would  ill  become  a  foreigner  to  make  such  habits  and  such 
choice  a  ground  of  serious  complaint.     But  nevertheless  the 
uncontrolled  energies  of  twenty  children  round  one's  legs  do 
not  convey  comfort  or  happiness,  when  the  passing  events  are 
producing  noise  and  storm  rather  than  peace  and  sunshine.     I 
must  protest  that  American  babies  are  an  unhappy  race.   They 
eat  and  drink  just  as  they  please ;  they  are  never  punished ; 
they  are  never  banished,  snubbed,  and  kept  in  the  back  ground 
as  children  are  kept  with  us ;  and  yet  they  are  wretched  and 
uncomfortable.     My  heart  has  bled  for  them  as  I  have  heard 
them  squalling  by  the  hour  together  in  agonies  of  discontent 
and  dyspepsia.     Can  it  be,  I  wonder,  that  children  are  liappier 
when  they  are  made  to  obey  orders  and  are  sent  to  bed  at  six 
o'clock,  than  when  allowed  to  regulate  their  own  conduct; 
that  bread  and  milk  is  more  favorable  to  laughter  and  soft 
childish  ways  than  beef-steaks  and  pickles  three  times  a  day ; 
that  an  occasional  whipping,  even,  will  conduce  to  rosy  cheeks  ? 
It  is  an  idea  which  I  should  never  dare  to  broach  to  an  Amer- 
ican mother ;  but  I  must  confess  that  after  my  travels  on  the 
western  continent  my  opinions  have  a  tendency  in  tliat  direc- 
tion.    Beef-steaks  and  pickles  certainly  produce  smart  little 
men  and  women.    Let  that  be  taken  for  granted.    But  rosy 
laughter  and  winning  childish  ways  are,  I  fancy,  the  produce 
of  bread  and  milk.     But  there  was  a  third  reason  M'hy  travel- 
ling on  these  boats  was  not  as  pleasant  as  I  had  expected.    I 
could  not  get  my  fellow-travellers  to  talk  to  me.    It  must  be 
understood  that  our  fellow-travellers  were  not  generally  of  that 
class  which  we  Englishmen,  in  our  pride,  designate  as  gentle- 
men and  ladies.    They  were  people,  as  I  have  said,  in  search 
of  new  homes  and  new  fortunes.     But  I  protest  that  as  such 
they  would  have  been  in  those  parts  much  more  agreeable  as 
companions  to  me  that  any  gentlemen  or  any  ladies,  if  only 
they  would  have  talked  to  me.    I  do  not  accuse  them  of  any 
incivility.   If  addressed,  they  answered  me.   If  application  was 
made  by  me  for  any  special  information,  trouble  was  taken  to 
give  it  me.   But  I  lound  no  aptitude,  no  wish  for  conversation  ; 
nay,  even  a  disinclination  to  converse.    In  the  western  States 
I  do  not  think  that  I  was  ever  addressed  first  by  an  American 


TIIK    UPPER   MISSISSIPPI. 


135 


sittinpf  next  to  mo  at  table.  Indeed  I  never  held  any  conversa- 
tion at  a  public  table  in  the  West.  I  have  sat  in  the  same  room 
with  men  for  hours,  and  have  not  had  a  word  spoken  to  me. 
I  have  done  my  very  best  to  break  throucfh  this  ice,  and  have 
always  failed.  A  western  American  man  is  not  a  talking  man. 
Ho  will  sit  for  hours  over  a  stove  with  his  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
and  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  chewing  tho  cud  of  reflection.  A 
dozen  will  sit  together  in  tlie  same  way,  and  there  shall  not  bo 
a  dozen  words  spoken  between  them  in  an  hour.  With  tho 
women  one's  chance  of  conversation  is  still  worse.  It  seemed 
as  though  tho  cares  of  tho  world  had  been  too  much  for  them, 
and  that  all  talking  excepting  as  to  business, — demands  for  in- 
stance on  the  servants  for  pickles  for  their  children, — had  gono 
by  the  board.  They  were  gener.illy  hard,  dry,  and  melanclioly. 
I  am  speaking  of  course  of  aged  females, — ^from  five  and  twenty 
perhaps  to  thirty,  who  had  long  ^.ince  given  up  tho  amusements 
and  levities  of  life.  I  very  soon  abandoned  any  attempt  at 
drawing  a  word  from  these  ancient  mothers  of  families ;  but 
not  the  less  did  I  ponder  in  my  mind  over  tho  circumstances 
of  their  lives.  Had  things  gono  with  them  so  sadly,  was  tho 
struggle  for  independence  so  hard,  that  all  the  '  oftness  of  exist- 
ence had  been  trodden  out  of  them  ?  In  tho  cities  too  it  w.is 
much  tho  same.  It  seemed  to  me  that  a  future  mother  of  a 
family  in  those  parts  had  left  all  laughter  behind  her  when  sho 
put  out  her  finger  for  tho  wedding  nng. 

For  these  reasons  I  must  say  that  life  on  board  these  steam- 
boats was  not  as  pleasant  as  I  had  hoped  to  find  it,  but  for 
our  discomfort  in  this  respect  we  found  great  atonement  in  tho 
scenery  through  which  we  passed.  I  protest  that  of  all  the 
river  scenery  that  I  know,  that  of  tho  Upper  Mississippi  is  by 
far  the  finest  and  the  most  continued.  One  thinks  of  course 
of  the  Rhine ;  but,  according  to  my  idea  of  beauty,  the  Rhine 
is  nothing  to  the  Upper  Mississippi.  For  miles  upon  miles,  for 
hundreds  of  miles,  the  course  of  the  river  runs  through  low 
hills,  which  are  there  called  bluffs.  These  bluffs  rise  in  every 
imaginable  form,  looking  sometimes  like  large  straggling  un- 
wieldy castles,  and  then  throwing  themselves  into  sloping 
lawns  which  stretch  back  away  from  the  river  till  the  eye  is 
lost  in  their  twists  and  turnings.  Landscape  beauty,  as  I  take 
it,  consists  mainly  in  four  attributes :  in  water,  in  broken  land, 
in  scattered  timber, — timber  scattered  as  opposed  to  continu- 
ous forest  timber, — and  in  the  accident  of  colour.  In  all  these 
Earticulars  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Mii..4ssippi  can  hardly  be 
eaten.    There  are  no  high  mountains;  but  high  mountains 


\ 


t! 


h^\ 


136 


MOBTU  AMERICA. 


tlionificlvos  arc  grand  rather  than  beautiful.  There  are  no  high 
mountains,  but  tliero  is  a  succession  of  hills  which  group  them- 
Bclves  for  ever  without  monotony.  It  is  perhaps  the  ever-va- 
riegated forms  of  these  bhitls  which  chiefly  constitute  the  won- 
derful loveliness  of  iiis  river.  The  idea  constantly  occurs  that 
some  point  on  every  hillside  would  form  the  most  charming 
site  ever  yet  chosen  for  a  noble  residence.  I  have  passed  up 
and  down  rivers  clothed  to  the  edge  with  continuous  forest. 
This  at  first  is  grand  enough,  but  tlio  eye  and  feeling  soon  be- 
come weary,  llero  the  trees  are  scattered  so  that  the  eye 
E asses  through  them,  anc"  sr  and  again  a  long  lawn  sweeps 
ack  into  the  country,  an^  up  the  steep  side  of  a  hill,  making 
the  traveller  long  to  stay  there  and  linger  through  the  oaks, 
and  climb  the  bluffs,  and  lie  about  on  the  bold  but  easy  sum- 
mits. The  boat,  however,  steams  quickly  up  against  the  cur- 
rent, and  the  happy  valleys  are  left  behind,  one  quickly  after 
another.  The  river  is  very  various  in  its  breadth,  and  is  con- 
stantly divided  by  islands.  It  is  never  so  broad  that  the  beauty 
of  the  banks  is  lost  in  the  distance  or  injured  by  it.  It  is  rap- 
id, but  has  not  the  beautifully  bright  colour  of  some  European 
rivers, — of  the  Rhino  for  instance,  and  the  Rhone.  But  what 
is  wanting  in  tlie  colour  of  the  water  is  more  than  compensated 
by  the  wonderful  hues  an^l  lustre  of  the  shores.  Wo  visite  i 
the  river  in  October,  and  nust  presume  that  they  who  seek 
it  solely  for  the  sake  of  S'  y  should  go  there  in  that  month. 
It  was  not  only  that  the  foliage  of  the  trees  was  bright  with 
every  imaginable  colour,  but  that  the  grass  was  bronzed,  and 
that  the  rocks  were  golden.  And  this  beauty  did  not  last  only 
for  a  while  and  then  cease.  On  the  Rhine  there  are  lovely 
spots  and  special  morsels  of  scenery  with  which  the  traveller 
becomes  duly  enraptured.  But  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  there 
are  no  special  morsels.  The  position  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens 
will,  as  It  always  does,  make  much  difference  in  the  degree  of 
beauty.  The  hour  before  and  the  half-hour  after  sunset  are 
always  the  loveliest  for  such  scenes.  But  of  the  shores  them- 
selves one  may  declare  that  they  are  lovely  throughout  those 
400  miles  which  run  immediately  south  from  St.  Paul. 

About  half-way  between  La  Crosse  and  St.  Paul  we  came 
upon  Lake  Pepin,  and  continued  our  course  up  the  lake  for 
perhaps  fifty  or  sixty  miles.  This  expanse  of  water  is  narrow 
for  a  lake,  and  by  those  who  know  the  lower  courses  of  great 
rivers,  would  hardly  be  dignified  by  that  name.  But,  never- 
theless, the  breadth  here  lessens  the  beauty.  There  are  the 
same  bluffs,  the  same  scattered  woodlands,  and  the  same  col- 


w 


TUB  UPPER  MISSIRSIPPI. 


187 


y 

y 


ourB.  Hut  thcv  arc  eitlier  at  a  distance,  or  cIhc  tlicy  arc  to  be 
seen  on  one  kIcIo  only.  The  more  that  I  see  of  the  beauty  of 
scenery,  and  the  more  I  consider  its  elements,  the  stronger  be- 
comes my  conviction  that  size  has  but  little  to  do  with  it,  and 
rather  detracts  from  it  than  adds  to  it.  Distance  gives  one  of 
its  greatest  charms,  but  it  does  so  by  concealing  rather  than 
displaying  an  expanse  of  surface.  The  beauty  of  distance  arises 
from  the  romance, — the  feeling  of  mystery  which  it  creates.  It 
is  like  the  beauty  of  woman  which  allures  the  more  the  more  that 
it  is  veiled.  But  open,  uncovered  land  and  water,  mountains 
which  simply  rise  to  great  heights  with  long  unbroken  slopes, 
wide  expanses  of  lake,  and  forests  which  are  monotonous  in 
their  continued  thickness,  arc  never  lovely  to  me.  A  land- 
scape should  always  bo  partly  veiled,  and  display  only  half  its 
charms. 

To  my  taste  the  finest  stretch  of  tlic  river  was  that  imme- 
diately above  Lake  Pepin ;  but  then,  at  this  point,  we  had  all 
the  glory  of  the  setting  sun.  It  was  like  fairy  land,  so  bright 
were  the  golden  hues,  so  fantastic  were  the  shapes  of  the  Ijills, 
so  broken  and  twisted  the  course  of  the  waters  1  But  the  noisy 
steamer  went  groaning  up  the  narrow  passages  with  almost 
unabated  speed,  and  left  the  fairy  land  behind  all  too  quickly. 
Then  the  bell  would  ring  for  tea,  and  the  children  with  the 
beef-steaks,  the  pickled  onions,  and  the  light  fixings  would  all 
come  over  again.  The  care-laden  mothers  would  tuck  the  bibs 
under  the  chins  of  their  tyrant  children,  and  some  embryo  sen- 
ator of  four  years  old  would  listen  with  concentrated  attention, 
while  the  negro  servant  recapitulated  to  him  the  delicacies  of 
the  supper-table,  in  order  that  he  might  make  his  choice  with 
due  consideration.  "  Beef-steak,"  the  embryo  four-year  old 
senator  would  lisp,  "and  stewed  potato,  and  buttered  toast, 
and  corn  cake,  and  coffee, — and — and — and;  mother,  mind 
you  get  me  the  pickles." 

St.  Paul  enjoys  the  double  privilege  of  being  the  commercial 
and  political  capital  of  Minnesota.  The  same  is  the  case  with 
Boston  in  Massachusetts,  but  I  do  not  remember  another  in- 
stance in  which  it  is  so.  It  is  built  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  though  the  bulk  of  the  State  lies  to  the  west  of 
the  river.  It  is  noticeable  as  the  spot  up  to  which  the  river  is 
navigable.  Immediately  above  St.  Paul  there  are  narrow  rap- 
ids up  which  no  boat  can  pass.  North  of  this,  continuous  nav- 
igation does  not  go ;  but  from  St.  Paul  down  to  New  Orleans, 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  it  is  uninterrupted.  The  distance  to 
St.  Louis  in  Missouri,  a  town  built  below  the  confluence  of  the 


.1 


'1! 


■\i:?!;.i 


H 


h;. 


138 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


1  (,' 


Vi 


three  rivers,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  Illinois,  is  900  miles; 
and  then  the  navigable  waters  down  to  the  gulf  wash  a  south- 
ern country  of  still  greater  extent.  No  river  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  forms  a  highway  for  the  produce  of  so  wide  an  extent 
of  agricultural  land.  The  Mississippi  with  its  tributaries  car- 
ried to  market,  before  the  war,  the  produce  of  Wisconsin,  Min- 
nesota, Iowa,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Missouri,  Kansas,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana.  Thio 
country  is  larger  than  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Holland, 
Belgium,  France,  Germany  and  Spain  together,  and  is  undoubt- 
edly composed  of  much  more  fertile  land.  The  States  named 
comprise  the  great  centre  valley  of  the  continent,  and  are  the 
farming  lands  and  garden  grounds  of  the  western  world.  He 
who  has  not  seen  corn  on  tbe  ground  in  Illinois  or  Minnesota, 
does  not  know  to  what  extent  the  fertility  of  land  may  go,  or 
how  great  may  be  the  weight  of  cereal  crops.  And  for  all  this 
the  Mississippi  was  the  high  road  to  market.  When  the  crop 
of  1861  was  garnered  this  high  road  was  stopped  by  the  war. 
What  suflfering  this  entailed  on  the  South,  I  will  not  here  stop 
to  say,  but  on  the  West  the  effect  was  terrible.  Corn  was  in 
such  plenty,  Indian  corn  that  is  or  maize,  that  it  was  not  worth 
the  farmer's  while  to  prepare  it  for  market.  When  I  was  in 
Illinois  the  second  quality  of  Indian  corn  when  shelled  was  not 
worth  more  than  from  eight  to  ten  cents  a  bushel.  But  the 
shelling  and  preparation  are  laborious,  and  in  some  instances 
it  was  found  better  to  burn  it  for  fuel  than  to  sell  it.  Respect- 
ing the  export  of  corn  from  the  West,  I  must  say  a  further 
word  or  two  in  the  next  chapter;  but  it  seemed  to  be  indis- 
pensable that  I  should  point  out  here  how  great  to  the  United 
States  is  the  need  of  the  Mississippi.  Nor  is  it  for  corn  and 
wheat  only  that  its  waters  are  needed.  Timber,  lead,  iron, 
coal,  pork,  all  find,  or  should  find,  their  exit  to  the  world  at 
large  by  this  road.  There  are  towns  on  it,  and  on  its  tribu- 
taries, already  holding  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  The  number  of  Cincinnati  exceeds  that,  as 
also  does  the  number  of  St.  Louis.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  is  not  wonderful  that  the  States  should  wish  to  keep  in  their 
own  hands  the  navigation  of  this  river. 

It  is  not  wonderful.  But  it  will  not,  I  think,  be  admiti^ed  by 
the  politicians  of  the  world,  that  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi need  be  closed  against  the  West,  even  though  the  southern 
States  should  succeed  in  raising  themselves  to  the  power  and 
dignity  of  a  separate  nationality.  If  the  waters  of  the  Danube 
be  not  open  to  Austria,  it  is  through  the  fault  of  Austria.    That 


TUB   UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 


139 


•n 
d 


the  subject  will  be  one  of  trouble  no  man  can  doubt;  and  of 
course  it  would  be  well  for  the  North  to  avoid  that,  or  any  oth- 
er trouble.  In  the  meantime  the  importance  of  this  right  of 
way  must  be  admitted ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  also  that  what- 
ever may  be  the  ultimate  resolve  of  the  North,  it  will  oe  very 
difficult  to  reconcile  the  West  to  a  divided  dominion  of  the 
Mississippi. 

St.  Paul  contains  about  fourteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and, 
like  all  other  American  towns,  is  spread  over  a  surface  of  ground 
adapted  to  the  accommodation  of  a  very  extended  population. 
As  it  is  belted  on  one  side  by  the  river,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
bluffs  which  a jcompanjr  the  course  of  the  river,  the  site  is  pret- 
ty, and  almost  romantic.  Here  also  we  found  a  great  hotel, — 
a  huge  square  building,  such  as  we  in  England  might  perhaps 

Slace  near  to  a  railway  terminus,  in  such  a  city  as  Glasgow  or 
lanchester ;  but  on  which  no  living  Englishman  would  expend 
his  money  in  a  town  even  five  times  as  big  again  as  St.  Paul. 
Everything  was  sufliciently  good,  and  much  more  than  sufficient- 
ly plentiful.  The  whole  thing  went  on  exactly  as  hotels  do 
down  in  Massachusetts,  or  the  State  of  New  York.  Look  at 
the  map,  and  see  where  St.  Paul  is.  Its  distance  from  all  known 
civilization, — all  civilization  that  has  succeeded  in  obtaining  ac- 
quaintance with  the  world  at  large,  is  very  great.  Even  Amer- 
ican travellers  do  not  go  up  there  in  great  numbers,  excepting 
those  who  intend  to  settle  there.  A  stray  sportsman  or  two, 
American  or  English,  as  the  case  may  be,  makes  his  way  into 
Minnesota  f6r  the  sake  of  shooting,  and  pushes  on  up  through 
St.  Paul  to  the  Red  River.  Some  few  adventurous  spirits  visit 
the  Indian  settlements,  and  pass  over  into  the  unsettled  regions 
of  Dacotah  and  Washington  territory.  But  there  is  no  throng 
of  travelling.  Nevertheless,  an  hotel  has  been  built  there  capa- 
ble of  holding  three  hundred  guests,  and  other  hotels  exist  in 
the  neighbourhood,  one  of  which  is  even  larger  than  that  at  St. 
Paul.  Who  can  come  to  them,  and  create  even  a  hope  that 
such  an  enterprise  may  be  remunerative  ?  In  America  it  is  sel- 
dom more  than  hope,  for  one  always  hears  that  such  enterprises 
fail. 

When  I  was  therg  the  war  was  in  hand,  and  it  was  hardly  to 
be  expected  that  any  hotel  should  succeed.  The  landlord  told 
me  that  he  held  it  at  the  present  time  for  a  very  low  rent,  and 
that  he  could  just  manage  to  keep  it  open  without  loss.  The 
war  which  hindered  people  from  travelling,  and  in  that  way  in- 
jured the  innkeepers,  also  hindered  people  from  housekeeping, 
and  reduced  them  to  the  necessity  of  boarding  out, — by  which 


■  -i 


% 


i: 


(! 


■  .^  'f  \ 


>  « : 


140 


NOBTH  AMERICA. 


the  innkeepers  were,  of  course,  benefited.  At  St.  Paul  I  found 
that  the  majority  of  the  guests  were  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
boarding  at  the  hotel,  and  thus  dispensing  with  the  cares  of  a 
separate  establishment.  I  do  not  know  what  was  charged  for 
such  accommodation  at  St.  Paul,  but  I  have  come  across  large 
houses  at  which  a  single  man  could  get  all  that  he  required  for 
a  dollar  a  day.  Now  Americans  are  great  consumers,  especially 
at  hotels,  and  all  that  a  man  requires  includes  three  hot  meals 
with  a  choice  from  about  two  dozen  dishes  at  each. 

From  St.  Paul  there  are  two  waterfalls  to  be  seen,  which  we, 
of  course,  visited.  We  crossed  the  river  at  Fort  Snelling,  a 
ricketty,  ill-conditioncl  building,  standing  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  rivers,  built  there  to  repress  the 
Indians.  It  is,  I  take  it,  very  necessary,  especially  at  the  pres- 
ent moment,  as  the  Indians  seem  to  require  repressing.  They 
have  learned  that  the  attention  of  the  federal  government  has 
been  called  to  the  war,  and  have  become  bold  in  consequence. 
When  I  was  at  St.  Paul  I  heard  of  a  party  of  Englishmen  who 
had  been  robbed  of  everything  they  possessed,  and  was  in- 
formed that  the  farmers  in  the  distant  parts  of  the  State  were 
by  no  means  secure.  The  Indians  are  more  to  be  pitied  than 
the  farmers.  They  are  turning  against  enemies  who  will  nei- 
ther forgive  nor  forget  any  injuries  done.  When  the  war  is 
over  they  will  be  improved,  and  polished,  and  annexed,  till  no 
Indian  will  hold  an  acre  of  land  in  Minnesota.  At  present  Fort 
Snelling  is  the  nucleus  of  a  recruiting  camp.  On  the  point  be- 
tween the  bluffs  of  the  two  rivers  there  is  a  plain,  immediately 
in  front  of  the  fort,  and  there  we  saw  the  newly-joined  Minne- 
sota recruits  going  through  their  first  military  exercises.  They 
were  in  detachments  of  twenties,  and  were  rude  enough  at  their 
goose  step.  The  matter  which  struck  me  most  in  looking  at 
them  was  the  difference  of  condition  which  I  observed  in  the 
men.  There  were  the  country  lads,  fresh,  from  the  farms,  such 
as  we  see  following  the  recruiting  sergeant  through  English 
towns ;  but  there  were  also  men  in  black  coats  and  black  trou- 
sers, with  thin  boots,  and  trimmed  beards, — beards  which  had 
been  trimmed  till  very  lately ;  and  some  of  them  with  beards 
which  showed  that  they  were  no  longer  ^oung.  It  was  inex- 
pressibly melancholy  to  see  such  men  as  these  twisting  and 
turning  about  at  the  corporal's  word,  each  handling  some  stick 
in  his  hand  in  lieu  of  weapon.  Of  course  they  were  more  awk- 
ward than  the  boys,  even  though  they  were  twice  more  assid- 
uous in  their  efforts.  Of  course  they  were  sad,  and  wretched. 
I  saw  men  thei'e  that  were  very  wretched, — all  but  heart-broken, 


■F" 


THB   UPPER   MISSISSIPPI. 


141 


jy 


3h 

u- 
,d 

a 


if  one  might  judge  from  their  faces.  They  should  not  have 
been  there  handling  sticks,  and  moving  their  imaccustomcd  legs 
in  cramped  paces.  They  were  as  razors,  for  which  no  better 
purpose  could  be  found  than  the  cutting  of  blocks.  When  such 
attempts  are  made  the  block  is  not  cut,  but  the  razor  is  spoilt. 
Most  unfit  for  the  commencement  of  a  soldier's  life  were  some 
that  I  saw  there,  but  I  do  not  doubt  that  they  had  been  at- 
tracted to  the  work  by  the  one  idea  of  doing  something  for 
their  country  in  its  trouble. 

From  Fort  Snelling  we  went  on  to  the  Falls  of  Minnehaha. 
Minnehaha,  laughing  water.  Such  I  believe  is  the  interpreta- 
tion. The  name  in  this  case  is  more  imposing  than  the  fall. 
It  is  a  pretty  little  cascade,  and  might  do  for  a  picnic  in  fine 
weather,  but  it  is  not  a  waterfall  of  which  a  man  can  make 
much  when  found  so  far  away  from  home.  Going  on  from 
Minnehaha  we  came  to  Minneapolis,  at  which  place  there  is  a 
fine  suspension  bridge  across  the  river,  just  above  the  falls  of 
St.  Anthony  and  leading  to  the  town  of  that  name.  Till  I  got 
there  I  could  hardly  believe  that  in  these  days  there  should  be 
a  living  village  called  Minneapolis  by  living  men.  I  presume  I 
should  describe  it  as  a  town,  for  it  has  a  municipality,  and  a 
post-oflace,  and,  of  course,  a  large  hotel.  The  interest  of  the 
place  however  is  in  the  saw-mills.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
water,  at  St.  Anthony,  is  another  very  large  hotel, — and  also  a 
smaller  one.  The  smaller  one  may  be  about  the  size  of  the 
first-class  hotels  at  Cheltenham  or  Leamington.  They  were 
both  closed,  and  there  seemed  to  be  but  little  prospect  that  ei- 
ther would  be  opened  till  the  war  should  be  over.  The  saw- 
mills, however,  were  at  full  work,  and  to  my  eyes  were  ex- 
tremely picturesque.  I  had  been  told  that  the  beauty  of  the 
falls  had  been  destroyed  by  the  mills.  Indeed  all  who  had 
spoken  to  me  about  St.  Anthony  had  said  so.  But  I  did  not 
agree  with  them.  Here,  as  at  Ottawa,  the  charm  in  fact  con- 
sists, not  in  an  uninterrupted  shoot  of  water,  but  in  a  succession 
of  rapids  over  a  bed  of  broken  rocks.  Among  these  rocks  logs 
of  loose  timber  are  caught,  which  have  es  .aped  from  their  prop- 
er courses,  and  here  they  lie,  heaped  up  in  some  places,  and 
constructing  themselves  into  bridges  in  others,  till  the  freshets 
of  the  spring  carry  them  off.  The  timber  is  generally  brought 
down  in  logs  to  St.  Anthony,  is  sawn  there,  and  then  sent  down 
the  Mississippi  in  large  '"afts.  These  rafts  on  other  rivers  are 
I  think  ffenerally  made  of  unsawn  timber.  Such  logs  as  have 
escaped  in  the  manner  above  described  are  recognized  on  their 
passage  down  the  river  by  their  marks,  and  are  made  up  sepa- 


.1 


\ 


M 


'<i.l 


\ 


If 


':'^ 


^a: 


'i 


'.:( 


;X' 


142 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


Ill 


||!^-i 


u     I. 


rately,  the  original  owners  receiving  the  value, — or  not  receiv- 
ing it  as  the  case  may  be.  "There  is  quite  a  trade  going  on 
with  the  loose  lumber,"  my  informant  told  me.  And  from  his 
tone  I  was  led  to  suppose  that  he  regarded  the  trade  as  suffi- 
ciently lucrative  if  not  peculiarly  honest. 

There  is  very  much  m  the  mode  of  life  adopted  by  the  set- 
tlers in  these  regions  which  creates  admiration.     The  people 
are  all  intelligent.     They  are  energetic  and  speculative,  con- 
ceiving grand  ideas,  and  carrying  them  out  almost  with  the 
rapidity  of  magic.     A  suspension  bridge  half  a  mile  long  is 
erected,  while  in  England  we  should  be  fastening  together  a 
few  planks  for  a  foot  passage.     Progress,  mental  as  well  as 
material,  is  the  demand  of  the  people  generally.    Everybody 
understands  everything,  and  everybody  intends  sooner  or  later 
to  do  everything.     All  this  is  very  grand ; — but  then  there  is  a 
terrible  drawback.     One  hears  on  every  side  of  intelligence,  but 
one  hears  also  on  every  side  of  dishonesty.    Talk  to  whom  you 
will,  of  whom  you  will,  and  you  will  hear  some  tale  of  success- 
ful or  unsuccessful  swindling.    It  seems  to  be  the  recognized 
rule  of  commerce  in  the  Far  West  that  men  shall  go  into  the 
world's  markets  prepared  to  cheat  and  to  be  cheated.     It  may 
be  said  that  as  long  as  this  is  acknowledged  and  understood  on 
all  sides,  no  harm  will  be  done.    It  is  equally  fair  for  all.    When 
I  was  a  cliild  there  use  J  to  be  certain  games  at  which  it  was 
agreed  in  beginning  either  that  there  should  be  cheating  or  that 
there  should  not.     It  may  be  said  that  out  there  in  the  western 
States,  men  agree  to  play  the  cheating  game;  and  that  the 
cheating  game  has  more  of  interest  in  it  than  the  other.    Un- 
fortunately, however,  they  who  agree  to  play  this  game  on  a 
large  scale,  do  not  keep  outsiders  altogether  out  of  the  play- 
ground.    Indeed  outsiders  become  very  welcome  to  them  ;^- 
and  then  it  is  not  pleasant  to  hear  the  tone  in  which  such  out- 
siders speak  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  sport  to  which  they  have 
been  introduced.     When  a  beginner  in  trade  finds  himself  fur- 
nished with  a  barrel  of  wooden  nutmegs,  the  joke  is  not  so  good 
to  him  as  to  the  experienced  merchant  who  supplies  him.    This 
dealing  in  wooden  nutmegs,  this  selling  of  things  which  do  not 
exist,  and  buying  of  goods  for  which  no  price  is  ever  to  be  giv- 
en, is  an  institution  which  is  much  honored  in  the  West.     We 
call  it  swindling ; — and  so  do  they.     But  it  seemed  to  me  that 
in  the  western  States  the  word  hardly  seemed  to  leave  the 
same  impress  on  the  mind  that  it  does  elsewhere. 

On  our  return  down  the  river  we  passed  La  Crosse,  at  which 
we  had  embarked,  and  went  down  as  far  as  Dubuque  in  Iowa. 


HI 


a 


a. 


THE    UrPEB   MISSISSIPPI. 


143 


On  om*  way  down  wo  came  to  grief  and  broke  one  of  our  pad- 
dle-wheels to  pieces.  We  had  no  special  accident.  We  struck 
against  nothing  above  or  below  water.  But  the  wheel  went  to 
pieces,  and  we  lay-to  on  the  river  side  for  the  greater  part  of  a 
day  while  the  necessary  repairs  were  being  made.  Delay  in 
travelling  is  usually  an  annoyance,  because  it  causes  the  unset- 
tlement  of  a  settled  purpose.  But  the  loss  of  the  day  did  us  no 
harm,  and  our  accident  had  happened  at  a  very  pretty  spot.  I 
climbed  up  to  the  top  of  the  nearest  bluff,  and  walked  back  till 
I  came  to  the  open  country,  and  also  went  up  and  down  the 
river  banks,  visiting  the  cabins  of  two  settlers  who  live  there 
by  supplying  wood  to  the  river  steamers.  One  of  these  was 
close  to  the  spot  at  which  Ave  were  lying ;  and  yet  though 
most  of  our  passengers  came  on  shore,  I  was  the  only  one  who 
spoke  to  the  inmates  of  the  cabin.  These  people  must  live 
there  almost  in  desolation  from  one  year's  end  to  another. 
Once  in  a  fortnight  or  so  they  go  up  to  a  market  town  in  their 
small  boats,  but  beyond  that  they  can  have  little  intercourse 
with  their  fellow-creatures.  Nevertheless  none  of  these  dwell- 
ers by  the  river  side  came  out  to  speak  to  the  men  and  women 
who  were  lounging  about  from  eleven  in  the  morning  till  four 
in  the  afternoon ;  nor  did  one  of  the  passengers  except  myself 
knock  at  the  door  or  enter  the  cabin,  or  exchange  a  word  with 
those  who  lived  there. 

I  spoke  to  the  master  of  the  house,  whom  I  met  outside,  and 
he  at  once  asked  me  to  come  in  and  sit  down.  I  found  his 
father  there  and  his  mother,  his  wife,  his  brother,  and  two 
young  children.  The  wife,  who  was  cooking,  was  a  very  pret- 
ty, pale  young  woman,  who,  however,  could  have  circulated 
round  her  stove  more  conveniently  had  her  crinoline  been  of 
less  dimensions.  She  bade  me  welcome  very  prettily,  and  went 
on  with  her  cooking,  talking  the  while,  as  though  she  were  in 
the  habit  of  entertaining  guests  in  that  way  daily.  The  old 
woman  sat  in  a  corner  knitting — as  old  women  always  do. 
The  old  man  lounged  with  a  grandchild  on  his  knee,  and  the 
master  of  the  house  threw  himself  on  the  floor  while  the  other 
child  crawled  over  him.'  There  was  no  stiffness  or  uneasiness 
in  their  manners,  nor  was  there  any  thing  approaching  to  that 
republican  roughness  which  so  often  operates  upon  a  poor, 
well-intending  Englishman  like  a  slap  on  the  cheek.  I  sat 
there  for  about  an  hour,  and  when  I  had  discussed  with  them 
English  politics  and  the  bearing  of  English  politics  upon  the 
American  war,  they  told  me  of  their  own  affairs.  Food  was 
very  plenty,  but  life  was  very  hard.    Take  the  year  through 


.1 


\ 


^] 


'  :1  n 


K 


<  '>.i.. 


,»f 


144 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


II,. 


I 


each  man  conld  not  earn  above  half  a  dollar  a  day  by  cutting 
wood.  This,  however,  they  owned,  did  not  take  up  all  their 
time.  Working  on  favourable  wood  on  favourable  days  they 
could  each  earn  two  dollars  a  day ;  but  these  favourable  cir- 
cumstances did  not  come  together  very  often.  They  did  not 
deal  with  the  boats  themselves,  and  the  profits  were  eaten  up 
by  the  middleman.  He,  the  middleman,  had  a  good  thing  of 
it,  because  he  could  cheat  the  captains  of  the  boats  in  the  meas- 
urement of  the  wood.  The  chopper  was  obliged  to  supply  a 
genuine  cord  of  logs, — true  measure.  But  the  man  who  took 
it  oiF  in  the  barge  to  the  steamer  could  so  pack  it  that  fifteen 
true  cords  would  make  twenty-two  false  cords.  "  It  cuts  up 
into  a  fine  trade,  you  see,  sir,"  said  the  young  man,  as  he 
stroked  back  the  little  girl's  hair  from  her  forehead.  "  But  the 
captains  of  course  must  find  it  out,"  said  I.  This  he  acknowl- 
edged, but  argued  that  the  captains  on  this  account  insisted  on 
buying  the  wood  so  much  cheaper,  and  that  the  loss  all  came 
upon  the  chopper.  I  tried  to  teach  him  that  the  remedy  lay  in 
his  own  hands,  and  the  three  men  listened  to  me  quite  patient- 
ly while  I  explained  to  them  how  they  should  carry  on  their 
own  trade.  But  the  young  father  had  the  last  word.  "I  guess 
we  don't  get  above  the  fifty  cents  a  day  any  way."  He  knew 
at  least  where  the  shoe  pinched  hira.  He  was  a  handsome, 
manly,  noble-looking  fellow,  tall  and  thin,  with  black  hair  and 
bright  eyes.  But  he  had  the  hollow  look  about  his  jaws,  and 
so  had  his  wife,  and  so  had  his  brother.  They  all  owned  to 
fever  and  ague.  They  had  a  touch  of  it  most  years,  and  some- 
times pretty  sharply.  "  It  was  a  coarse  place  to  live  in,"  the 
old  woman  said,  "  but  there  was  no  one  to  meddle  with  them, 
and  she  guessed  that  it  suited."  They  had  books  and  news- 
papers, tidy  delf,  and  clean  glass  upon  their  shelves,  and  un- 
doubtedly provisions  in  plenty.  Whether  fever  and  ague  year- 
ly, and  cords  of  wood  stretched  from  fifteen  to  twenty-two  are 
more  than  a  set-off  for  these  good  things,  I  will  leave  every  one 
to  decide  according  to  his  own  taste. 

In  another  cabin  I  found  women  and  children  only,  and  one 
of  the  children  was  in  the  last  stage  of  illness.  But  neverthe- 
less the  woman  of  the  house  seemed  glad  to  see  me,  and  talked 
cheerfully  as  long  as  I  would  remain.  She  inquired  what  had 
happened  to  the  vessel,  but  it  had  never  occurred  to  her  to  go 
out  and  see.  Her  cabin  was  neat  and  well  furnished,  and  there 
also  I  saw  newspapers  and  Harper's  everlasting  magazine.  She 
said  it  was  a  coarse,  desolate  place  for  living,  but  that  she  could 
raise  almost  any  thing  in  her  garden. 

I  could  not  then  understand,  nor  can  I  now  understand,  why 


CERES   AMERICANA. 


145 


none  of  the  numerous  passengers  out  of  the  boat  should  have 
entered  those  cabins  except  myself;  and  why  the  inmates  of 
the  cabins  should  not  have  come  out  to  speak  to  any  one.  Had 
they  been  surly,  morose  people,  made  silent  by  the  specialities 
of  their  life,  it  would  have  been  explicable ;  but  they  were  de- 
lighted to  talk  and  to  listen.  The  fact,  I  take  it,  is,  that  the 
people  are  all  harsh  to  each  other.  They  do  not  care  to  go  out 
of  their  way  to  speak  to  any  one  unless  something  is  to  be 
gained.  They  say  that  two  Englishmen  meeting  in  the  desert 
would  not  speak  unless  they  were  introduced.  The  further  I 
travel,  the  less  true  do  I  find  this  of  Englishmen,  and  the  more 
true  of  other  people. 


iV^ 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CERES   AMERICANA. 

We  stopped  at  the  Julien  House,  Dubuque.  Dubuque  is  a 
city  in  Iowa  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  and  as  the 
names  both  of  the  town  and  of  the  hotel  sounded  French  in 
my  ears,  I  asked  for  an  explanation.  I  was  then  told  that  Ju- 
lien Dubuque,  a  Canadian  Frenchman,  had  been  buried  on  one 
of  the  bluffs  of  the  river  within  the  precincts  of  the  present 
town,  that  he  had  been  the  first  white  settler  in  Iowa,  and  had 
been  the  only  man  who  had  ever  prevailed  upon  the  Indians  to 
work.  Among  them  he  had  become  a  great  "Medicine,"  and 
seems  for  a  while  to  have  had  absolute  power  over  them.  He 
died  I  think  in  1800,  and  was  buried  on  one  of  the  hills  over 
the  river :  "  He  was  a  bold  bad  man,"  my  informant  told  me, 
"  and  committed  every  sin  under  heaven.  But  he  made  the 
Indians  work." 

Lead  mines  are  the  glory  of  Dubuque,  and  very  large  sums 
of  money  have  been  made  from  them.  I  was  taken  out  to  see 
one  of  them,  and  to  go  down  it;  but  we  found,  not  altogether 
to  my  sorrow,  that  the  works  had  been  stopped  on  account  of 
the  water.  No  effort  has  been  made  in  any  of  these  mines  to 
subdue  the  water,  nor  has  steam  been  applied  to  the  working 
of  them.  The  lodes  have  been  so  rich  with  lead  that  the  specu- 
lators have  been  content  to  take  out  the  metal  that  was  easily 
reached,  and  to  go  off  in  search  of  fresh  ground  when  disturbed 
by  water.  "And  are  wages  here  paid  pretty  punctually?"  I 
asked.  "  Well ;  a  mj^n  has  to  be  smart,  you  know."  And  then 
my  friend  went  on  to  acknowledge  that  it  would  be  better  for 
the  country  if  smartness  were  not  so  essential. 

6 


V»». 


•>l» 


11 


m 

-i  i 
m  \ 

.1,  i,;"^ 


J' 


11'.^ 


146 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


Iowa  has  a  population  of  674,000  souls,  and  in  October  1861 
had  already  mustered  eighteen  regiments  of  1000  men  each. 
Such  a  population  would  give  probably  170,000  men  capable 
of  bearing  arms,  and  therefere  the  number  of  soldiers  sent  had 
already  amounicJ  to  more  than  a  decimation  of  the  available 
strength  of  the  State.  When  wo  were  at  Dubuque  nothing 
was  talked  of  but  the  army.  It  seemed  that  mines,  coal-pits, 
and  corn-fields,  were  all  of  no  account  in  comparison  with  the 
war.  How  many  regiments  could  be  squeezed  out  of  the  State, 
was  the  one  question  which  filled  all  minds ;  and  the  general 
desire  was  that  such  regiments  should  be  sent  to  the  Western 
army,  to  swell  the  triumph  which  was  still  expected  for  General 
Fremont,  and  to  assist  in  sweeping  slavery  out  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  patriotism  of  the  West  has  been  quite  as  keen 
as  that  of  the  North,  and  has  produced  results  as  memorable; 
but  it  has  sprung  from  a  different  source,  and  been  conducted 
and  animated  by  a  different  sentiment.  National  greatness  and 
support  of  law  have  been  the  ideas  of  the  North ;  national  great- 
ness and  the  abolition  of  slavery  have  been  those  of  the  West. 
How  they  are  to  agree  as  to  terms  when  between  them  they 
have  crushed  the  South, — that  is  the  difliculty. 

At  Dubuque  in  Iowa,  I  ate  the  best  apple  that  I  ever  encoun- 
tered. I  make  that  statement  with  the  purpose  of  doing  justice 
to  the  Americans  on  a  matter  which  is  to  them  one  of  consid- 
erable importance.  Americans  as  a  rule  do  not  believe  in  En- 
glish apples.  They  declare  that  there  are  none,  and  receive  ac- 
counts of  Devonshire  cyder  with  manifest  incredulity.  "  But 
at  any  rate  there  are  no  apples  in  England  equal  to  ours."  That 
is  an  assertion  to  which  an  Englishman  is  called  upon  to  give 
an  absolute  assent ;  and  I  hereby  give  it.  Apples  so  excellent 
as  some  which  were  given  to  us  at  Dubuque,  I  have  never* 
eaten  in  England.  Tliere  is  a  great  jealousy  respecting  all  the 
fruits  of  the  earth.  "Your  peaches  are  fine  to  look  at,"  was 
said  to  me,  "  but  they  have  no  flavour."  This  was  the  asser- 
tion of  a  lady,  and  I  made  no  answer.  My  idea  had  been  that 
American  peaches  had  no  flavour;  that  French  peaches  had 
none;  that  those  of  Italy  had  none;  that  little  as  there  might 
be  of  which  England  could  boiist  with  truth,  she  might  at  any 
rate  boast  of  her  peaches  without  fear  of  contradiction.  In- 
deed my  idea  had  been  that  good  peaches  were  to  be  got  in 
England  only.  I  am  beginning  to  doubt  whether  my  belief  on 
the  matter  has  not  been  the  product  of  insular  ignorance,  and 
idolatrous  self-worship.  It  may  be  that  a  peach  should  be  a 
combination  of  an  apple  and  a  turnip.    "  My  great  objection  to 


f 


CERES   AMERICANA. 


141 


your  country,  sir,"  said  another,  "  is  that  you  have  got  no  veg- 
etables." Had  he  told  me  that  we  had  got  no  seaboard,  or  no 
coals,  ho  would  not  have  surprised  me  more.  No  vegetables 
in  Enf,land !  I  could  not  restrain  myself  altogether,  and  re- 
plied by  a  confession  "that  wo  *  raised'  no  squash."  Squash  is 
the  pulp  of  tho  pumpkin,  and  is  much  used  in  the  States,  both 
as  a  vegetable  and  for  pies.  No  vegetables  in  England !  Did 
my  surprise  arise  from  the  insular  ignorance  and  idolatrous  self- 
worship  of  a  Britisher,  or  was  my  American  friend  labouring 
under  a  delusion.  Is  Covent  Garden  well  supplied  with  vege- 
tables, or  is  it  not?  Do  we  cultivate  our  kitchen  gardens  with 
success,  or  am  I  under  a  delusion  on  that  subject?  Do  I 
dream,  or  is  it  true  that  out  of  my  own  little  patches  at  home 
I  have  enough  for  all  domestic  purposes  of  peas,  beans,  brocoli, 
cauliflower,  celery,  beet-root,  onions,  carrots,  parsnips,  turnips, 
seakale,  asparagus,  frcnch  beans,  artichokes,  vegetable  marrow, 
cucumber,  tomatoes,  endive,  lettuce,  as  well  as  herbs  of  many 
kinds,  cabbages  throughout  the  year,  and  potatoes  ?  No  veg- 
etables !  Had  the  gentleman  told  me  that  England  did  not 
suit  him  because  we  had  nothing  but  vegetables,  I  should  have 
been  less  surprised. 

From  Dubuque,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  river,  we  passed 
over  to  Dunleath  in  Illinois,  and  went  on  from  thence  by  raiU 
way  to  Dixon.  I  was  induced  to  visit  this  not  very  flourishing 
town  by  a  desjre  to  see  the  rolling  prairie  of  Illinois,  and  to 
learn  by  eyesight  something  of  the  crops  of  com  or  Indian 
maize  which  are  produced  upon  the  land.  Had  that  gentleman 
told  me  that  we  knew  nothing  of  producing  corn  in  England  ho 
would  have  been  nearer  the  mark ;  for  of  com  in  the  profusion 
in  which  it  is  grown  here  we  do  not  know  much.  Better  land 
than  the  prairies  of  Illinois  for  cereal  crops  the  world's  surface 
probably  cannot  show.  And  here  there  has  been  no  necessity 
for  the  long  previous  labour  of  banishing  the  forest.  Enormous 
prairies  stretch  across  the  State,  into  which  the  plough  can  be 
put  at  once.  The  earth  is  rich  with  the  vegetation  of  thousands 
of  years,  and  the  farmer's  return  is  given  to  him  without  delay. 
The  land  bursts  with  its  own  produce,  and  the  plenty  is  such 
that  it  creates  wasteful  carelessness  in  the  gathering  of  the  crop. 
It  is  not  worth  a  man's  while  to  handle  less  than  large  quanti- 
ties. Up  in  Minnesota  I  had  been  grieved  by  the  loose  manner 
in  which  wheat  was  treated.  I  have  seen  bags  of  it  upset,  and 
left  upon  the  ground.  The  labour  of  collecting  it  was  more  than 
it  was  worth.  There  wheat  is  the  chief  crop,  and  as  the  lands 
become  cleared  and  cultivation  spreads  itself,  the  amount  com- 


.1 


k 


I     ! 


•f 


IV^' 


f'.'   ^ 


\%i 


I  ti  ' 

I!    I 


148 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


ing  down  the  Mississippi  will  bo  increased  almost  to  infinity. 
The  price  of  wheat  in  Europe  will  soon  depend,  not  upon  the 
value  of  the  wheat  in  the  country  which  grows  it,  but  on  the 
power  and  cheapness  of  the  modes  which  may  exist  for  trans- 
porting it.  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  exact  prices  with 
reference  to  the  carriage  of  wheat  from  8t.  Paul,  the  capital  of 
Minnesota,  to  Liverpool,  but  I  have  done  so  as  regards  Indian 
corn  from  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  following  statement  will 
show  what  proportion  the  value  of  the  article  at  the  place  of 
its  growth  bears  to  the  cost  of  the  carriage ;  and  it  shows  also 
how  enormous  an  effect  on  the  price  of  corn  in  England  would 
follow  any  serious  decrease  in  the  cost  of  carriage. 

A  bushel  of  Indian  corn  at  Bloomington  in  Illinois  cost  in 

October,  1801 10  cents. 

Freight  to  Chicago 10  " 

Storeagc 2  ** 

Freight  from  Chicago  to  Buffalo 22  *» 

Elevating,  and  canal  freight  to  New  York 10  ** 

Transfer  in  New  York  and  insurance 3  '* 

Ocean  freight - 23  " 

Cost  of  a  bushel  of  Indian  corn  at  Liverpool 89  cents. 

Thus  corn  which  in  Liverpool  costs  35. 10<7.,  has  been  sold  by 
the  farmer  who  produced  it  for  5c?. !  It  is  probable  that  ;  j 
great  reduction  can  be  expected  in  the  cost  of  ocean  transit ; 
but  it  will  be  seen  by  the  above  figures  that  out  of  the  Liver- 
pool price  of  3s.  10c?.  or  89  cents,  considerably  more  than  half 
is  paid  for  carriage  across  the  United  States.  All  or  nearly  all 
this  transit  is  by  water,  and  there  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  but 
that  a  few  years  will  see  it  reduced  by  fifty  per  cent.  In  Oc- 
tober last  the  Mississippi  was  closed,  the  railways  had  not  roll- 
ing stock  sufficient  for  their  work,  the  crops  of  the  two  last 
years  had  been  excessive,  and  there  existed  the  necessity  of 
sending  out  the  corn  before  the  internal  navigation  had  been 
closed  by  frost.  The  parties  who  had  the  transit  in  their  hands 
put  their  heads  togetner  and  were  able  to  demand  any  prices 
that  they  pleased.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  cost  of  carrying  a 
bushel  of  corn  from  Chicago  to  Buffalo,  by  the  lakes,  was  with- 
in one  cent  of  the  cost  of  bringing  it  from  New  York  to  Liver- 
pool. These  temporary  causes  for  high  prices  of  transit  will 
cease,  a  more  perfect  system  of  competition  between  the  rail- 
ways and  the  wi»ter  transit  will  be  organized,  and  the  result 
must  necessarily  be  both  an  increase  of  price  to  the  producer 
and  a  decrease  of  price  to  the  consumer.  It  certainly  seems 
that  the  produce  of  cereal  crops  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mississip- 


CERES   AMEBICANA. 


140 


pi  and  its  tributaries,  increases  at  a  faster  rate  than  population 
increases.  Wheat  and  corn  are  sown  by  the  thousand  acres  in 
a  piece.  I  heard  of  one  fanner  who  had  10,000  acres  of  corn. 
Tliirty  years  ajjfo  grain  and  flour  were  sent  westward  out  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  supply  the  wants  of  those  who  had  em- 
igrated into  the  prairies,  and  now  we  find  that  it  will  be  the 
destiny  of  those  prairies  to  feed  the  universe.  Chicago  is  the 
main  point  of  exportation  north-westward  from  Illinois,  and  at 
the  present  time  sends  out  from  its  granaries  more  cereal  prod- 
uce than  any  other  town  in  the  world.  The  bulk  of  this  pass- 
es, in  the  shape  of  grain  or  flour,  from  Chicago  to  Hufialo,  which 
latter  place  is  as  it  were  a  gateway  leading  from  the  lakes  or  big 
waters  to  the  canals  or  small  waters.  I  give  below  the  amount 
of  grain  and  flour  in  bushels  received  into  Buffalo  for  transit  in 
the  month  of  October  duiing  four  consecutive  years. 

October,  1858 4,429,055  bushels. 

"        1859 5,523,448        " 

*«        18C0 6,600,864        " 

««        1861 12,483,797        •* 

In  1860,  from  the  opening  to  the  close  of  havigation, 
30,837,032  bushels  ot  grain  and  flour  passed  through  Buffalo. 
In  1861  the  amount  received  up  to  the  31st  of  October,  was 
51,969,142  bushels.  As  the  navigation  would  be  closed  during 
the  month  of  November,  the  above  figures  may  be  taken  as 
representing  not  quite  the  whole  amount  transported  for  the 
year.  It  may  be  presumed  the  62,000,000  of  bushels,  as  quoted 
above,  will  swell  itself  to  60,000,000.  I  confess  that  to  my 
own  mind  stfitistical  amoimts  do  not  bring  home  any  enduring 
idea.  Fifty  million  buf  hels  of  corn  and  flour  simply  seems  to 
mean  a  great  deal.  It  is  a  powerful  form  of  superlative,  and 
soon  vanishes  away,  as  do  other  superlatives  in  this  age  of 
strong  words.  I  was  at  Chicago  and  at  Buffalo  in  October 
1861.  I  went  down  to  the  granaries,  and  climbed  up  into  the 
elevators.  I  saw  the  wheat  running  in  rivers  from  one  vessel 
into  another,  and  from  the  railroad  vans  up  into  the  huge  bins 
on  the  top  stores  of  the  warehouses ; — for  these  rivers  of  food 
run  up  hUl  as  easily  as  they  do  down.  I  saw  the  corn  meas- 
ured by  the  forty  bushel  measure  with  as  much  ease  as  we  meas- 
ure an  ounce  of  cheese,  and  with  greater  rapidity.  I  ascer- 
tained that  the  work  went  on,  week  day  and  Sunday,  day  and 
night  incessantly ;  rivers  of  wheat  and  rivers  of  maize  ever  run- 
ning. I  saw  the  men  bathed  in  corn  as  they  distributed  it  in 
its  flow.  I  saw  bins  by  the  score  laden  with  wheat,  in  each 
of  which  bins  there  was  space  for  a  comfortable  residence.    I 


I  i 


i] 


Il» 


i  I 


!i>! 


160 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I   I 


I! 


breathed  the  flour,  and  drank  the  flour,  and  felt  myself  to  bo 
enveloped  in  a  world  of  broadstuft*.  And  then  I  believed,  undcM- 
8tood,  and  brought  it  home  to  myself  as  a  fact,  that  hero  in  the 
corn  lands  of  Michigan,  and  amidst  the  blufls  of  Wisconsin, 
and  on  the  high  table  plains  of  Minnesota,  and  the  prairies  of 
Illinois,  had  (Tod  prepared  the  food  for  the  increasing  millions 
of  the  Eastern  world,  as  also  for  the  coming  millions  of  the 
Western. 

I  do  not  find  many  minds  constituted  like  my  own,  and 
therefore  I  venture  to  publish  the  above  figures.  I  believe 
them  to  be  true  in  the  main,  and  they  will  sliow,  if  credited, 
that  the  increase  during  the  last  four  years  has  gone  on  with 
more  than  fabulous  rapidity.  For  myself  I  own  that  those 
figures  would  have  done  nothing  unless  I  had  visited  the  spot 
myself.  A  man  cannot,  perhaps,  count  up  the  results  of  such 
a  work  by  a  quick  glance  of  nis  eye,  nor  communicate  with 
precision  to  another  the  conviction  which  his  own  short  experi- 
ence has  made  so  strong  within  himself; — but  to  himself  seeing 
is  believing.  To  me  it  was  so  at  Chicago  and  at  Buffalo.  I 
began  then  to  know  what  it  was  for  a  country  to  overflow  with 
milk  and  honey,  to  burst  with  its  own  fruits,  and  be  smothered 
by  its  own  riches.  From  St.  Paul  down  the  Mississippi  by  the 
shores  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa, — by  the  ports  on  Lake  JPepm, — 
by  Lft  Crosse,  from  which  one  railway  runs  eastward, — by 
Prairie  du  Chien  the  terminus  of  a  second, — ^by  Dunleath, 
Fulton,  and  Rock  Island  from  whence  three  other  lines  run 
eastward,  all  through  that  wonderful  State  of  Illinois — the 
farmers'  glory, — along  the  ports  of  the  great  lakes, — through 
Michigan,  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  further  Pennsylvania,  up  to  Buf- 
falo, the  great  gate  of  the  westerij  Ceres,  the  loud  cry  was  this 
— "  How  shall  we  rid  ourselves  of  our  corn  and  wheat  ?"  The 
result  has  been  the  passage  of  60,000,000  bushels  of  breadstuffs 
through  that  gate  in  one  year !  Let  those  who  are  susceptible 
of  statistics  ponder  that.  For  them  who  are  not  I  can  only  give 
this  advice : — Let  them  go  to  Buffalo  next  October,  and  look 
for  themselves. 

In  regarding  the  above  figures  and  the  increase  shown  be- 
tween the  years  1860  and  1861,  it  must  of  course  be  borne  in 
mind  that  during  the  latter  autumn  no  corn  or  wheat  was  car- 
ried into  the  Southern  States,  and  that  none  was  exported  from 
New  Orleans  or  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  States  of 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Louisiana  have  for  some  time  past 
received  much  of  their  supplies  from  the  north-western  lands, 
and  the  cutting  off  of  this  current  of  consumption  has  tended 


CERItfl   AMERICANA. 


151 


ir- 


to  swell  the  amount  of  |^ain  which  haa  been  forced  into  tlio 
narrow  channel  of  IJiitfalo.  There  has  been  no  southern  exit 
allowed,  and  the  southern  appetite  has  been  deprived  of  its 
food.  But  taking  this  item  for  all  that  it  is  worth, — or  taking 
it,  as  it  generally  will  bo  taken,  for  much  more  than  it  can  be 
worth,— the  result  left  will  bo  materially  the  same.  The  grand 
markets  to  which  the  western  States  look  and  liave  looked  arc 
those  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  Europe.  Already  corn 
and  wheat  are  not  the  common  crops  of  New  England.  Boston, 
and  Hartford,  and  Lowell  are  fed  from  the  great  western  States. 
The  State  of  Now  York,  which,  thirty  years  ago,  was  famous 
chiefly  for  its  cereal  produce,  is  now  fed  from  these  States.  New 
York  city  would  be  starved  if  it  depended  on  its  own  State; 
and  it  will  soon  be  as  true  that  England  would  be  starved  if  it 
depended  on  itself.  It  was  but  the  other  day  that  wo  were 
talking  of  free  trade  in  corn  as  a  thing  desirable,  but  as  yet 
doubtful; — but  the  other  day  that  Lord  Derby  who  may  be 
Prime  Minister  to-morrow,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  who  may  be  Cfhan- 
cellor  of  the  Exchequer  to-morrow,  were  stoutly  of  opinion  that 
the  corn  laws  might  bo  and  should  be  maintained ; — but  the 
other  day  that  the  same  opinion  was  held  with  confidence  by 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  who,  however,  when  the  day  for  the  change 
came,  was  not  ashamed  to  become  the  instrument  used  by  the 
people  for  their  repeal.  Events  in  these  days  march  so  quickly 
that  they  leave  men  behind,  and  our  dear  old  Protectionists  at 
home  will  have  grown  sleek  upon  American  flour  before  they 
have  realized  the  fact  that  they  are  no  longer  fed  from  their 
own  furrows. 

I  have  given  figures  merely  as  regards  the  trade  of  Bufiklo ; 
but  it  must  not  be  presumed  that  Bufialo  is  the  only  outlet 
from  the  great  corn  lands  of  Northern  America.  In  the  first 
place  no  grain  of  the  produce  of  Canada  finds  its  way  to  Buffalo. 
Its  exit  is  by  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  by  the  Grand  Trunk  Rail- 
way, as  I  have  stated  when  speaking  of  Canada.  And  then 
there  is  the  passage  for  large  vessels  from  the  Upper  Lakes, 
Lake  Michigan,  Lake  Huron,  and  Lake  Erie,  through  the  Wd- 
land  Canal,  into  Lake  Ontario,  and  out  by  the  St.  Lawrence. 
There  is  also  the  direct  communication  from  Lake  Erie,  by 
the  New  York  and  Erie  railway  to  New  York.  I  have  more 
especially  alluded  to  the  trade  of  Buffalo,  because  I  have  been 
enabled  to  obtain  a  reliable  return  of  the  quantity  of  grain  and 
flour  which  passes  through  that  town,  and  because  Buffalo  and 
Chicago  are  the  two  spots  which  are  becoming  most  famous 
in  the  cereal  history  of  the  western  States. 


»!.' 


I 


f 

Ti 


.,n*  ■-,) 


152 


NOBTU   AMERICA. 


I       > 


Everybody  has  a  map  of  North  America.  A  reference  to 
such  a  map  will  show  the  peculiar  position  of  Chicago.  Tt  is 
at  the  south  or  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  to  it  converge  rail- 
ways from  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Indiana.  At  Chicago 
is  found  the  nearest  water  carriage  which  can  be  obtained  for 
the  produce  of  a  large  portion  of  these  States.  From  Chicago 
there  is  direct  water  conveyance  round  through  the  lakes  to 
Buffalo  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Erie.  At  Milwaukee,  higher  up  on 
the  lake,  certain  lines  of  railway  come  in,  joining  the  lake  to 
the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  to  the  wheat-lands  of  Minnesota. 
Thence  the  passage  is  round  by  Detroit  which  is  the  port  for 
the  produce  of  the  greatest  part  of  Michigan,  and  still  it  all 
goes  on  towards  Buffalo.  Then  on  Lake  Erie  there  are  the 
ports  of  Toledo,  Cleveland,  and  Erie.  At  the  bottom  of  Lake 
Erie,  there  is  this  city  of  corn,  at  which  the  grain  and  flour  is 
transhipped  into  the  canal  boats  and  into  the  railway  cars 
for  New  York ;  and  there  is  also  the  Welland  Canal,  through 
which  large  vessels  pass  from  the  upper  lakes,  without  tran- 
shipment of  their  cargo. 

I  have  said  above  that  corn — meaning  maize  or  Indian  corn 
— was  to  be  bought  at  Bloomingion  in  Illinois  for  10  cents  or 
fivepence  a  bushel.  I  found  this  also  to  be  the  case  at  Dixon 
— and  also  that  corn  of  inferior  quality  might  be  bought  for 
fourpence ;  but  I  found  also  that  it  was  not  worth  the  farmers 
while  to  shell  it  and  sell  it  at  such  prices.  I  was  assured  that 
farmers  were  burning  their  Indian  corn  in  some  places,  finding 
it  more  available  to  them  as  fuel,  than  it  was  for  the  market. 
The  labour  of  detaching  a  bushel  of  corn  from  the  hulls  or  cobs 
is  considerable,  as  is  also  the  task  of  carrying  it  to  market.  I 
have  known  potatoes  in  Ireland  so  cheap  that  they  would  not 
pay  for  digging  and  carrying  away  for  purposes  of  sale.  There 
was  then  a  glut  of  potatoes  in  Ireland ;  and  in  the  same  way 
there  was  in  the  autumn  of  1861  a  glut  of  corn  in  the  western 
States.  The  best  qualities  would  fetch  a  price,  though  still  a 
low  price ;  but  corn  that  was  not  of  the  best  quality  was  all 
but  worthless.  It  did  for  fuel,  and  was  burnt.  The  fact  was 
that  the  produce  had  re-created  itself  quicker  than  mankind 
had  multiplied.  The  ingenuity  of  man  had  not  worked  quick 
enough  for  its  disposal.  The  earth  had  given  forth  her  increase 
so  abundantly  that  the  lap  of  created  humanity  could  not 
stretch  itself  to  hold  it.  At  Dixon  in  1861  corn  cost  fourpence 
a  bushel.  In  Ireland  in  1848,  it  was  sold  for  a  penny  a  pound, 
a  pound  being  accounted  sufficient  to  sustain  life  foi*  a  day, — 
and  we  all  felt  that  at  that  price  food  was  brought  into  the 
country  cheaper  than  it  had  ever  been  brought  before. 


;   J 


CERES   AMERICANA. 


153 


Dixon  is  not  a  town  of  much  apparent  prosperity.  It  is  one 
of  those  places  at  which  great  beginnings  have  been  made,  but 
as  to  whic.l  the  deities  presiding  over  new  towns  have  not  been 
})ropitious.  Much  of  it  has  been  burnt  down,  and  more  of  it 
has  never  been  built  up.  It  had  a  straggling,  ill-conditioned, 
unocmmercial  aspect,  very  different  from  the  look  of  Detroit, 
Milwaukee,  or  St.  Paul.  There  was,  however,  a  great  hotel 
there,  as  usual,  and  a  grand  bridge  over  the  Rock  River,  a 
tributary  of  the  Mississippi  which  runs  by  or  through  the  town. 
I  found  that  life  might  be  maintained  on  very  cheap  terms  at 
Dixon.  To  me  as  a  passing  traveller  the  charges  at  the  hotel 
were,  I  take  it,  the  same  as  elsewhere.  But  I  learned  fror\  an 
inmate  there  that  he  with  his  wife  and  horse  were  fed  and 
cared  for,  and  attended  for  two  dollars  or  8s.  id.  a  day.  This 
included  a  private  sitting-room,  coals,  light,  and  all  the  wants 
of  life — as  my  informant  told  me — except  tobacco  and  whiskey. 
Feeding  at  such  a  house  means  a  succession  of  promiscuous  hot 
meals  as  often  as  the  digestion  of  the  patient  can  face  them. 
Now  I  do  not  know  any  locality  where  a  man  can  keep  him- 
self and  his  wife,  with  all  material  comforts,  and  the  luxury  of 
a  horse  and  carriage,  on  cheaper  terms  than  that.  Whether 
or  no  it  might  be  worth  a  man's  while  to  live  at  all  at  such  a 
place  as  Dixon  is  altogether  another  question. 

We  went  there  because  it  is  surrounded  by  the  prairie,  and 
out  into  the  prairie  we  had  ourselves  driven.  We  found  some 
difficulty  in  getting  away  from  the  corn,  though  we  had  select- 
ed this  spot  as  one  at  which  the  open  rolling  prairie  was  spe- 
cially attainable.  As  long  as  I  could  see  a  corn-field  or  a  tree 
I  was  not  satisfied.  Nor  indeed  was  I  satisfied  at  last.  To 
have  been  thoroughly  on  the  prairie^and  in  the  prairie  I  should 
have  been  a  day's  journey  from  tilled  land.  But  I  doubt  wheth- 
er that  could  now  be  done  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  I  got  out 
into  various  patches  and  brought  away  specimens  of  corn ; — 
ears  bearing  sixteen  rows  of  grain,  with  forty  grains  in  each 
row ;  each  ear  bearing  a  meal  for  a  hungry  man. 

At  last  we  did  find  ourselves  on  the  prairie,  amidst  the  wav- 
ing grass,  with  the  land  rolling  on  before  us  in  a  succession  of 
gentle  sweeps,  never  rising  so  as  to  impede  the  view,  or  ap- 
parently changing  in  its  general  level, — ^but  yet  without  the 
monotony  of  flatness.  We  were  on  the  prairie,  but  still  I  felt 
no  satisfaction.  It  was  private  property — divided  among  hold- 
ers and  pastured  over  by  private  cattle.  SaHsbury  plain  is  as 
wild,  and  Dartmoor  almost  wilder.  Deer  they  told  me  were 
to  be  had  within  reach  of  Dixon ;  but  for  the  buffalo  one  has  to 

G2 


J 


\ 


^«i 


«v! 


if 


!• 


m 


154 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


I 


'      'i 


Jl 


go  much  further  afield  than  Illinois.  The  farmer  may  rejoice 
in  Illinois,  but  the  hunter  and  the  trapper  must  cross  the  big 
rivers  and  pass  away  into  the  western  territories  before  he  can 
find  lands  wild  enough  for  his  purposes.  My  visit  to  the  corn- 
fields of  Illinois  was  in  its  way  successful ;  but  I  felt  as  I  turned 
my  face  eastward  towards  Chicago  that  I  had  no  right  to  boast 
that  I  had  as  yet  made  acquaintance  with  a  prairie. 

All  minds  were  turned  to  the  war,  at  Dixon  as  elsewhere. 
In  Illinois  the  men  boasted  that  as  regards  the  war,  they  were 
the  leading  State  of  the  Union.     But  the  same  boast  was  made 
in  Indiana,  and  also  in  Massachusetts ;  and  probably  in  half  the 
States  of  the  Norf  h  and  West.    They,  the  Illinoisians,  call  their 
country  the  war  nest  of  the  West.    The  population  of  the  State 
is  1,700,000,  and  it  had  undertaken  to  furnish  sixty  volunteer 
regiments  of  1000  men  each.    And  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
these  regiments,  when  furnished,  are  really  full, — absolutely 
containing  the  thousand  men  when  they  are  sent  away  from 
the  parent  States.    The  number  of  souls  above  named  will  give 
420,000  working  men,  and  if  out  of  these  60,000  are  sent  to  the 
war,  the  State,  which  is  almost  purely  agricultural,  will  have 
given  more  than  one  man  in  eight.     When  I  was  in  Illinois, 
over  forty  regiments  had  already  been  sent — forty-six  if  I  re- 
member rightly, — and  there  existed  no  doubt  whatever  as  to 
the  remaining  number.    From  the  next  State  of  Indiana,  with 
a  population  of  1,360,000,  giving  something  less  than  1^50,000 
working  men,  thirty-six  regiments  had  been  sent.    I  fear  that  I 
am  mentioning  these  numbers  usque  ad  nauseam ;  but  I  wish 
to  impress  upon  English  readers  the  magnitude  of  the  efl:brt 
made  by  the  States  in  mustering  and  equipping  an  array  with- 
in six  or  seven  months  of  the  first  acknowledgment  that  such 
an  array  would  be  necessary.    The  Americans  have  complained 
bitterly  of  the  want  of  English  sympathy,  and  I  think  they 
have  been  weak  in  making  that  complaint.    But  I  would  not 
wish  that  they  should  hereafter  have  the  power  of  complaining 
of  a  want  of  English  justice.    There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a 
genuine  feeling  of  patriotism  was  aroused  throughout  North 
and  West,  and  that  men  rushed  into  the  ranks  actuated  by  that 
feeling — men  for  whom  war  and  army  life,  a  camp  and  fifteen 
dollars  a  month,  would  not  of  theraselves  have  had  any  attrac- 
tion.   It  came  to  that,  that  young  men  were  ashamed  not  to 
go  into  the  army.    This  feeling  of  course  produced  coercion, 
and  the  movement  was  in  that  way  tyrannical.    There  is  no- 
thing more  tyrannical  than  a  strong  popular  feeling  araong  a 
deraocratic  people.    During  the  period  of  enlistment  this  tyr- 


CKBES   AMERICANA. 


155 


anny  was  very  strong.  But  the  existence  of  such  a  tyranny 
proves  the  passion  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  It  got  the 
better  of  the  love  of  money,  of  the  love  of  children,  and  of  the 
love  of  progress.  Wives  who  with  their  bairns  were  absolute- 
ly dependent  on  their  husbands'  labors,  would  wish  their  hus- 
bands to  be  at  the  war.  Not  to  conduce,  in  some  special  way, 
towards  the  war, — to  have  neither  father  there,  nor  brother, 
nor  son, — not  to  have  lectured,  or  preached,  or  written  for  the 
war, — to  have  made  no  sacrifice  for  the  war,  to  have  had  no 
special  and  individual  interest  in  the  war,  was  disgraceful.  One 
sees  at  a  glance  the  tyranny  of  all  this  in  such  a  country  as  the 
States.  One  can  understand  how  quickly  adverse  stories  would 
spread  themselves  as  to  the  opinion  of  any  man  who  chose  to 
remain  tranquil  at  such  a  time.  One  shudders  at  the  absolute 
absence  of  true  liberty  which  such  a  passion  throughout  a  demo- 
cratic country  must  engender.  But  he  who  has  observed  all 
this  must  acknowledge  that  that  passion  did  exist.  Dollars, 
children,  progress,  education,  and  political  rivalry  all  gave  way 
to  the  one  strong  national  desire  for  the  thrashing  and  crush- 
ing of  those  who  had  rebelled  against  the  authority  of  the 
Stars  and  Stripes. 

When  we  were  at  Dixon  they  were  getting  up  the  Dement 
regiment.  The  attempt  at  the  time  did  not  seem  to  be  pros- 
perous, and  the  few  men  who  had  been  collected  had  about 
them  a  forlorn,  ill-conditioned  look.  But  then,  as  I  was  told, 
Dixon  had  already  been  decimated  and  re-decimated  by  former 
recruiting  colonels.  Colonel  Dement,  from  whom  the  regiment 
was  to  be  named,  and  whose  military  career  was  only  now 
about  to  commence,  had  come  late  into  the  field,  I  did  not 
afterwards  ascertain  what  had  been  his  success,  but  I  hardly 
doubt  that  he  did  ultimately  scrape  together  his  thousand  men. 
"  Why  don't  you  go  ?"  I  said  to  a  burly  Irishman  who  was 
driving  me.  "  I'm  not  a  sound  man,  yer  honour,"  said  the  Irish- 
man. "  I'm  deficient  in  me  liver."  Taking  the  Irishmen,  how- 
ever, throughout  the  Union,  they  had  not  been  found  deficient 
in  any  of  the  necessaries  for  a  career  of  war.  I  do  not  think 
that  any  men  have  done  better  than  the  Irish  in  the  American 
army. 

From  Dixon  we  went  to  Chicago,  Chicago  is  in  many  re- 
spects the  most  remarkable  city  among  all  the  remarkable  cit- 
ies of  the  Union.  Its  growth  has  been  the  fastest  and  its  suc- 
cess the  most  assured.  Twenty-five  years  ago  there  was  no 
Chicago,  and  now  it  contains  120,000  inhabitants.  Cincinnati 
on  the  Ohio,  and  St.  Louis  at  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and 


h 


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I     • 

•I  ■• 


t; 


Mississippi,  are  larger  towns ;  but  they  have  not  grown  large 
so  quickly,  nor  do  thev  now  promise  so  excessive  a  develop- 
ment of  commerce.  Chicago  may  be  called  the  metropolis  of 
American  corn  —  the  favourite  city  liaunt  of  the  American 
Ceres.  The  goddess  seats  herself  there  amidst  the  dust  of  her 
full  barns,  and  proclaims  herself  a  goddess  ruling  over  things 
political  and  philosophical  as  well  as  agricultural.  Not  fur- 
rows only  are  in  her  thoughts,  but  free  trade  also,  and  brother- 
ly love.  And  within  her  own  bosom  there  is  a  boast  that  even 
yet  she  will  be  stronger  than  Mars.  In  Chicago  there  are  great 
streets,  and  rows  of  houses  fit  to  be  the  residences  of  a  new 
Corn  Exchange  nobility.  They  look  out  on  the  wide  lake  which 
is  now  the  highway  for  breadstuffs,  and  the  merchant,  as  he 
shaves  at  his  window,  sees  his  rapid  ventures  as  they  pass 
away,  one  after  the  other,  towards  the  East. 

I  went  over  one  great  grain  store  in  Chicago  possessed  by 
gentlemen  of  the  name  of  Sturgess  and  Buckenham.  It  was  a 
world  in  itself, — and  the  dustiest  of  all  the  worlds.  It  contain- 
ed, when  I  was  there,  half  a  million  bushels  of  wheat  —  or  a 
very  great  many,  as  I  might  say  in  other  language.  But  it  was 
not  as  a  storehouse  that  this  great  building  was  so  remarkable, 
but  as  a  channel  or  a  river  course  for  the  flooding  freshets  of 
corn.  It  is  so  built  that  both  railway  vans  and  vessels  come 
immediately  under  its  claws,  as  I  may  call  the  great  trunks  of 
the  elevators.  Out  of  the  railway  vans  the  corn  and  wheat  is 
clawed  up  into  the  building,  and  down  similar  trunks  it  is  at 
once  again  poured  out  into  the  vessels.  I  shall  be  at  Buffalo 
in  a  page  or  two,  and  then  I  will  endeavour  tp  explain  more  mi- 
nutely how  this  is  done.  At  Chicago  the  corn  is  bought  and 
does  change  hands,  and  much  of  it,  therefore,  is  stored  there 
for  some  space  of  time, — shorter  or  longer  as  the  case  may  be. 
When  I  was  at  Chicago,  the  only  limit  to  the  rapidity  of  its 
transit  was  set  by  the  amount  of  boat  accommodation.  There 
were  not  bottoms  enough  to  take  the  corn  away  from  Chicago, 
nor  indeed  on  the  railway  was  there  a  sufficiency  of  rolling 
stock  or  locomotive  power  to  bring  it  into  Chicago.  As  I  said 
before,  the  country  was  bursting  with  its  own  produce  and 
smothered  in  its  own  fruits. 

At  Chicago  the  hotel  was  bigger  than  other  hotels,  and 
grander.  There  were  pipes  without  end  for  cold  water  which 
ran  hot,  and  for  hot  water  which  would  not  run  at  all.  The 
post-office  also  was  grander  and  bigger  than  other  post-offices 
— though  the  postmaster  confessed  to  me  that  that  matter  of 
the  delivery  of  letters  was  one  which  could  not  be  compassed. 


I  i 


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CERES   AMEBICANA. 


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Just  at  that  moment  it  was  being  done  as  a  private  specula- 
tion ;  but  it  did  not  pay,  and  would  be  discontinued.  The 
theatre  too  was  large,  handsome,  and  convenient ;  but  on  the 
night  of  my  attendance  it  seemed  to  lack  an  audience.  A 
good  comic  actor  it  did  not  lack,  and  I  never  laughed  more 
heartily  in  my  life.  There  was  something  wrong  too  just  at 
that  time — I  could  not  make  out  what — in  the  constitution  of 
Illinois,  and  the  present  moment  had  been  selected  for  voting  a 
new  constitution.  To  us  in  England  such  a  necessity  would 
be  considered  a  matter  of  importance,  but  it  did  not  seem  to 
be  much  thought  of  here.  "  Some  slight  alteration  probably," 
I  suggested.  "  No,"  said  my  informant — one  of  the  judges  of 
their  courts  -r- "  it  is  to  be  a  thorough  radical  change  of  the 
whole  constitution.  They  are  voting  the  delegates  to-day." 
I  went  to  see  them  vote  the  delegates ;  but  unfortunately  got 
into  a  wrong  place — by  invitation — and  was  turned  out,  not 
without  some  slight  tumult.  I  trust  that  the  new  constitution 
was  carried  through  successfully. 

From  these  little  details  it  may  perhaps  be  understood  how 
a  town  like  Chicago  goes  on  and  prospers,  in  spite  of  all  the 
drawbacks  which  are  incident  to  newness.  Men  in  those  re- 
gions do  not  mind  failures,  and  when  they  have  failed,  instant- 
ly begin  again.  They  make  their  plans  on  a  large  scale,  and 
they  who  come  after  them  fill  up  what  has  been  wanting  at 
first.  Those  taps  of  hot  and  cold  water  will  be  made  to  run 
by  the  next  owner  of  the  hotel,  if  not  by  the  present  owmer. 
In  another  ten  years  the  letters,  I  do  not  doubt,  will  all  be  de- 
livered. Long  before  that  time  the  theatre  will  probably  be 
full.  The  new  constitution  is  no  doubt  already  at  work ;  and 
if  found  deficient,  another  will  succeed  to  it  without  any  trouble 
to  the  State  or  any  talk  on  the  subject  through  the  Union. 
Chicago  was  intended  as  a  town  of  export  for  corn,  and,  there- 
fore, the  corn  stores  have  received  the  first  attention.  When 
I  was  there,  they  were  in  perfect  working  order. 

From  Chicago  we  went  on  to  Cleveland,  a  town  in  the  State 
of  Ohio  on  Lake  Erie,  again  travelling  by  the  sleeping  cars. 
I  found  that  these  cars  were  universally  mentioned  with  great 
horror  and  disgust  by  Americans  of  the  upper  class.  They  al- 
ways declared  that  they  would  not  travel  in  them  on  any  ac- 
count. Noise  and  dirt  were  the  two  objections.  They  are 
very  noisy,  but  to  us  belonged  the  happy  power  of  sleeping 
down  noise.  I  invariably  slept  all  through  the  night,  and  knew 
nothing  about  the  noise.  They  are  also  very  dirty, — extreme- 
ly dirty, — dirty  tJO  as  to  cause  much  annoyance.     But  then 


IV 


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NORTH    AMERICA. 


!: 


thfiy  are  not  quite  so  dirty  as  the  day  cars.  If  dirt  is  to  bo  a 
bar  against  travelling  in  America,  men  and  women  must  stay 
at  home.  For  myself  I  don't  much  care  for  dirt,  having  a 
strong  reliance  on  soap  and  water  and  scrubbing  brushes.  No 
one  regards  poisons  who  carries  antidotes  in  which  he  has  per- 
fect faith. 

Cleveland  is  another  pleasant  town, — pleasant  n?j  Milwaukee 
and  Portland.  The  streets  are  handsome,  and  are  shaded  by 
grand  avenues  of  trees.  One  of  these  streets  is  over  a  mile  in 
length,  and  throughout  the  whole  of  it,  there  are  trees  on  each 
side — not  little  paltry  trees  as  are  to  be  seen  on  the  boulevards 
of  Paris,  but  spreading  elms,  —  the  beautiful  American  elm 
which  not  only  spreads,  but  droops  also,  and  makes  more  of  its 
foliage  than  any  other  tree  extant.  And  there  is  a  square  in 
Cleveland,  well  sized,  as  large  as  Russell  Square  I  should  say, 
with  open  paths  across  it,  and  containing  one  or  two  handsome 
buildings.  I  cannot  but  think  that  all  men  and  women  in  Lon- 
don would  be  grf  at  gainers  if  the  iron  rails  of  the  squares  were 
thrown  down,  and  the  grassy  enclosures  thrown  open  to  the 
public.  Of  course  the  edges  of  the  turf  would  be  worn,  and 
the  paths  would  not  keep  their  exact  shapes.  But  the  prison 
look  would  be  banished,  and  the  sombre  sadness  of  the  squares 
would  be  relieved. 

I  was  particularly  struck  by  the  size  and  comfort  of  the 
houses  at  Cleveland.  All  down  that  street  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  they  do  not  stand  continuously  together,  but  are  de- 
tached and  separate ;  houses  which  in  England  would  require 
some  fifteen  or  eighteen  hundred  a  year  for  their  maintenance. 
In  the  States,  however,  men  commonly  expend  upon  house  rent 
a  much  greater  proportion  of  their  income  than  they  do  in  En- 
gland. With  us  it  is,  I  believe,  thought  that  a  man  should  cer- 
tainly not  apportion  more  than  a  seventh  of  his  spending  in- 
come to  his  house  rent, — some  say  not  more  than  a  tenth.  But 
in  many  cities  of  the  States  a  man  is  thought  to  live  well  with- 
in bounds  if  he  so  expends  a  fourth.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  Americans  living  in  better  houses  than  Englishmen, — 
making  the  comparison  of  course  between  men  of  equal  in- 
comes. But  the  Englishman  has  many  more  incidental  ex- 
penses than  the  American.  Ho  spends  more  on  wine,  on  enter- 
tainments, on  horses,  and  on  amusements.  He  has  a  more  nu- 
merous establishment,  and  keeps  up  the  adjuncts  and  outskirts 
of  his  residence  with  a  more  finished  neatness. 

These  houses  in  Cleveland  were  very  good, — as  indeed  they 
are  in  most  Northern  towns ;  but  some  of  them  have  been 


CERES   AMERICANA. 


150 


erected  with  an  amount  of  bad  taste  that  is  almost  incredible. 
It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  in  front  of  a  square  brick  house  a 
wooden  quasi-Greek  portico,  with  a  pediment  and  Ionic  col- 
umns, equally  high  with  the  house  itself.  Wooden  columns 
with  Greek  capitals  attached  to  the  doorways,  and  wooden 
pediments  over  the  windows,  are  very  frequent.  As  a  rulo 
these  are  attached  to  houses  which,  without  such  ornamenta- 
tion, would  bo  simple,  unpretentious,  square,  roomy  residences. 
An  Ionic  or  Corinthian  capital  stuck  on  to  a  log  of  wood  called 
a  column,  and  then  fixed  promiscuously  to  the  outside  of  an  or- 
dinary house,  is  to  my  eye  the  vilest  of  architectural  pretences. 
Little  turrets  are  better  than  this ;  or  even  brown  battlements 
made  of  mortar.  Except  in  America  I  do  not  remember  to 
have  seen  these  vicious  bits  of  white  timber, — timber  painted 
white, — plastered  on  to  the  fronts  and  sides  of  red-brick  houses. 

Again  we  went  on  by  rail, — to  Buffalo.  I  have  travelled  some 
thousands  of  miles  by  railway  in  the  States,  taking  long  jour- 
neys by  night  and  longer  journeys  by  day;  but  I  do  not  re- 
member that  while  doing  so  I  ever  made  acquaintance  with  an 
American.  To  an  American  lady  in  a  railway  car  I  should  no 
more  think  of  speaking  than  I  should  to  an  unknown  female  in 
the  next  pew  to  me  at  a  London  church.  It  is  hard  to  under- 
stand from  whence  come  the  laws  which  govern  societies  in 
this  respect ;  but  there  are  different  laws  in  different  societies, 
which  soon  obtain  recognition  for  themselves.  American  la- 
dies are  much  given  to  talking,  and  are  generally  free  from  all 
mauvaise  honte.  They  are  collected  in  manner,  well  instruct- 
ed, and  resolved  to  have  their  share  of  the  social  advantages  of 
the  world.  In  this  phase  of  life  they  come  out  more  strongly 
than  English  women.  But  on  a  railway  journey,  be  it  ever  so 
long,  they  are  never  seen  speaking  to  a  stranger.  English 
women,  however,  on  English  railways  are  generally  willing  to 
converse.  They  will  do  so  if  they  be  on  a  journey ;  but  will 
not  open  their  mouths  if  they  be  simply  passing  backwards  and 
forwards  between  their  homes  and  some  neighbouring  town. 
We  soon  learn  the  rules  on  these  subjects ; — but  who  make  the 
rules  ?  If  you  cross  the  Atlantic  with  an  American  lady  you 
invariably  fall  in  love  with  her  before  the  journey  is  over. 
Travel  with  the  same  woman  in  a  railway  car  for  twelve  hours, 
and  you  will  have  written  her  down  in  your  own  mind  in  quite 
other  language  than  that  of  love. 

And  now  for  Buffalo,  and  the  elevators.  I  trust  I  have 
made  it  understood  that  corn  comes  into  Buffalo,  not  only 
from  Chicago,  of  which  I  have  spoken  specially,  but  from  all 


'I 


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NORTU   AMERICA. 


1       » 


the  port8  round  tho  lakes ;  Racino,  Milwaukee^  Grandhavcn, 
Port  Sarnia,  Detroit,  Toledo,  Cleveland,  and  many  others.  At 
these  ports  tho  produce  is  generally  bought  and  sold ;  but  at 
Buffalo  it  is  merely  passed  through  a  gateway.  It  is  taken 
from  vessels  of  a  size  fitted  for  the  lakes,  and  placed  in  other 
vessels  fitted  for  the  canal.  This  is  the  Erie  Canal,  which  con- 
nects the  lakes  with  tho  Hudson  River  and  with  New  York. 
The  produce  which  passes  through  the  Welland  Canal — tho  ca- 
nal which  connects  Lake  Erie  and  the  upper  lakes  with  Lake 
Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence — is  not  transhipped,  seeing  that 
the  Welland  Canal,  which  is  less  than  thirty  miles  in  length, 
gives  a  passage  to  vessels  of  500  tons.  As  I  have  before  said, 
60,000,000  bushels  of  breadstuff  were  thus  pushed  through 
Buffalo  in  the  open  months  of  the  year  1861.  These  open 
months  run  from  the  middle  of  April  to  the  middle  of  Novem- 
ber ;  but  the  busy  period  is  that  of  the  last  two  months, — the 
time  that  is  which  intervenes  between  the  full  ripening  of  the 
corn  and  the  coming  of  the  ice. 

An  elevator  is  as  ugly  a  monster  as  has  been  yet  produced. 
In  uncouthness  of  form  it  outdoes  those  obsolete  old  brutes 
who  used  to  roam  about  the  semi-aqueous  world,  and  live  a 
most  uncomfortable  life  with  their  great  hungering  stomachs 
and  huge  unsatisfied  maws.  The  elevator  itself  consists  of  a 
big  moveable  trunk, — moveable  as  is  that  of  an  elephant,  but 
not  pliable,  and  less  graceful  even  than  an  elephant's.  This  is 
attached  to  a  huge  granary  or  barn ;  but  in  order  to  give  alti- 
tude within  the  barn  for  the  necessary  moving  up  and  down 
of  this  trunk, — seeing  that  it  cannot  be  curled  gracefully  to  its 
purposes  as  the  elephant's  is  curled, — there  is  an  awkward  box 
erected  on  the  roof  of  the  barn,  giving  some  twenty  feet  of  ad- 
ditional height,  up  into  which  the  elevator  can  be  thrust.  It 
will  be  understood,  then,  that  this  big  moveable  trunk,  the  head 
of  which,  when  it  is  at  rest,  is  thrust  up  into  the  box  on  the 
roof,  is  made  to  slant  down  in  an  oblique  direction  from  the 
building  to  the  river.  For  the  elevator  is  an  amphibious  insti- 
tution, and  flourishes  only  on  the  banks  of  navigable  waters. 
When  its  head  is  ensconced  within  its  box,  and  the  beast  of 
prey  is  thus  nearly  hidden  within  the  building,  the  unsuspicious 
vessel  is  brought  up  within  reach  of  the  creature's  trunk,  and 
down  it  comes,  like  a  mosquito's  proboscis,  right  through  the 
deck,  in  at  the  open  aperture  of  the  hole,  and  so  into  the  very 
vitals  and  bowels  of  the  ship.  When  there,  it  goes  to  work 
upon  its  food  with  a  greed  and  an  avidity  that  is  disgusting  to 
a  beholder  of  any  taste  or  imagination.    And  now  I  must  ex- 


CERES   AMERICANA. 


161 


plain  the  anatomical  arrangement  by  which  the  elevator  still 
devours  and  continues  to  devour,  till  the  corn  within  its  reach 
has  all  been  swallowed,  masticated,  and  digested.  Its  long 
trunk,  as  seen  slanting  down  from  out  of  the  building  across 
the  wharf  and  into  the  ship,  is  a  mere  wooden  pipe ;  but  this 
pipe  is  divided  within.  It  has  two  departments ;  and  as  the 
grain-bearing  troughs  pass  up  the  one  on  a  pliable  band,  they 
pass  empty  down  the  other.  The  system  therefore  is  that  of 
an  ordinary  dredging  machine ;  only  that  corn,  and  not  mud  is 
taken  away,  and  that  the  buckets  or  troughs  are  hidden  from 
sight.  Below,  within  the  stomach  of  the  poor  bark,  three  or 
four  labourers  are  at  work,  helping  to  feed  the  elevator.  They 
shovel  the  corn  up  towards  its  maw,  so  that  at  every  swallow 
he  should  take  in  all  that  he  can  hold.  Thus  the  troughs,  as 
they  ascend,  are  kept  full,  and  when  they  reach  the  upper  build- 
ing they  empty  themselves  into  a  shoot,  over  which  a  porter 
stands  guard,  moderating  the  shoot  by  a  door,  which  the  weight 
of  his  finger  can  open  and  close.  Thiough  this  doorway  the 
corn  runs  into  a  measure,  and  is  weighed.  By  measures  of 
forty  bushels  each,  the  tale  is  kept.  There  stands  the  appara- 
tus, with  the  figures  plainly  marked,  over  against  the  porter's 
eye ;  and  as  the  sum  mounts  nearly  up  to  forty  bushels  )ie 
closes  the  door  till  the  grains  run  thinly  through,  hardly  a  hand- 
ful at  ii  time,  so  that  the  balance  is  exactly  struck.  Then  the 
teller  standing  by  marks  down  his  figure,  and  the  record  is 
made.  The  exact  porter  touches  the  string  of  another  door, 
and  the  forty  bushels  of  corn  run  out  at  the  bottom  of  the 
measure,  disappear  down  another  shoot*,  slanting  also  towards 
the  water,  and  deposit  themselves  in  the  canal-boat.  The  trans- 
it of  the  bushels  of  corn  from  the  larger  vessel  to  the  smaller 
will  have  taken  less  than  a  minute,  and  the  cost  of  that  transit 
will  have  been — a  farthing. 

But  I  have  spoken  of  the  rivers  of  wheat,  and  I  must  ex- 
plain what  are  those  rivers.  In  the  working  of  the  elevator, 
which  I  have  just  attempted  to  describe,  the  two  vessels  were 
supposed  to  be  lying  at  the  same  wharf,  on  the  same  side  of 
the  building,  in  the  same  water,  the  smaller  vessel  inside  the 
larger  one.  When  this  is  the  case  the  corn  runs  direct  from 
the  weighing  measure  into  the  shoot  that  communicates  with 
the  canal  boat.  But  there  is  not  room  or  time  for  confining 
the  work  to  one  side  of  the  building.  There  is  water  on  both 
sides,  and  the  corn  or  wheat  is  elevated  on  the  one  side,  and 
re-shipped  on  the  other.  To  effect  this  the  corn  is  carried 
across  the  breadth  of  the  building;   but,  nevertheless,  it  is 


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ih 


m 


162 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


never  handled  or  moved  in  its  direction  on  trucks  or  carriages 
requiring  the  use  of  men's  muscles  for  its  motion.  Across  the 
floor  of  tlie  building  are  two  gutters,  or  ohaiuiels,  and  through 
these  small  troughs  on  a  pliable  band  circulate  very  quickly. 
They  which  run  one  way,  in  one  channel,  are  laden ;  they 
which  return  by  the  other  channel  are  empty.  The  corn  pours 
itself  into  these,  and  they  again  pour  it  into  the  shoot  which 
commands  the  other  water.  And  thus  rivers  of  corn  are  run- 
ning through  these  buildings  night  and  day.  The  secret  of  all 
the  motion  and  arrangement  consists  of  course  in  the  elevation. 
The  corn  is  lifted  up ;  and  when  lifted  up  can  move  itself  and 
arrange  itself,  and  weigh  itself,  and  load  itself. 

I  should  have  stated  that  all  this  wheat  which  passes  through 
Buffalo  comes  loose,  in  bulk.  Nothing  is  known  of  sacks  or 
bags.  To  any  spectator  at  Buffalo  this  becomes  immediately 
a  matter  of  course ;  but  this  should  be  explained,  as  we  in  En- 
gland are  not  accustomed  to  see  wheat  travelling  in  this  open, 
unguarded,  and  plebeian  manner.  Wheat  with  us  is  aristo- 
cratic, and  travels  always  in  its  private  carriage. 

Over  and  beyond  the  elevators  there  is  nothing  specially 
worthy  of  remark  at  Buffalo.  It  is  a  fine  city,  like  all  other 
American  cities  of  its  class.  The  streets  are  broad,  the  "  blocks" 
are  high,  and  cars  on  tramways  run  all  day,  and  ntfirly  all  night 
as  well. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

BUFFALO  TO  NEW  YORK. 

We  had  now  before  us  only  two  points  of  interest  before  we 
should  reach  New  York, — the  Falls  of  Trenton,  and  West  Point 
on  the  Hudson  River.  We  were  too  late  in  the  year  to  get  up  to 
Lake  George,  which  lies  in  the  State  of  New  York,  north  of  Al- 
bany, and  is,  in  fact,  the  southern  continuation  of  Lake  Champlain. 
Lake  Geoi^e,  I  know,  is  very  lovely,  and  I  would  fain  have  seen 
it ;  but  visitors  to  it  must  have  some  hotel  accommodation,  and 
the  hotel  was  closed  when  we  were  near  enough  to  visit  it.  I  was 
in  its  close  neighbourhood  three  years  since  in  June ;  but  then  the 
hotel  was  not  yet  opened.  A  visitor  to  Lake  George  must  be  very 
exact  in  his  time.  July  and  August  are  the  months, — with  per- 
haps the  grace  of  a  week  in  September. 

The  hotel  at  Trenton  was  also  closed,  as  I  was  told.  But  even 
if  there  were  no  hotel  at  Trenton,  it  can  be  visited  without  diffi- 
culty.    It  is  within  a  carriage  drive  of  Utica,  and  there  is  more- 


11  ;l 

l' 
.1 


\- 


BUFFALO  TO   NEW  YORK. 


163 


over  a  direct  railway  from  Utica,  with  a  ftation  at  tho  Trenton 
Fulls.  Utica  is  a  town  on  tlio  line  of  railway  from  Buffalo  to 
New  York  viu  Albany,  and  is  liko  all  tho  other  towns  we  had  vis- 
ited. There  are  broad  streets,  and  avenues  of  trccs,  and  largo 
shops,  and  excellent  houses.  A  general  air  of  fat  prosperity  per- 
vades them  all,  and  is  strong  at  Utica  as  elsewhere. 

I  remember  to  have  been  told  thirty  years  ago  that  a  traveller 
might  go  far  and  wide  in  search  of  tho  picturesque,  without  find- 
ing a  spot  more  romantic  in  its  loveliness  than  Trenton  Falls. 
The  name  of  the  river  is  Canada  Creek  West;  but  as  that  is 
hardly  euphonious,  the  course  of  the  water  which  forms  the  falls 
has  been  called  after  tho  town  or  parish.  This  course  is  nearly 
two  m'U  length,  and  along  tho  space  of  these  two  miles  it  is 
imp  -     say  where  tho  greatest  beauty  exists.     To  see  Tren- 

ton an^.-t  one  must  be  careful  not  to  have  too  much  water.  A 
BufHciency  is  no  doubt  desirable,  and  it  may  be  that  at  the  close  of 
Bummer,  before  any  of  tho  autumnal  rains  have  fallen,  there  may 
occasionally  be  an  insufficiency.  But  if  there  be  too  much,  tho 
passage  up  tho  rocks  along  tho  river  is  impossible.  The  way  on 
which  the  tourist  should  walk  becomes  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and 
the  great  charm  of  the  place  cannot  be  enjoyed.  That  charm  con- 
sists in  descending  into  the  ravine  of  the  river,  down  amidst  the 
rocks  through  which  it  has  cut  its  channel,  and  in  walking  up  the 
bed  against  the  stream,  in  climbing  the  sides  of  the  various  falls, 
and  sticking  close  to  the  river  till  an  envious  block  is  reached, 
which  comes  sheer  down  into  the  water,  and  prevents  further 
progress.  This  is  nearly  two  miles  above  the  steps  by  which  the 
descent  is  made ;  and  not  a  foot  of  this  distance  but  is  wildly 
beautiful.  When  the  river  is  very  low  there  is  a  pathway  even 
beyond  that  block ;  but  when  this  is  the  case  there  can  hardly  be 
enough  of  water  to  make  the  fall  satisfactory. 

There  is  no  one  special  cataract  at  Trenton  which  is  in  itself 
either  wonderful  or  pre-eminently  beautiful.  It  is  the  position, 
form,  colour,  and  rapidity  of  the  river  which  give  the  charm.  It 
runs  through  a  deep  ravine,  at  the  bottom  of  which  the  water  has 
cut  for  itself  a  channel  through  the  rocks,  the  sides  of  which  rise 
sometimes  with  the  sharpness  of  the  walls  of  a  stone  sarcophagus. 
They  are  rounded  too  towards  the  bed,  as  I  have  seen  the  bottom 
of  a  sarcophagus.  Along  the  side  of  the  right  bank  of  the  river 
there  is  a  passage,  which  when  the  freshets  come  is  altogether 
covered.  This  passage  is  sometimes  very  narrow,  but  in  the  nar- 
rowest parts  an  iron  chain  is  affixed  into  the  rocl%  It  is  slippery 
and  wet,  and  it  is  well  for  ladies,  when  visiting  the  place  to  be 


I 


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4 


I 


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I    'l 


III 


104 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


provided  with  outsido  india-rubber  shoes,  whicli  keep  n  hold  upon 
tlio  stone.  If  I  remember  rightly  there  nro  two  actual  cataracts, 
one  not  far  above  the  steps  by  which  the  descent  is  made  into  tho 
channel,  and  the  other  close  under  a  summer-house,  near  to  which 
tho  visitors  reasccnd  into  tho  wood.  lUit  these  cataracts,  though 
by  no  means  despicable  as  cataracts,  leave  comparatively  a  slight 
impression.  They  tumble  down  with  sufficient  violence,  and  tho 
usual  fantastic  disposition  of  their  forces ;  but  simply  as  cataracts, 
within  a  day's  journey  of  Niagara,  they  would  be  nothing.  Up 
beyond  the  summer-house  tho  passage  along  the  river  can  be  con- 
tinued for  another  mile,  but  it  is  rough,  and  tho  climbing  in  some 
places  rather  difficult  for  ladies.  Every  man,  however,  who  has 
the  use  of  his  legs,  should  do  it,  for  tho  succession  of  rapids,  and 
tho  twistings  of  the  channels,  and  tho  forms  of  tho  rocks  are  as 
wild  and  beautiful  as  tho  imagination  can  desire.  The  banks  of 
the  river  are  closely  wooded  on  each  side ;  and  though  this  cir- 
cumstance does  not  at  first  seem  to  add  much  to  the  beauty,  see- 
ing that  tho  ravine  is  so  deep  that  the  absence  of  wood  above 
would  hardly  be  noticed,  still  there  are  broken  clefts  ever  and  anon 
through  which  the  colours  of  the  foliage  show  themselves,  and 
straggling  boughs  and  rough  roots  break  through  the  rocks  hero 
and  there,  and  add  to  the  wildness  and  charm  of  the  whole. 

The  walk  back  from  tho  summer-house  through  the  wood  is 
very  lovely ;  but  it  would  be  a  disappointing  walk  to  visitors  who 
had  been  prevented  by  a  flood  in  the  river  from  coming  up  the 
channel,  for  it  indicates  plainly  how  requisite  it  is  that  the  river 
should  be  seen  from  below  and  not  from  above.  Tho  best  view  of 
the  larger  fall  itself  is  that  seen  from  the  wood.  And  here  again 
I  would  point  out  that  any  male  visitor  should  walk  the  channel 
of  the  river  up  and  down.  The  descent  is  too  slippery  and  diffi- 
cult for  bipeds  laden  with  petticoats.  We  found  a  small  hotel 
open  at  Trenton,  at  which  we  got  a  comfortable  dinner,  and  then 
in  the  evening  were  driven  back  to  Utica. 

Albany  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  our  road 
from  Trenton  to  West  Point  lay  through  that  town ;  but  these 
political  State  capitals  have  no  interest  in  themselves.  The  State 
legislature  was  not  sitting,  and  we  went  on,  merely  remarking  that 
the  manner  in  which  the  railway  cars  are  made  to  run  backward 
and  forward  through  the  crowded  streets  of  the  town  must  cause 
a  frequent  loss  of  human  life.  One  is  led  to  suppose  that  children 
in  Albany  can  hardly  have  a  chance  of  coming  to  maturity.  Such 
accidents  do  not;  become  the  subject  of  long-continued  and  strong 
comment  in  the  States  as  they  do  with  us ;  but,  nevertheless,  I 


BUFFALO   TO   NKW    YORK. 


165 


should  havo  thought  that  ftuch  a  stato  of  things  as  wo  buw  thero 
wouhl  havo  given  rise  to  «oino  romark  on  the  part  of  tho  phihm- 
thropistH.  I  cannot  myself  say  that  1  saw  anybody  killed,  and 
thoreforo  should  not  bo  justified  in  making  more  than  this  passing 
remark  on  tho  subject. 

When  llrst  the  Americans  of  tho  Northern  States  began  to  talk 
much  of  their  country,  their  claims  as  to  fine  scenery  were  confmcd 
to  Niagara  and  tho  Hudson  llivor.  Of  Niagara,  I  havo  spoken, 
and  all  the  world  has  acknowledged  that  no  claim  mado  on  that 
head  can  bo  regarded  as  exaggerated.  As  to  tho  Hudson,  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say  so  much  generally,  though  thero  is  ono  spot 
upon  it  which  cannot  be  beaten  for  sweetness.  I  havo  been  up 
and  down  the  Hudson  by  water,  and  confess  that  the  entire  river 
is  pretty.  But  there  is  much  of  it  that  is  not  pre-eminently  pretty 
among  rivers.  As  a  whole  it  cannot  be  named  with  the  IJpper 
Mississippi,  with  the  Khine,  with  tho  Moselle,  or  with  the  IJpper 
Rhone.  Tho  palisades  just  out  of  New  York  are  pretty,  and  tho 
whole  passage  through  the  mountains  from  West  Point  up  to  Cats- 
kill  and  Hudson  is  interesting.  But  tho  glory  of  the  Hudson  is 
at  West  Point  itself;  and  thither  on  this  occasion  wo  went  direct 
by  railway,  and  thero  we  remained  for  two  days.  Tho  Catskill 
mountains  should  be  seen  by  a  detour  off  from  tho  river.  We  did 
not  visit  them  because,  hero  again,  tho  hotel  was  closed.  I  will 
leave  them  therefore  for  the  new  handbook  which  Mr.  Murray  will 
soon  bring  out. 

Of  West  Point  thero  is  something  to  be  said  independently  of 
its  scenery.  It  is  the  Sandhurst  of  the  States.  Hero  is  their  mil- 
itary school,  from  which  officers  are  drafted  to  their  regiments, 
and  the  tuition  for  military  purposes  is,  I  imagine,  of  a  high  order. 
It  must,  of  course,  be  borne  in  mind  that  West  Point,  even  as  at 
present  arranged,  is  fitted  to  the  wants  of  the  old  army,  and  not  to 
that  of  the  army  now  required.  It  can  go  but  a  little  way  to  sup- 
ply officers  for  500,000  men ;  but  would  do  much  towards  sup- 
plying them  for  40,000.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  West  Point 
the  regular  army  of  the  northern  States  had  not  even  then  swelled 
itself  to  the  latter  number. 

I  found  that  there  were  220  students  at  West  Point,  that  about 
forty  graduate  every  year,  each  of  whom  receives  a  commission  in 
the  army;  that  about  120  pupils  are  admitted  every  year;  and 
that  in  the  course  of  every  year  about  eighty  either  resign,  or  are 
called  upon  to  leave  on  account  of  some  deficiency,  or  fail  in  their 
final  examination.  The  result  is  simply  this,  that  one  third  of 
those  who  enter  succeeds,  and  that  two  thirds  fail.     The  number 


.1  . 


i. 


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i 


JT 


166 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


P  ,' 


of  failures  seemed  to  nio  to  be  terribly  large^ — so  large  as  to  give 
great  ground  of  hesitation  to  a  pa'*ent  in  accepting  a  nomination 
for  the  college.  I  especially  inquired  into  the  particulars  of  these 
dismissals  and  resignations,  and  was  assured  that  the  majority  of 
them  take  place  in  the  first  year  of  the  pupillage.  It  is  sv  on  seen 
whether  or  no  a  lad  has  the  mental  and  physical  capacities  neces- 
f.ary  for  the  education  and  future  life  required  of  him,  and  care  is 
taken  that  those  shall  be  lemoved  early  as  to  whom  it  may  be  de- 
termined that  the  necessary  capacity  is  clearly  wanting.  If  this 
is  done, — and  I  do  not  doubt  it, — the  evil  is  much  mitigated.  The 
effect  otherwise  would  be  very  injurious.  The  lads  remain  till 
they  are  perhaps  one  and  twenty,  and  h  ve  then  acquired  aptitudes 
for  military  life,  but  no  other  aptitudes.  At  that  age  the  educa- 
tion cannot  be  commenced  anew,  and,  moreover,  at  that  ago  the 
disgrace  of  failure  is  very  injurious.  The  period  of  education  used 
to  be  five  years,  but  has  now  been  reduced  to  four.  Tliis  was 
done  in  order  that  a  double  class  might  be  graduated  in  1861  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  war.  I  believe  it  is  considered  that  but 
for  such  necessity  as  that,  the  Jufth  year  of  education  can  be  ill 
spared. 

The  discipline,  to  our  English  ideas,  is  very  strict.  In  the  first 
place  no  kind  of  beer,  wine,  or  spirits  is  allowed  at  West  Point. 
The  law  upon  this  point  may  be  said  to  be  very  vehement,  for  it 
debars  even  the  visitors  at  the  hotel  from  the  solace  of  a  glass  of 
beer.  Thf  hotel  is  within  the  bounds  of  the  College,  and  as  the 
lads  might  become  purchasers  at  the  bar,  there  is  no  bar  allowed. 
Any  breach  of  this  law  leads  to  instant  expulsion  ;  or,  I  should  say 
rather,  any  detection  of  such  breach.  The  officer  who  showed  us 
uver  the  College  assured  me  that  the  presence  of  a  glass  of  wine  in 
a  young  man's  room  would  secure  his  exclusion,  even  though  there 
should  be  no  evidence  that  he  had  tasted  it.  He  was  very  firm  as 
to  this ;  but  a  little  bird  of  West  Point,  whose  information,  though 
not  official  or  probably  accurate  in  words,  seemed  to  me  to  be  wor- 
thy of  reliance  in  general,  told  me  th.'ii  eyes  were  won!  to  wink 
when  such  glasses  of  wine  made  themselves  unnecessarily  visible. 
Let  us  fancy  an  English  mess  of  young  men  from  seventeen  to 
twenty-one,  at  which  a  mug  of  beer  would  be  felony,  and  a  gu^ss 
of  wine  high  treason !  But  the  whole  management  of  the  young 
with  the  Americans  differs  much  from  that  in  vogue  with  us.  We 
do  not  require  so  much  at  so  early  an  age,  either  in  knowledge,  in 
morals,  or  even  in  manliness.  In  America,  if  a  lad  be  under  con- 
trol, as  at  West  Point,  he  is  called  upon  for  an  amount  of  labour, 
and  a  degree  of  conduct,  which  would  ^e  considered  quite  trans- 


BUFPALO  TO   NEW   YORK. 


167 


*    » 


cendental  and  out  of  the  question  in  England.  But  if  he  be  not 
under  control,  if  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  be  living  at  home,  or  be 
from  his  circumstances  exempt  from  professorial  power,  he  is  a  full- 
fledged  man  with  his  pipe  apparatus  and  his  bar  acquaintances. 

And  then  I  was  told  at  \Vc3c  Point  how  needful  and  yet  how 
painful  it  was  that  all  should  be  removed  who  were  in  any  way 
deficient  in  credit  to  the  establishment.  "  Our  rules  aje  very  ex- 
act," my  informant  told  me ;  *'  but  the  carrying  out  of  our  rules 
is  a  task  not  always  very  easy."  As  to  this  also  I  had  already 
hcttrd  something  from  that  little  bird  of  West  Point,  but  of  course 
I  wisely  assented  to  my  informant,  remarking  that  discipline  in 
such  an  establishment  was  essentially  necessary.  The  little  bird 
had  told  me  that  discipline  at  West  Point  had  been  rendered  ter- 
ribly difiicult  by  political  interference.  "A  young  man  will  be 
dismissed  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  Board,  and  will  be  sent 
awaj.  And  then,  after  a  week  or  two,  he  will  be  sent  back,  tvith 
an  order  from  Washington,  that  another  trial  shall  be  given  him. 
The  lad  v/iU  march  back  into  the  college  with  all  the  honours  of 
a  victory,  and  will  '<J0  conscious  of  a  triumph  over  the  superintend- 
ent and  bis  officers."  "And  is  that  common?"  I  asked.  "Not 
at  the  pn^^jent  moment,"  I  was  told.  "  But  it  was  common  before 
the  war.  While  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  Mr.  Pierce,  and  Mr.  Polk 
were  Presidents,  no  officer  or  board  of  officers  then  at  West  1\  iiit 
was  able  to  dismiss  a  lad  whose  father  was  a  Southerner,  and  who 
had  friends  among  the  Government." 

Not  only  was  this  true  of  West  Point,  but  the  same  allegation 
is  true  as  io  all  matters  of  patronage  througiiout  the  United  States. 
During  the  three  or  four  last  PresidencieSj  ard  I  believe  back  to 
the  time  of  Jackson,  there  has  been  an  organized  system  of  dis- 
honesty in  the  managemen,  of  all  beneficial  places  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Government.  I  doubt  whether  any  despotic  court  of 
Europe  has  been  so  corrupt  in  the  diotribution  of  places, — that  is 
in  the  selection  of  public  officers, — as  has  been  the  assemblage  of 
statesmen  at  Washington.  And  this  is  the  evil  which  the  country 
ib  now  expiating  with  its  blood  and  treasure.  It  has  allowed  its 
knaves  to  stand  in  the  high  places  ;  and  now  it  finds  that  knavish 
works  have  brought  about  evil  results.  But  of  this  I  shall  be 
constrained  to  say  something  further  hereafter. 

We  went  into  all  the  schools  of  the  College,  and  made  ourselves 
fully  aware  that  the  amount  of  learning  imparted  was  far  above 
our  comprehension.  It  always  occurs  to  m3  in  looking  through 
the  new  schools  of  the  present  day,  that  I  ought  to  be  thankful  to 
persons  who  know  so  much  for  condescending  to  speak  to  me  at 


i 


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i^K 


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■^!» 


I   i  , 


TT 


168 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


all  in  plain  English.  I  said  a  word  to  the  gentleman  who  was 
with  me  about  horses,  seeing  a  lot  of  lads  going  to  their  riding  les- 
son. But  he  was  down  upon  me,  and  crushed  me  instantly  be- 
neath the  weight  of  my  own  ignorance.  He  walked  me  up  to  the 
image  of  a  horse,  which  he  took  to  pieces  bit  by  bit,  taking  off 
skin,  muscle,  Hesh,  nerves  and  bones,  till  the  animal  was  a  heap  of 
atoms,  and  assured  me  that  the  anatomy  of  the  horse  throughout 
was  one  of  the  necessary  studies  of  the  place.  We  afterwards 
went  to  see  the  riding.  The  horses  themselves  were  poor  enough. 
This  was  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  such  of  them  as  had  been 
found  fit  for  military  service  had  been  taken  for  the  use  of  the 
army. 

There  is  a  gallery  in  the  College  in  which  are  hung  sketches 
and  pictures  by  former  students.  I  was  greatly  struck  with  the 
merit  of  many  of  these.  There  were  some  copies  from  well-known 
works  of  art  of  very  high  excellence,  when  the  age  is  taken  into 
account  ox  those  by  whom  they  were  done.  I  don't  know  how  far 
the  art  of  drawing,  as  taught  generally  and  with  no  special  tend- 
ency to  military  instruction,  may  be  necessary  for  military  train- 
ing ;  but  if  it  be  necessary  I  should  imagine  that  more  is  done  in 
that  direction  at  West  Point  than  at  Sandhurst.  I  found,  how- 
ever, that  much  of  that  in  the  gallery  which  was  good  had  been 
done  by  lads  who  had  not  obtained  their  degree,  and  who  had 
shown  an  aptitude  for  drawing,  but  had  not  shown  any  aptitude 
for  other  pursuits  necessary  to  their  intended  career. 

And  then  we  were  taken  to  the  chapel,  and  there  saw,  displayed 
as  trophies,  two  of  our  own  dear  old  English  flags.  I  have  seen 
many  a  banner  hung  up  in  token  of  past  victory,  and  many  a  flag 
taken  on  the  field  of  battle  mouldering  by  degrees  into  dust  on 
some  chapel's  wall, — but  they  have  not  been  the  flags  of  England. 
Till  this  day  I  had  never  seen  our  own  colours  in  any  position  but 
one  of  self-assertion  and  independent  power.  From  the  tone  used 
by  the  gentleman  who  showed  them  to  me,  I  could  gather  that  he 
would  have  passed  them  by  had  he  not  foreseen  that  he  could  not 
do  so  without  my  notice.  "I  don't  know  that  we  are  right  to 
put  them  there,"  he  said.  "  Quite  right,"  was  my  reply,  "  as  long 
as  the  world  does  such  things."  In  private  life  it  is  vulgar  to  tri- 
umph over  one's  friends,  and  malicious  to  triumph  over  one's  ene- 
mies. We  have  not  got  so  far  yet  in  public  life,  but  I  hope  we 
are  advancing  toward  it.  In  the  mean  time  I  did  not  begrudge 
the  Americans  our  two  flags.  If  we  keep  flags  and  cannons  taken 
from  our  enemies,  and  show  them  about  as  signs  of  our  own  prow- 
ess after  those  enemies  have  become  friends,  why  should  not  others 


BUFFALO  TO   NEW   YORK. 


160 


do  so  as  regards  us  ?  It  clearly  would  not  be  well  for  the  world 
that  we  should  always  beat  other  nations  and  never  be  beaten.  I 
did  not  begrudge  that  chapel  our  two  flags.  But  nevertheless  the 
sight  of  them  made  me  sick  in  the  stomach  and  uncomfortable. 
As  an  Englishman  I  do  not  want  to  be  ascendant  over  any  one. 
But  it  makes  me  very  ill  when  any  one  tries  to  be  ascendant  over 
me.  I  wish  we  could  send  back  with  our  compliments  all  the 
trophies  that  we  hold,  carriage  paid,  and  get  back  in  return  those 
two  flags  and  any  other  flag  or  two  of  our  own  that  may  be  doing 
similar  duty  about  the  world.  I  take  it  that  the  parcel  sent  away 
would  be  somewhat  more  bulky  than  that  which  would  reach  us 
in  returii. 

llie  discipline  at  West  Point  seemed,  as  I  have  said,  to  be  very 
severe ;  but  it  seemed  also  that  that  severity  could  not  in  all  cases 
be  maintained.  The  hours  of  study  also  were  long,  being  nearly 
continuous  throughout  the  day.  *'  English  lads  of  that  age  could 
not  do  it,"  I  said;  thus  confessing  that  English  lads  must  have 
in  them  less  power  of  sustained  work  than  those  of  America. 
"  They  must  do  it  here,"  said  my  informant,  "  or  else  leave  us." 
And  then  he  took  us  off  to  one  of  the  young  gentleman's  quarters, 
in  order  that  we  might  see  the  nature  of  their  rooms.  We  found 
the  young  gentleman  fast  asleep  on  his  bed,  and  felt  uncommonly 
grieved  that  we  should  have  thus  intruded  on  him.  As  the  hour 
was  one  of  those  allocated  by  my  informant  in  the  distribution  of 
the  day  to  private  study,  I  could  not  but  take  the  present  occupa- 
tion of  the  embryo  warrior  as  an  indication  that  the  amount  of  la- 
bour required  might  be  occasionally  too  much  even  for  an  Ameri- 
can youth.  "  The  heat  makes  one  so  uncommonly  drowsy,"  said 
the  young  man.  I  was  not  the  least  surprised  at  the  exclamation. 
The  air  of  the  apartment  had  been  warmed  up  to  such  a  pitch  by 
the  hot-pipe  apparatus  of  the  building  that  prolonged  life  to  me 
would,  I  should  have  thought,  be  out  of  the  question  in  such  an 
atmosphere.  "  Do  you  always  have  it  as  hot  as  this  *?"  I  asked. 
The  young  man  swore  that  it  was  so,  and  with  considerable  en- 
ergy expressed  his  opinion  that  all  his  health  and  spirits  and  vi- 
tality were  being  baked  out  of  him.  He  seemed  to  have  a  strong 
opinion  on  the  matter,  for  which  I  respected  him  ;  but  it  had  never 
occurred  to  him,  and  did  not  then  occur  to  him,  that  anything 
could  be  done  to  moderate  that  deathly  flow  of  hot  air  which  came 
up  to  him  from  the  neighbouring  infernal  regions.  He  was  pale 
in  the  face,  and  all  the  lads  there  were  pale.  American  lads  and 
lasses  arc  all  pale.  Men  at  thirty  and  women  at  twenty-five  have 
h:id  all  semblance  of  youth  baked  out  of  them*     Infants  even  are 

II 


'I 


I 


^ 


I  » 


r 


170 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


r% 


I 


H 


not  rosy,  and  the  only  shades  known  on  the  cheeks  of  children  are 
those  composed  of  brown,  yellow,  and  white.  All  this  comes  of 
those  damnable  hot-air  pipes  with  which  every  tenement  in  Amer- 
ica is  infested.  "  We  cannot  do  without  them,"  they  say.  "  Our 
cold  is  so  intense  that  we  must  heat  our  houses  throughout.  Open 
fire-places  in  a  few  rooms  would  not  keep  our  toes  and  fingers 
from  the  frost."  There  is  much  in  this.  The  assertion  is  no 
doubt  true,  and  thereby  a  great  difficulty  Is  created.  It  is  no 
doubt  quite  within  the  power  of  American  ingenuity  to  moderate 
the  heat  of  these  stoves,  and  to  produce  such  an  atmosphere  as 
may  be  most  conducive  to  health.  In  hospitals  no  doubt  this  will 
be  done ;  perhaps  is  done  at  present, — though  even  in  hospitals  I 
have  thought  the  air  hotter  than  it  should  be.  But  hot-air-drink- 
ing is  like  dram-drinking.  There  is  the  machine  within  the  house 
capable  of  supplying  any  quantity,  and  those  who  consume  it  un- 
consciously increase  their  draughts,  and  take  their  drams  stronger 
and  stronger,  till  a  breath  of  fresh  air  is  felt  to  be  a  blast  direct 
from  Boreas. 

West  Point  is  at  all  points  a  military  colony,  and  as  such  be- 
longs exclusively  to  the  Federal  Government  as  separate  from  the 
Government  of  any  individual  Stale.  It  is  the  purchased  property 
of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  and  is  devoted  to  the  necessities  of 
a  military  college.  No  man  could  take  a  house  there,  or  succeed 
in  getting  even  permanent  lodgings,  unless  he  belonged  to  or  were 
employed  by  the  establishment.  There  is  no  intercourse  by  road 
between  West  Point  and  other  towns  or  villages  on  the  river  side, 
and  any  such  intercourse  even  by  water  is  looked  upon  with  jeal- 
ousy by  the  authorities.  The  wish  is  that  West  Point  should  be 
isolated  and  kept  apart  for  military  instruction  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  other  purposes  whatever, — "specially  love-making  purposes. 
The  coming  over  from  the  other  fc'.de  of  the  water  of  young  ladies 
by  the  ferry  is  regarded  as  a  great  hindrance.  They  will  come, 
and  then  the  military  students  will  talk  to  them.  We  all  know 
to  what  such  talking  leads !  A  lad  when  I  was  there  had  been 
tempted  to  get  out  of  barracks  in  plain  clothes,  in  order  that  ho 
might  call  on  a  young  lady  at  the  hotel ; — and  was  in  consequence 
obliged  to  abandon  his  commission  and  retire  from  the  Academy. 
Will  that  young  lady  ever  again  sleep  quietly  in  her  bed?  I 
should  hope  not.  An  opinion  was  expressed  to  me  that  there 
should  be  no  hotel  in  such  a  place ; — that  there  should  be  no  fer- 
ry, no  roads,  no  means  by  which  the  attention  of  the  students 
should  be  distracted ; — that  these  miUtaiy  Rasselases  should  live 
in  a  happy  militaiy  valley  from  which  might  be  excluded  both 


•    .^■^, 


BUFFALO  TO   NEW   YORK. 


171 


strong  drinks  and  female  charms, — those  two  poisons  from  which 
youtliful  military  ardour  is  supposed  to  suffer  so  much. 

It  always  seems  to  me  that  such  training  begins  at  the  wrong 
end.  I  will  not  say  that  nothing  should  bo  done  to  keep  lads  of 
eighteen  from  strong  drink?.  I  will  not  even  say  that  there  should 
not  be  some  line  of  moderation  with  reference  to  feminine  allure- 
ments. But  as  a  rule  the  restraint  should  come  from  the  sense, 
good  feeling,  and  education  of  him  who  is  restrained.  There  is  no 
embargo  on  the  beer-shops  either  at  Harrow  or  at  Oxford, — and 
certainly  none  upon  the  young  ladies.  Occasional  damage  may 
accrue  from  habits  early  depraved,  or  a  heart  too  early  and  too 
easily  susceptible  ;  but  the  injury  so  done  is  not,  I  think,  equal  to 
that  inflicted  by  a  Draconian  code  of  morals,  which  will  probably 
be  evaded,  and  will  certainly  create  a  desire  for  its  evasion. 

Nevertheless,  I  feel  assured  that  West  Point,  taken  as  a  whole, 
is  an  excellent  military  academy,  and  that  young  men  have  gone 
forth  from  it,  and  will  go  forth  from  it,  fit  for  officers  as  far  as 
training  can  make  men  fit.  The  fault,  if  fault  there  be,  is  that 
which  is  to  be  found  in  so  many  of  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States;  and  is  one  so  allied  to  a  virtue  that  no  foreigner  has  a 
right  to  wonder  that  it  is  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  virtue  by  all 
Americans.  There  has  been  an  attempt  to  make  the  place  too 
perfect.  In  the  desire  to  have  vhe  establishment  self-sufficient  at 
all  points,  more  has  been  attempted  than  human  nature  can 
achieve.  The  lad  is  taken  to  M'"est  Point,  and  it  is  presumed 
that  from  the  moment  of  his  reception,  he  shall  expend  every  en- 
ergy of  his  mind  and  body  in  making  himself  a  soldier.  At  fif- 
teen he  is  not  to  be  a  boy,  at  twenty  he  is  not  to  be  a  young  man. 
He  is  to  be  a  gentleman,  a  soldier,  and  an  officer.  I  believe  that 
those  who  leave  the  College  for  the  army  arc  gentlemen,  soldiers, 
and  officers,  and  therefore  the  result  is  good.  But  they  are  also 
young  men ;  and  it  seems  that  they  have  become  so,  not  in  accord- 
ance with  their  training,  but  in  spite  of  it. 

But  I  have  another  complaint  to  make  against  the  authorities 
of  West  Point,  which  they  will  not  be  able  to  answer  so  easily  as 
that  already  preferred.  What  right  can  they  have  to  take  the 
very  prettiest  spot  on  the  Hudson — the  prettiest  spot  on  the  con- 
tinent— one  of  the  prettiest  spots  which  Nature,  with  aU  her  vaga- 
ries, ever  formed — and  shut  it  up  from  all  the  world  for  purposes 
of  war  ?  Would  not  any  plain,  however  ugly,  do  for  military  ex- 
ercises? Cannot  broadsword,  goose-step,  and  double  (}uick  time 
be  instilled  into  young  hands  and  legs  in  any  field  of  thirty,  forty, 
or  fifty  acres  1     I  wonder  whether  these  lads  appreciate  the  fact 


i. 


,J^  ': 


■J'-Ji 


'  '^  ;l 


l^, 


m 


172 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


t 


i,. 


that  they  are  studying  fourteen  hours  a  day  amidst  the  sweetest 
river,  rock,  imd  mountain  scenery  that  the  imagination  can  con- 
ceive. Of  course  it  will  be  said  that  the  world  at  large  is  not  ex- 
cluded from  West  Point,  that  the  ferry  to  the  place  is  open,  and 
that  there  is  even  a  hotel  there,  closed  against  no  man  or  woman 
who  will  consent  to  become  a  teetotaller  for  the  period  of  liis  vis- 
it. I  must  admit  that  this  is  so ;  but  still  one  feels  that  one  is 
only  admitted  as  a  guest.  I  want  to  go  and  live  at  West  Point, 
and  why  should  I  be  prevented?  The  Government  had  a  right 
to  buy  it  of  course,  but  Government  should  not  buy  up  the  pret- 
tiest spots  on  a  country's  surface.  If  I  were  an  Americnn  I 
should  make  a  grievance  of  this;  but  Americans  will  suffer  things 
from  their  Government  which  no  Englishmen  would  endure. 

It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  West  Point  that  every  thing 
there  is  in  good  taste.  The  Point  itself  consists  of  a  bluff  of  land 
so  formed  that  the  river  Hudson  is  forced  to  run  round  three  sides 
of  it.  It  is  consequently  a  peninsula,  and  as  the  surrounding 
country  is  mountainous  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  it  may  be  imag- 
ined that  the  site  is  good.  The  views  both  up  and  down  the  riv- 
er are  lovely,  and  the  mountains  behind  break  themselves  so  as  to 
make  the  landscape  perfect.  But  this  is  not  all.  At  West  Point 
there  is  much  of  buildings,  much  of  military  arrangement  in  the 
way  of  cannons,  forts,  and  artillery  yards.  All  these  things  are 
so  contrived  as  to  group  themselves  well  into  pictures.  There  is 
no  picture  of  architectural  grandeur ;  but  everything  stands  well 
and  where  it  should  stand,  and  the  eye  is  not  hurt  at  any  spot.  I 
regard  West  Point  as  a  delightful  place,  and  was  much  gratified 
by  the  kindness  I  received  there. 

From  West  Point  we  went  direct  to  New  York. 


I 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AN   APOLOGY   FOR     CHE   WAR. 

I  THINK  it  may  be  received  as  a  fact  that  the  Northern  States, 
taken  together,  sent  a  full  tenth  of  their  able-bodied  men  into  the 
i-anks  of  the  army  in  the  course  of  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1861.  The  South,  no  doubt,  sent  a  much  larger  proportion ;  but 
the  effect  of  such  a  drain  upon  the  South  would  not  be  the  same, 
because  the  slaves  were  left  at  home  to  perform  the  agricultural 
work  of  the  country.  I  very  much  doubt  whether  any  other  na- 
tion ever  made  such  an  effort  in  so  short  a  time.  To  a  people 
who  can  do  this  it  may  well  be  granted  that  they  are  in  earnest; 


AN   APOLOGY   FOR   THE  WAR. 


173 


and  I  do  not  think  it  should  bo  lightly  decided  by  any  foreigner 
that  they  arc  wrong.  The  strong  and  unanimous  impulse  of  a 
great  people  is  seldom  wrong.  And  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
in  this  case  both  people  may  be  right, — the  people  both  of  North 
and  South.  Each  may  have  been  guided  by  a  just  and  noble  feel- 
ing ;  though  each  was  brought  to  its  present  condition  by  bad  gov- 
ernment and  dishonest  statesmen. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  since  the  commencement  of  the 
war  the  American  feeling  against  England  has  been  very  bitter. 
All  Americans  to  whom  I  spoke  on  the  subject  admitted  that  it 
was  so.  I,  as  an  Englishman,  felt  strongly  the  injustice  of  this  feel- 
ing, and  lost  no  opportunity  of  showing  or  endeavouring  to  show 
that  the  line  of  conduct  pursued  by  England  towards  the  States 
was  the  only  line  which  was  compatible  with  her  own  policy  and 
just  interests,  and  also  with  the  dignity  of  the  States'  Government. 
I  heard  much  of  the  tender  sympathy  of  Russia,  llusaia  sent  a 
flourishing  general  message,  saying  that  she  wi8he4  the  North 
might  win,  and  ending  with  some  good  general  advice,  proposing 
peace.  It  was  such  a  message  as  strong  nations  send  to  those 
which  are  weaker.  Had  England  ventured  on  such  council  the 
diplomatic  paper  would  probably  have  been  returned  to  her.  It 
is,  I  think,  manifest  that  an  absolute  and  disinterested  neutrality 
has  been  the  only  course  which  could  preserve  England  from  de- 
served rebuke, — a  neutrality  on  which  her  commercial  necessity 
for  importing  cotton  or  exporting  her  own  manufactures  should 
have  no  effect.  That  our  government  would  preserve  such  a  neu- 
trality I  have  always  insisted,  and  I  believe  it  has  been  done  with 
a  pure  and  strict  disregard  to  any  selfish  views  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain.  So  far  I  think  England  may  feel  that  she  has 
done  well  in  this  matter.  But  I  must  confess  that  I  have  not 
been  so  proud  of  the  tone  of  all  our  people  at  home,  as  I  have  been 
of  the  decisions  of  our  statesmen.  It  seems  to  me  that  some  of 
us  never  tire  in  abusing  the  Americans,  and  calling  them  names  .^ 
for  having  allowed  themselves  to  be  driven  into  this  civil  war. 
We  tell  them  that  they  are  fools  and  idiots;  we  speak  of  their  do- 
ings as  though  there  had  been  some  plain  course  by  which  the  war 
might  have  been  avoided  ;  and  we  throw  it  in  their  teeth  that  they 
have  no  capabiUty  for  war.  We  tell  them  of  the  debt  which  the 
are  creating,  and  point  out  to  them  that  they  can  never  pay  it. 
We  laugh  at  their  attempt  to  sustain  loyalty,  and  speak  of  them 
as  a  steady  father  of  a  family  is  wont  to  speak  of  some  unthrifty 
prodigal  who  is  throwing  away  his  estate  and  hurrying  from  one 
ruinous  debauchery  to  another.     And,  alas !  we  too  frequently  al- 


J 


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174 


NORTH   AMERIOA. 


^1^ 


I      . 


V  i 


f    I 


low  to  escape  from  us  some  expression  of  that  satisfaction  which 
one  rival  tradesman  has  in  the  downfall  of  another.  *'  Here  you 
are  with  all  your  boasting,"  is  what  we  say.  "You  were  going 
to  whip  all  creation  the  other  day;  and  it  has  come  to  this! 
Brag  is  a  good  dog,  but  Holdfast  is  a  better.  Pray  remember 
that,  if  ever  you  find  yourselves  on  your  legs  again."  That  little 
advice  about  the  two  dogs  is  very  well,  and  was  not  altogether  in- 
applicable. But  this  is  not  the  time  in  which  it  should  be  given. 
Putting  aside  slight  asperities,  we  will  all  own  that  the  people  of 
the  States  have  been  and  are  our  friends,  and  that  as  friends  we 
cannot  spare  them.  For  one  Englishman  who  brings  home  to  his 
own  heart  a  feeling  of  cordiality  for  France — a  belief  in  the  affec- 
tion of  our  French  alliance — there  are  ten  who  do  so  with  refer- 
ence to  the  States.  Now,  in  these  days  of  their  trouble,  I  think 
that  we  might  have  borne  with  them  more  tenderly. 

And  how  was  it  possible  that  they  should  have  avoided  this 
wart  I  wijl  not  now  go  into  the  cause  of  it,  or  discuss  the  course 
which  it  has  taken,  but  will  simply  take  up  the  fact  of  the  rebel- 
lion. The  South  rebelled  against  the  North,  and  such  being  the 
case,  was  it  possible  that  the  North  should  yield  without  a  war  t 
It  may  very  likely  be  well  that  Hungary  should  be  severed  from 
Austria,  or  Poland  from  Russia,  or  Venice  from  Austria.  Taking 
Englishmen  in  a  lump  they  think  that  such  separation  would  be 
well.  The  subject  people  do  not  speak  the  language  of  those  that 
govern  them,  or  enjoy  kindred  interests.  But  yet  when  military 
efforts  are  made  by  those  who  govern  Hungary,  Poland,  and  Ven- 
ice, to  prevent  such  separation,  we  do  not  say  that  Kussia  and 
Austria  are  fools.  We  are  not  surprised  that  they  should  take 
up  arms  against  the  rebels,  but  would  be  very  much  surprised  in- 
deed if  they  did  not  do  so.  We  know  that  nothing  but  weakness 
would  prevent  their  doing  so.  But  if  Austria  and  Kussia  insist 
on  tying  to  themselves  a  people  who  do  not  speak  their  language 
or  live  in  accordance  with  their  habits,  and  are  not  considered  un- 
reasonable in  so  insisting,  how  much  more  thoroughly  would  they 
carry  with  them  the  sympathy  of  their  neighbours  in  preventing 
any  secession  hy  integral  parts  of  their  own  nationalities?  Would 
England  let  Ireland  walk  off  by  herself  if  she  wished  it?  In  1843 
she  did  wish  it.  Three-fourths  of  the  Irish  population  would  have 
voted  for  such  a  separation ;  but  England  would  have  prevented 
such  secession  vi  et  armis  had  Ireland  driven  her  to  the  necessity 
of  such  prevention. 

I  will  put  it  to  any  reader  of  history  whether,  since  government 
commenced,  it  has  not  been  regarded  as  the  first  duty  of  govern- 


AN  APOLOGY   FOR  THE  WAR. 


176 


ment  to  prevent  a  separation  of  the  territories  governed,  and 
whether  also  it  has  not  been  regarded  as  a  point  of  honour  with  all 
nationalities  to  preserve  uninjured  each  its  own  greatness  and  its 
own  power  1  I  trust  that  I  may  not  be  thought  lo  argue  that  all 
governments  or  even  all  nationalities  ehould  succeed  in  such  en- 
deavours. Few  kings  have  fallen  in  my  day  in  whose  fate  I  have 
not  rejoiced ;  none,  I  take  it,  except  that  poor  citizen  King  of  the 
French.  And  I  can  rejoice  that  England  lost  her  American  colo- 
nies, and  shall  rejoice  when  Spain  has  been  deprived  of  Cuba. 
But  I  hold  that  citizen  King  of  the  French  in  small  esteem,  seeing 
that  he  made  no  fight,  and  I  know  that  England  was  bound  to 
struggle  when  the  Boston  people  threw  her  tea  into  the  water. 
Spain  keeps  a  tighter  hand  on  Cuba  than  wo  thought  she  would 
some  ten  years  since,  and  therefore  she  stands  higher  in  the  world's 
respect. 

It  may  be  well  that  the  South  should  be  divided  from  the  North. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  would  bo  well — at  any  rate  for  the 
North ;  but  the  South  must  have  been  aware  that  such  division 
could  only  be  effected  in  two  ways ;  either  by  agreement, — in 
which  case  the  proposition  must  have  been  brought  forward  by 
the  South  and  discussed  by  the  North, — or  by  violence.  They 
chose  the  latter  way,  as  bein^  the  readier  and  the  surer,  as  most 
seceding  nations  have  done. '  O'Connell,  when  struggling  for  the 
secession  of  Ireland,  chose  the  other,  and  nothing  came  of  it.  The 
South  chose  violence,  and  prepared  for  it  secretly  and  with  great 
adroitness.  If  that  be  not  rebellion  there  never  has  been  rebellion 
since  history  began  ;  and  if  civil  war  was  ever  justified  in  one  por- 
tion of  a  nation  by  turbulence  in  another,  it  has  now  been  justified 
in  the  Northern  States  of  America. 

What  was  the  North  to  do ;  this  foolish  North,  which  has  been 
so  liberally  told  by  us  that  she  has  taken  up  arms  for  nothing,  that 
she  is  fighting  for  nothing,  and  will  ruin  herself  for  nothing  t 
When  was  she  to  take  the  first  step  towards  peace  ?  Surely  every 
Englishman  will  remember  that  when  the  earliest  tidings  of  the 
coming  quarrel  reached  us  on  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln^  we  all 
declared  that  any  division  was  impossible ; — it  was  a  mere  matr".- 
ness  to  speak  of  it.  The  States,  which  were  so  great  in  their  uni- 
ty, would  never  consent  to  break  up  all  their  prestige  and  all  their 
power  by  a  separation !  Would  it  have  been  well  for  the  North 
then  to  say,  "  If  the  South  wish  it  we  will  certainly  separate  ?'* 
After  that,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  assumed  the  power  to  which  he  had 
been  elected,  and  declared  with  sufficient  manliness,  and  sufficient 
dignity  also,  that  he  would  make  no  war  upon  the  South,  but 


I       ! 


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RT 


17G 


NOIITII   AMEIIICA. 


Il 


would  collect  the  customs  and  carry  on  tho  government,  did  wo 
turn  round  and  advise  him  tliat  he  was  wrong?  No.  Tlic  idea 
in  England  then  was  that  his  message  was,  if  anything,  too  mild. 
"  If  ho  means  to  be  President  of  the  whole  Union,"  England  said, 
'*  ho  must  come  out  with  something  stronger  than  that."  Then 
came  Mr.  Seward's  speech,  which  was,  in  truth,  weak  enough.  Mr. 
Seward  had  ran  Mr.  Lincoln  very  hard  for  the  President's  chair  on 
tho  republican  interest,  and  was — most  unfortunately,  as  I  think 
— made  Secretary  of  State  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  by  his  party.  The 
Secretary  of  State  holds  tho  highest  office  in  tho  United  States 
Government  under  the  President.  He  cannot  be  compared  to  our 
Prime  Minister,  seeing  that  the  President  himself  exercises  politic- 
al power,  and  is  responsible  for  its  exercise.  Mr.  Seward's  speech 
simply  amounted  to  a  declaration  that  separation  was  a  thing  of 
which  the  Union  would  neither  hear,  speak,  nor,  if  possible,  think. 
Things  looked  very  like  it ;  but  no ;  they  could  never  come  to 
that!  The  world  was  too  good,  and  especially  the  American 
world.  Mr.  Seward  had  no  specific  against  secession  ;  but  let  ev- 
ery free  man  strike  his  breast,  look  up  to  heaven,  determine  to  be 
good,  and  all  would  go  right.  A  great  deal  had  been  expected 
from  Mr.  Seward,  and  when  this  speech  came  out,  we  in  England 
were  a  little  disappointed,  and  nobody  presumed  even  then  that  tho 
North  woula  let  the  South  go. 

It  will  be  argued  by  those  who  have  gone  into  the  details  of 
American  politics  that  an  acceptance  of  the  Crittenden  compro- 
mise at  this  point  would  have  saved  the  war.  What  is  or  was 
the  Crittenden  compromise  I  will  endeavour 'to  explain  hereafter; 
but  the  terms  and  meaning  of  that  compromise  can  have  no  bear- 
ing on  the  subject.  The  republican  party  who  were  in  power  dis- 
approved of  that  compromise,  and  could  not  model  their  course 
upon  it.  The  republican  party  may  have  been  right  or  may  have 
been  wrong;  but  surely  it  will  not  be  argued  that  any  political 
party  elected  to  power  by  a  majority  should  follow  the  policy  of 
a  minority,  lest  that  minority  should  rebel.  I  can  conceive  of  no 
government  more  lowly  placed  than  one  which  deserts  the  policy 
of  the  majority  which  supports  it,  fearing  either  the  tongues  or 
arms  of  a  minority. 

As  the  next  scene  in  the  play,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  bom- 
barded Fort  Sumter.  Was  that  to  be  the  moment  for  a  peaceable 
separation?  Let  us  suppose  that  O' Council  had  marched  down 
to  the  Pigeon  House  at  Dublin,  and  had  taken  it — in  1843,  let  us 
say — would  that  have  been  an  argument  to  us  for  allowing  Ire- 
land to  set  up  for  herself?     Is  that  the  way  of  men's  minds,  or 


AN    APOl^OOY    FOR  THE   WAU. 


177 


of  the  minds  of  nations?  The  powers  of  the  I'rcsidont  wore  do- 
finod  by  law,  as  agreed  upon  among  all  the  States  of  the  Union, 
and  against  that  power  and  against  that  hvw,  South  Carolina  rained 
her  hand,  and  the  other  States  joined  her  in  rebellion.  When  cir- 
cumstances !iad  come  to  that,  it  was  no  longer  possible  that  the 
North  should  shun  the  war.  To  my  thinking  the  rights  of  rebel- 
lion are  holy.  Where  would  the  world  have  been,  or  where  would 
the  world  hope  to  be,  without  rebellion  1  Hut  let  rebellion  look 
the  truth  in  the  face,  and  not  blanch  from  its  own  consequences. 
She  has  to  judge  her  own  opportunities  and  to  decide  on  her  own 
fitness.  Success  is  the  test  of  her  judgment.  IJut  rebellion  can 
never  be  successful  except  by  overcoming  the  power  against  which 
she  raises  herself.  She  has  no  right  to  expect  bloodless  triumphs ; 
and  if  she  be  not  the  stronger  in  the  encounter  which  she  creates, 
she  must  bear  the  penalty  of  her  rashness,  liebellion  is  justified 
by  being  better  served  than  constituted  authority,  but  cannot  be 
justified  otherwise.  Now  and  again  it  may  happen  that  rebel- 
lion's cause  is  so  good  that  constituted  authority  will  fall  to  tho 
ground  at  the  first  glance  of  her  sword.  This  was  so  the  other 
day  in  Naples,  when  Garibaldi  blew  away  the  king's  armies  with 
a  breath.  liut  this  is  not  so  often.  Rebellion  knows  that  it  must 
fight,  and  the  legalized  power  against  which  rebels  rise  must  of 
necessity  fight  also. 

I  cannot  see  at  what  point  the  North  first  sinned ;  nor  do  I 
think  that  had  the  North  yielded,  England  would  have  honoured 
her  for  her  meekness.  Had  she  yielded  without  striking  a  blow 
she  would  have  been  told  that  she  had  suffered  the  Union  to  drop 
asunder  by  her  supineness.  She  would  have  been  twitted  with 
cowardice,  and  told  that  she  was  no  match  for  Southern  energy. 
It  would  then  have  seemed  to  those  who  sat  in  judgment  on  her 
that  she  might  have  righted  everything  by  that  one  blow  from 
which  she  had  abstained.  But  having  struck  that  one  blow,  and 
having  found  that  it  did  not  suffice,  could  she  then  withdraw,  give 
way,  and  own  herself  beaten?  Has  it  been  so  usually  with  Anglo- 
Saxon  pluck  ?  In  such  case  as  that  would  there  have  been  no 
mention  of  those  two  dogs,  Brag  and  Holdfast?  The  man  of  tho 
northern  States  knows  that  he  has  bragged, — bragged  as  loudly  as 
his  English  forefathers.  In  that  matter  of  bragging  the  British 
lion  and  the  Star-spangled  banner  may  abstain  from  throwing  mud 
at  each  other.  And  now  the  northern  man  wishes  to  show  that 
he  can  hold  fast  also.  Looking  at  all  this  I  cannot  see  that  peace 
has  been  possible  to  the  North. 

As  to  the  question  of  secession  and  rebellion  being  one  and  tho 

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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  M5S0 

(716)87i-4503 


u\ 


178 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


il*' 


;    ; 


same  thing,  the  point  to  me  does  not  seem  to  bear  an  argument. 
The  confederation  of  States  had  a  common  army,  a  common  pol- 
icy, a  common  capital,  a  common  government,  and  a  common  debt. 
If  one  might  secede,  any  or  all  might  secede,  and  where  then  would 
be  their  property,  their  debt,  and  their  servants  ?  A  confederation 
with  such  a  license  attached  to  it  would  have  been  simply  playing 
at  national  power.  If  New  York  had  seceded — a  State  which 
stretches  from  the  Atlantic  to  British  North  America — it  would 
liave  cut  New  England  off  from  the  rest  of  the  Union.  Was  it 
legally  within  the  power  of  New  York  to  place  the  six  States  of 
New  England  in  such  a  position  ?  And  why  should  it  be  assumed 
that  so  suicidal  a  power  of  destroying  a  nationality  should  be  in- 
herent in  every  portion  of  the  nation '?  The  States  are  bound  to- 
gether by  a  written  compact,  but  that  compact  gives  each  State  no 
such  power.  Surely  such  a  power  would  have  been  specified  had 
it  been  intended  that  it  should  be  given.  But  there  are  axioms 
in  politics  as  in  mathematics,  which  recommend  themselves  to  the 
mind  at  once,  and  require  no  argument  for  their  proof.  Men  who 
arc  not  argumentative  perceive  at  once  that  they  are  true.  A  part 
catmot  be  greater  than  the  whole. 

I  think  it  is  plain  that  the  remnant  of  the  Union  was  bound  to 
take  up  arms  against  those  States  which  had  illegally  torn  them- 
selves off  from  her ;  and  if  so,  she  could  only  do  so  with  such 
weapons  as  were  at  her  hand.  The  United  States'  army  had 
never  been  numerous  or  well  appointed ;  and  of  such  officers  and 
equipments  as  it  possessed,  the  more  valuable  part  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Southerners.  It  was  clear  enough  that  she  was  ill- 
provided,  and  that  in  going  to  war  she  was  undertaking  a  work  as 
to  which  she  had  still  to  learn  many  of  the  rudiments.  But  En- 
glishmen should  be  the  last  to  twit  her  with  such  ignorance.  It 
is  not  yet  ten  years  since  we  were  all  boasting  that  swords  and 
guns  were  useless  things,  and  that  military  expenditure  might  be 
cut  down  to  any  minimum  figure  that  an  economizing  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  could  name.  Since  that  we  have  extemporized 
two,  if  not  three  armies.  There  are  our  volunteers  at  home ;  and 
the  army  which  holds  India  can  hardly  be  considered  as  one  with 
that  which  is  to  maintain  our  prestige  in  Europe  and  the  West. 
We  made  some  natural  blunders  in  the  Crimea,  but  in  making 
those  blunders  we  taught  ourselves  the  trade.  It  is  the  misfor- 
tune of  the  northern  »States  that  they  must  learn  these  lessons  in 
fighting  their  own  countrymen.  In  the  course  of  our  history  we 
have  suffered  the  same  calamity  more  than  once.  The  Round- 
heads, who  beat  the  Cavaliers  and  ci'eated  Erglish  liberty,  made 


i  I 


AN  APOLOGY   FOR  THE  WAK. 


179 


themselves  soldiers  on  the  bodies  of  their  countrymen.  But  En- 
gland was  not  ruined  by  that  civil  war ;  nor  was  she  ruined  by 
those  which  preceded  it.  From  out  of  these  she  came  forth 
stronger  than  she  entered  them, — stronger,  better,  and  more  fit  for 
a  great  dest.iny  in  the  history  of  nations.  The  northern  States 
liad  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  men  under  arms  when  the  win- 
ter of  1861  commenced,  and  for  that  enormous  multitude  all  com- 
missariat requirements  were  well  supplied.  Camps  and  barracks 
sprang  up  through  the  country  as  though  by  magic.  Clothing  was 
obtained  with  a  rapidity  that  has,  I  think,  never  been  equalled. 
The  country  had  not  been  prepared  for  the  fabrication  of  arms, 
and  yet  arms  were  put  into  the  men's  hands  almost  as  quickly  as 
the  regiments  could  be  mustered.  The  eighteen  millions  of  the 
northern  States  lent  themselves  to  the  effort  as  one  man.  Each 
State  gave  the  best  it  had  to  give.  Newspapers  were  as  rabid 
against  each  other  as  ever,  but  no  newspaper  could  live  which  did 
not  support  the  war.  "  The  South  has  rebelled  against  the  law, 
and  the  law  shall  be  supported."  This  has  been  the  cry  and  tho 
heartfelt  feeling  of  all  men ;  and  it  is  a  feeling  which  cannot  but 
inspire  respect. 

We  have  hsard  much  of  the  tyranny  of  the  present  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  tyranny  also  of  the  people.  They 
have  both  been  very  tyrannical.  The  "  habeas  corpus"  has  been 
suspended  by  the  word  of  one  man.  Arrests  have  been  made  on 
men  who  have  been  hardly  suspected  of  more  than  secession  princi- 
ples. Arrests  have,  I  believe,  been  made  in  cases  which  have  been 
destitute  even  of  any  fair  ground  for  such  suspicion.  Newspapers 
have  been  stopped  for  advocating  views  opposed  to  the  feelings  of 
the  North,  as  freely  as  newspapers  were  ever  stopped  in  France  for 
opposing  the  Emperor.  A  man  has  not  been  safe  in  the  streets 
who  was  known  to  be  a  Secessionist.  It  must  be  at  once  admitted 
that  opinion  in  the  northern  States  was  not  free  when  I  was  there. 
But  has  opinion  ever  been  free  anywhere  on  all  subjects?  In  the 
best-built  strongholds  of  freedom  have  there  not  always  been  ques- 
tions on  which  opinion  has  not  been  free ;  and  must  it  not  always 
be  so  ?  When  the  decision  of  a  people  on  any  matter  has  become, 
so  to  say,  unanimous, — when  it  has  shown  itself  to  be  so  general 
as  to  be  clearly  the  expression  of  the  nation's  voice  as  a  single 
chorus, — that  decision  becomes  holy,  and  may  not  be  touched. 
Could  any  newspaper  be  produced  in  England  which  advocated 
the  overthrow  of  the  Queen  1  And  why  may  not  the  passion  for 
the  Union  be  as  strong  with  the  northern  States,  as  the  passion 
for  the  Crown  is  strong  with  us?     The  Crown  with  us  is  in  no 


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NOllTII    AMERICA. 


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danger,  and  therefore  the  matter  is  at  rest.  But  I  think  we  must 
admit  that  in  any  nation,  let  it  be  ever  so  free,  there  may  be  points 
on  which  opinion  must  bo  held  under  restraint.  And  as  to  those 
summary  arrests,  and  the  su -pension  of  the  "habeas  corpus,"  is 
there  not  something  to  bo  sail,  'or  the  States'  Government  on  that 
head  also?  Military  arrests  arc  very  dreadful,  and  the  soul  of  a 
nation's  liberty  is  that  personal  freedom  from  arbitrary  interference 
which  is  signified  to  the  world  by  those  two  unintelligible  Latin 
words.  A  man's  body  shall  not  be  kept  in  duress  at  any  man's 
will;  but  shall  be  brought  up  into  open  court,  with  uttermost 
speed,  in  order  that  the  law  may  say  whether  or  no  it  should  bo 
kept  in  duress.  That  I  take  it  is  the  meaning  of  "  habeas  corpus," 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  suspension  of  that  privilege  destroys 
all  freedom,  and  places  the  liberty  of  every  individual  at  the  mercy 
of  him  who  has  the  power  to  suspend  it.  Nothing  can  be  worse 
than  this ;  and  such  suspension,  if  extended  over  any  long  period 
of  years,  will  certainly  make  a  nation  weak,  mean-spirited,  and 
poor.  But  in  a  period  of  civil  war,  or  even  of  a  widely-extended 
civil  commotion,  things  cannot  work  in  their  accustomed  grooves. 
A  lady  docs  not  willingly  get  out  of  her  bedroom-window  with 
nothing  on  but  her  night-gown ;  but  when  her  house  is  on  fire  she 
is  very  thankful  for  an  opportunity  of  doing  so.  It  is  not  long 
since  the  "  habeas  corpus"  was  suspended  in  parts  of  Ireland,  and 
absurd  arrests  were  made  almost  daily  when  that  suspension  first 
took  effect.  It  was  grievous  that  there  should  be  necessity  for 
such  a  step,  and  it  is  very  grievous  now  that  such  necessity  should 
be  felt  in  the  northern  States.  But  I  do  not  think  that  it  becomes 
Englishmen  to  bear  hardly  upon  Americans  generally  for  what  has 
been  done  in  that  matter.  Mr.  Seward,  in  an  official  letter  to  the 
British  Minister  at  Washington — which  letter,  through  official  dis- 
honesty, found  its  way  to  the  press — claimed  for  the  President  the 
right  of  suspending  the  "  habeas  corpus"  in  the  States  whenever  it 
might  seem  good  to  him  to  do  so.  If  this  be  in  accordance  with 
the  law  of  the  land,  which  I  think  must  be  doubted,  the  law  of  the 
land  is  not  favourable  to  freedom.  For  myself,  I  conceive  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  have  been  wrong  in  their  law,  and 
that  no  such  right  is  given  to  the  President  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  This  I  will  attempt  to  prove  in  some  subse- 
quent chapter.  But  I  think  it  must  be  felt  by  all  who  have  given 
any  thought  to  the  constitution  of  the  States,  that  let  what  may 
be  the  letter  of  the  law,  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  have 
had  no  such  power.  It  is  because  the  States  have  been  no  longer 
united  that  Mr.  Lincoln  has  had  the  power,  whether  it  be  given  to 
him  by  the  law  or  no. 


^ 


p 


AN    APOLOGY    FOR   THE    WAR. 


181 


And  then  as  to  the  debt ;  it  seems  to  me  veiy  singular  that  wo 
in  Enf^hind  should  suppose  that  a  great  commercial  people  would 
be  ruined  by  a  national  debt.  As  regards  ourselves,  1  have  al- 
ways looked  on  our  national  debt  as  the  ballast  in  our  ship.  We 
have  a  great  deal  of  ballast,  but  then  the  ship  is  very  big.  The 
States  also  are  taking  in  ballast  at  a  rather  rapid  rate ; — and  wo 
too  took  it  in  quickly  when  we  were  about  it.  But  I  cannot  un- 
derstand why  their  ship  should  not  carry,  without  shipwreck,  that 
which  our  ship  has  carried  without  damage,  and,  as  I  believe,  with 
positive  advantage  to  its  sailing.  The  ballast,  if  carried  honestly, 
will  not,  I  think,  bring  the  vessel  to  grief.  The  fear  is  lest  the 
ballast  should  be  thrown  overboard. 

So  much  I  have  said,  wishing  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  north- 
ern States  before  the  bar  of  English  opinion,  and  thinking  that 
there  is  ground  for  a  plea  in  their  favour.  But  yet  I  cannot  say 
that  their  bitterness  against  Englishmen  has  been  justified,  or  that 
their  tone  towards  England  has  been  dignified.  Their  complaint 
is  that  they  have  received  no  sympathy  from  England;  but  it 
seems  to  me  that  a  great  nation  should  not  require  an  expression 
of  sympathy  during  its  struggle.  Sympathy  is  for  the  weak  rath- 
er than  for  the  strong.  "When  I  hear  two  powerful  men  contend- 
ing together  in  argument,  I  do  not  sympathize  with  him  who  has 
the  best  of  it ;  but  I  watch  the  precision  of  his  logic,  and  acknowl- 
edge the  effects  of  his  rhetoric.  There  has  been  a  whining  weak- 
ness in  the  complaints  made  by  Americans  against  England,  which 
has  done  more  to  lower  them  as  a  people  in  my  judgment  than 
any  other  part  of  their  conduct  during  the  present  crisis.  When 
we  were  at  war  with  Russia,  the  feeling  of  the  States  was  strong- 
ly against  us.  All  their  wishes  were  with  our  enemies.  When 
the  Indian  mutiny  was  at  its  worst,  the  feeling  of  France  was 
equally  adverse  to  us.  The  joy  expressed  by  the  French  newspa- 
pers was  almost  ecstatic.  But  I  do  not  think  that  on  either  oc- 
casion we  bemoaned  ourselves  sadly  on  the  want  of  sympathy 
shown  by  our  friends.  On  each  occasion  we  took  the  opinion  ex- 
pressed for  what  it  was  worth,  and  managed  to  live  it  down.  We 
listened  to  what  was  said,  and  let  it  pass  by.  When  in  each  case 
we  had  been  successful,  there  was  an  end  of  our  friends'  croak- 


ings. 


But  in  the  northern  States  of  America  the  bitterness  against 
England  has  amounted  almost  to  a  passion.  The  players,  those 
chroniclers  of  the  time,  have  had  no  hits  so  sure  as  those  which 
have  been  aimed  at  Englishmen  as  cowards,  fools,  and  liars.  No 
paper  has  dared  to  say  that  England  has  been  true  in  her  Ameri- 


k 

1 

! 

!/ 

t 

K> 


li. 


:>(' 


!^ 


■'  (I 


rvj» 


I 


N 


182 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


t 


\     •. 


1 


can  policy.  The  name  of  an  Englishman  has  been  made  a  byword 
for  reproach.  In  private  intercourse  private  amenities  have  re- 
mained. I,  at  any  rate,  may  boast  that  such  has  been  the  case  as 
regards  myself.  But  even  in  private  life  I  have  been  unable  to 
keep  down  the  feeling  that  I  have  always  been  walking  over  smoth- 
ered ashes. 

It  may  be  that,  when  the  civil  war  in  Amenca  is  over,  all  this 
will  pass  by,  and  there  will  be  nothing  left  of  international  bitter- 
ness but  its  memory.  It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  this  may 
be  so; — that  even  the  memory  of  the  existing  feeling  may  fade 
away  and  become  unreal.  I  for  one  cannot  think  that  two  na- 
tions, situated  as  are  the  States  and  England,  should  permanently 
quarrel  and  avoid  each  other.  But  words  have  been  spoken  which 
will,  I  fear,  long  sound  in  men's  ears,  and  thoughts  have  sprung 
up  which  will  not  easily  allow  themselves  to  be  extinguished. 


f 


.i 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


NEW  YORK. 


Speaking  of  New  York  as  a  traveller  I  have  two  faults  to 
find  with  it.  In  the  first  place  there  is  nothing  to  see ;  and  in 
the  second  place  there  is  no  mode  of  getting  about  to  see  any- 
thing. Nevertheless  New  York  is  a  most  interesting  city.  It 
is  the  third  biggest  city  in  the  known  world ; — for  those  Chi- 
nese congregations  of  un winged  ants  are  not  cities  in  the  known 
world.  In  no  other  city  is  there  a  population  so  mixed  and 
cosmopolitan  in  their  modes  of  life.  And  yet  in  no  other  city 
that  I  have  seen  are  there  such  strong  and  ever-visible  charac- 
teristics of  the  social  and  political  bearings  of  the  nation  to 
which  it  belongs.  New  York  appears  to  me  as  infinitely  more 
American  than  Boston,  Chicago,  or  Washington.  It  has  no 
peculiar  attribute  of  its  own,  as  have  those  three  cities ;  Bos- 
ton in  its  literature  and  accomplished  intelligence,  Chicago  in 
its  internal  trade,  and  "Washington  in  its  congressional  and 
State  politics.  New  York  has  its  literary  aspirations,  its  com- 
mercial grandeur,  and, — heaven  knows, — it  has  its  politics  also. 
But  these  do  not  strike  the  visitor  as  being  specially  character- 
istic of  the  city.  That  it  is  pre-eminently  American  is  its  glory 
or  its  disgrace, — as  men  of  different  ways  of  thinking  may  de- 
cide upon  it.  Free  institutions,  general  education,  and  the  as- 
cendancy of  dollars  are  the  words  written  on  every  paving- 
stone  along  Fifth  Avenue,  down  Broadway,  and  up  Wall  Street. 
Every  man  can  vote,  and  values  the  privilege.    Every  man  can 


»,' 


NEW   YORK. 


183 


read,  and  uses  the  privilege.  Every  man  worships  the  dollar, 
and  is  down  before  his  shrine  from  morning  to  night. 

As  regards  voting  and  reading  no  American  will  be  angry 
with  me  for  saying  so  much  of  him ;  and  no  Englishman,  what- 
ever may  be  his  ideas  as  to  the  franchise  in  his  own  country, 
will  conceive  that  I  have  said  aught  to  the  dishonour  of  an 
American.  But  as  to  that  dollar-worshipping,  it  will  of  course 
seem  that  I  am  abusing  the  New  Yorkers.  We  all  know  what 
a  wretchedly  wicked  thing  money  is !  How  it  stands  between 
us  and  heaven !  How  it  hardens  our  hearts,  and  makes  vulgar 
our  thoughts  I  Dives  has  ever  gone  to  the  devil,  while  Laza- 
rus has  been  laid  up  in  heavenly  lavender.  The  hand  that  em- 
ploys itself  in  compelling  gold  to  enter  the  service  of  man  has 
always  been  stigmatized  as  the  ravisher  of  things  sacred.  The 
world  is  agreed  about  that,  and  therefore  the  New  Yorker  is 
in  a  bad  way.  There  are  very  few  citizens  in  any  town  known 
to  me  which  under  this  dispensation  are  in  a  good  way,  but 
the  New  Yorker  is  in  about  the  worst  way  of  all.  Other  men, 
the  world  over,  worship  regularly  at  the  shrine  with  matins 
and  vespers,  nones  and  complines,  and  whatever  other  daily 
services  may  be  known  to  the  religious  liouses ;  but  the  New 
Yorker  is  always  on  his  knees. 

That  is  the  amount  of  the  charge  which  I  bring  against  New 
York ;  and  now  having  laid  on  ray  paint  thickly,  I  shall  pro- 
ceed, like  an  unskilful  artist,  to  scrape  a  great  deal  of  it  off 
again.  New  York  has  been  a  leading  commercial  city  in  tho 
world  for  not  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  years.  As  far  as  I  can 
learn,  its  population  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  did  not  ex- 
ceed 60,000,  and  ten  years  later  it  had  not  reached  100,000. 
In  18G0  it  had  reached  nearly  800,000  in  tho  city  of  New  York 
itself.  To  this  number  must  be  added  the  numbers  of  Brook- 
lyn, Williamsburgh,  and  Jersey  City,  in  order  that  a  true  con- 
ception may  be  had  of  the  population  of  this  American  me- 
tropolis, seeing  that  those  places  are  as  much  a  part  of  New 
York  as  Southwark  is  of  London.  By  this  the  total  will  bo 
swelled  to  considerably  above  a  million.  It  will  no  doubt  be 
admitted  that  this  growth  has  been  very  fast,  and  that  New 
York  may  well  be  proud  of  it.  Increase  of  population  is,  I 
take  it,  the  only  trustworthy  sign  of  a  nation's  success  or  of  a 
city's  success.  We  boast  that  London  has  beaten  the  other 
cities  of  the  world,  and  think  that  that  boast  is  enough  to  cov- 
er all  the  social  sins  for  which  London  has  to  confess  her  guilt. 
New  York  beginning  with  60,000  sixty  years  since  has  now  a 
million  souls ; — a  million  mouths,  all  of  which  eat  a  sufficiency 


ii 


i.:  ■:■ 


•If 

T 


'V 


l'^i.4f  i! 


I 


»  '» 


184 


NORTH   AMEIIICA. 


of  bread,  all  of  which  speak  ore  rotimdo^  and  almost  all  of  which 
can  read.     And  this  has  come  of  its  love  of  dollars. 

For  myself  I  do  not  believe  that  Dives  is  so  black  as  he  is 
painted,  or  that  his  peril  is  so  imminent.  To  reconcile  such  an 
opinion  with  holy  writ  might  place  me  in  some  difficulty  were 
I  a  clergyman.  Clergymen  in  these  days  are  surrounded  by 
difficulties  of  this  nature,  finding  it  necessary  to  explain  away 
many  old-established  teachings  which  narrowed  the  Christian 
Church,  and  to  open  the  door  wide  enough  to  satisfy  the  aspi- 
rations and  natural  hopes  of  instructed  men.  The  brethren  of 
Dives  are  now  so  many  and  so  intelligent  that  they  will  no  lon- 
ger consent  to  bo  damned,  without  looking  closely  into  the 
matter  themselves.  I  will  leave  them  to  settle  the  matter  with 
the  Church,  merely  assuring  them  of  my  sympathies  in  their 
little  difficulties  in  any  case  in  which  mere  money  causes  the 
hitch. 

To  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  was  man's  curse  in 
Adam's  day,  but  is  certainly  man's  blessing  in  our  day.  And 
what  is  eating  one's  bread  in  the  sweat  of  one's  brow  but  mak- 
ing money  ?  I  will  believe  no  man  who  tells  me  that  he  would 
not  sooner  earn  two  loaves  than  one ; — and  if  two,  then  two 
hundred.  I  will  believe  no  man  who  tells  me  that  he  would 
sooner  earn  one  dollar  a  day  than  two ; — and  if  two,  then  two 
hundred.  That  is,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  argument, — coete- 
r is  paribus.  When  a  man  tells  me  that  he  would  prefer  ono 
honest  loaf  to  two  that  are  dishonest,  I  will,  in  all  possible  cases, 
believe  him.  So  also  a  man  may  prefer  one  quiet  loaf  to  two 
that  are  unquiet.  But  under  circumstances  that  are  the  same, 
and  to  a  man  who  is  sane,  a  whole  loaf  is  better  than  half,  and 
two  loaves  are  better  than  one.  The  preachers  have  preached 
well,  but  on  this  matter  they  have  preached  in  vain.  Dives  has 
never  believed  that  he  will  be  damned  because  he  is  Dives.  He 
has  never  even  believed  that  the  temptations  incident  to  his 
position  have  been  more  than  a  fair  counterpoise,  or  even  so 
much  as  a  fair  counterpoise,  to  his  opportunities  for  doing  good. 
All  men  who  work  desire  to  prosper  by  their  work,  and  they 
so  desire  by  the  nature  given  to  them  from  God.  Wealth  and 
progress  must  go  on  hand  in  hand  together,  let  the  accidents 
which  occasionally  divide  them  for  a  time  happen  as  often  as 
they  may.  The  progress  of  the  Americans  has  been  caused  by 
their  aptitude  for  money-making,  and  that  continual  kneeling 
at  the  shrine  of  the  coined  goddess  has  carried  them  across 
from  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  Men  who  kneel  at  that 
shrine  are  called  on  to  have  ready  wits,  and  q\uck  hands,  and 


^ 


NEW  YORK. 


185 


not  a  little  aptitude  for  self-denial.    The  New  Yorker  has  been 
true  to  his  dollar,  because  his  dollar  has  been  true  to  him. 

But  not  on  this  account  can  I,  nor  o.i  this  account  will  any 
Englishman,  reconcile  himself  to  the  savour  of  dollars  which 
pervades  the  atmosphere  of  New  York.  The  ars  celare  arteni 
IS  wanting.  The  making  of  money  is  the  work  of  man ;  but  ho 
need  not  take  his  work  to  bed  with  him,  and  have  it  ever  by 
his  side  at  table,  amidst  his  family,  in  church,  while  he  disports 
himself,  as  ho  declares  his  passion  to  the  girl  of  his  heart,  in 
the  moments  of  his  softest  bliss,  and  at  the  periods  of  his  most 
solemn  ceremonies.  That  many  do  so  elsewhere  than  in  New 
York, — in  London,  for  instance,  in  Paris,  among  the  mountains 
of  Switzerland,  and  the  steppes  of  Russia,  I  do  not  doubt.  But 
there  is  generally  a  veil  thrown  over  the  object  of  the  worship- 
per's idolatry.  In  New  York  one's  ear  is  constantly  filled  with 
the  fanatic's  voice  as  he  prays,  one's  eyes  are  always  on  the  fa- 
miliar altar.  The  frankincense  from  the  temple  is  ever  in  one's 
nostrils.  I  have  never  walked  down  Fifth  Avenue  alone  with- 
out thinking  of  money.  I  have  never  walked  there  with  a  com- 
panion wiitioLit  talking  of  it.  I  fancy  that  every  man  there,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  spirit  of  the  place,  should  bear  on  bis 
forehead  a  label  stating  how  many  dollars  he  is  worth,  and  that 
every  label  should  be  expected  to  assert  a  falsehood. 

I  do  not  think  that  New  York  has  been  less  generous  in  the 
use  of  its  money  than  other  cities,  or  that  the  men  of  New  York 
generally  are  so.  Perhaps  I  might  go  farther  and  say  that  in 
no  city  has  more  been  achieved  for  humanity  by  the  munifi- 
cence of  its  richest  citizens  than  in  New  York.  Its  hospitals, 
asylums,  and  institutions  for  the  relief  of  all  ailments  to  which 
flesh  is  heir,  are  very  numerous,  and  beyond  praise  in  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  arrangements.  And  this  has  been  achieved  in 
a  great  degree  by  private  liberality.  Men  in  America  are  not 
as  a  rule  anxious  to  leave  large  fortunes  to  their  children.  The 
millionaire  when  making  his  will  very  generally  gives  back  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  wealth  which  he  has  made  to  the 
city  in  which  he  made  it.  The  rich  citizen  is  always  anxious 
that  the  poor  citizen  shall  be  relieved.  It  is  a  point  of  honour 
with  him  to  raise  the  character  of  his  municipality,  and  to  pro- 
vide that  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  blind,  the  mad,  the  idiots,  the 
old,  and  the  incurable  shall  have  such  alleviation  in  their  mis- 
fortune as  skill  and  kindness  can  aiford. 

Nor  is  the  New  Yorker  a  hugger-mugger  with  liis  money. 
He  does  not  hide  up  his  dollars  in  old  stockings  and  keep  rolls 
of  gold  in  hidden  pots.    He  does  not  even  invest  it  where  it 


J 


W' 


"k, 


*  i 


V 


»'. 


1  ^/y' 

'A 


If: 


Hm 


<  i\ 


A     f? 


) 


. 


I'  ' 


186 


NOKTU  AMERICA. 


■| 


'i!     •» 


will  not  grow  but  only  produce  small  though  sure  fruit.  Ho 
builds  houses,  he  speculates  largely,  he  spreads  himself  in  trade 
to  the  extent  of  his  wings, — and  not  seldom  somewhat  further. 
Ho  scatters  his  wealth  broadcast  over  strange  fields,  trusting 
that  it  may  grow  with  an  increase  of  an  hundred-fold,  but  bold 
to  bear  the  loss  should  the  strange  field  prove  itself  barren. 
His  regret  at  losing  his  money  is  by  no  means  commensurate 
with  his  desire  to  make  it.  In  this  there  is  a  living  spirit  which 
to  me  divests  the  dollar-worshipping  idolatry  of  something  of 
its  ugliness.  The  hand  when  closed  on  the  gold  is  instantly 
reopened.  The  idolator  is  anxious  to  get,  but  ho  is  anxious 
also  to  spend.  He  is  energetic  to  the  last,  and  has  no  comfort 
with  his  stock  unless  it  breeds  with  transatlantic  rapidity  of 
procreation. 

So  much  I  say,  being  anxious  to  scrape  off  some  of  that  daub 
of  black  paint  with  which  I  have  smeared  the  face  of  my  Now 
Yorker ;  but  not  desiring  to  scrape  it  all  off.  For  myself,  I 
do  not  love  to  live  amidst  the  clink  of  gold,  and  never  have  "  a 
good  time,"  as  the  Americans  say,  when  the  price  of  shares 
and  percentages  come  up  in  conversation.  That  state  of  men's 
minds  here  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  tends,  I  think, 
to  make  New  York  disagreeable.  A  stranger  there  who  has 
no  great  interest  in  percentages  soon  finds  himseli'  anxious  to 
escape.  By  degrees  he  perceives  that  he  is  out  of  his  element, 
and  had  better  go  away.  He  calls  at  the  bank,  and  when  he 
shows  himself  ignorant  as  to  the  price  at  which  his  sovereigns 
should  be  done,  he  is  conscious  that  he  is  ridiculous.  He  is 
like  a  man  who  goes  out  hunting  for  the  first  time  at  forty  years 
of  age.  He  feels  himself  to  be  in  the  wrong  place,  and  is  anx- 
ious to  get  out  of  it.  Such  was  my  experience  of  New  York, 
at  each  of  the  visits  that  I  paid  to  it. 

But  yet,  I  say  again,  no  other  American  city  is  so  intensely 
American  as  New  York.  It  is  generally  considered  that  the 
inhabitants  of  New  England,  the  Yankees  properly  so  called, 
have  the  American  characteristics  of  physiognomy  in  the  full- 
est degree.  The  lantern  jaws,  the  thin  and  lithe  body,  the  dry 
face  on  which  there  has  been  no  tint  of  the  rose  since  the  baby's 
long-clothes  were  first  abandoned,  the  harsh,  thick  hair,  the  thin 
lips,  the  intelligent  eyes,  the  sharp  voice  with  the  nasal  twang 
— not  altogether  harsh,  though  sharp  and  nasal, — all  these  traits 
are  supposed  to  belong  especially  to  the  Yankee.  Perhaps  it 
was  so  once,  but  at  present  they  are,  I  think,  more  universally 
common  in  New  York  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  States. 
Go  to  Wall  Street,  the  front  of  the  Astor  House,  and  the  re- 


NEW  TORK. 


187 


»    I 


jvions  about  Trinity  Churcli,  and  you  will  find  thcni  in  their 
fullest  perfection. 

What  circumstances  of  blood  or  food,  of  early  habit  or  sub- 
sequent education,  liavc  created  for  the  latter-day  American 
Ills  present  physiognomy?  It  is  as  completely  marked,  aH 
mucn  his  own,  as  is  that  of  any  race  under  the  sun  that  has 
bred  in  and  in  for  centuries.  But  the  American  owns  a  more 
mixed  blood  than  any  other  race  known.  The  chief  stock  is 
English,  which  is  itself  so  mixed  that  no  man  can  trace  its  ram- 
ifications. With  this  are  mingled  the  bloods  of  Ireland,  Hol- 
land, France,  Sweden,  and  Germany.  All  this  has  been  done 
within  but  a  few  years,  so  that  the  American  may  be  said  to 
have  no  claim  to  any.national  typo  of  face.  Nevertheless,  no 
man  has  a  type  of  face  so  clearly  national  as  the  American.  He 
is  acknowledged  by  it  all  over  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  on 
his  own  side  of  the  water  is  gratified  by  knowing  that  he  is 
never  mistaken  for  his  English  visitor.  I  think  it  comes  from 
the  hot-air  pipes  and  from  dollar  worship.  In  the  Jesuit  his 
mode  of  dealing  with  things  divine  has  given  a  peculiar  cast  of 
countenance ;  and  why  should  not  the  American  be  similarly 
moulded  by  his  special  aspirations  ?  As  to  the  hot-air  pipes, 
there  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  that  to  them  is  to  be  charged 
the  murder  of  all  rosy  cheeks  throughout  the  States.  If  the 
effect  was  to  be  noticed  simply  in  the  dry  faces  of  the  men 
about  Wall  Street,  I  should  be  "''ery  indiffereno  to  the  matter. 
But  the  young  ladies  of  Fifth  Avenue  are  in  the  same  category. 
The  very  pith  and  marrow  of  life  is  baked  out  of  their  young 
bones  by  the  hot-air  cliarabers  to  which  they  are  accustomed. 
Hot  air  is  the  great  destroyer  of  American  beauty. 

In  saying  that  there  is  very  little  t )  be  seen  in  New  York,  I 
have  also  said  that  there  is  no  way  of  seeing  that  little.  My 
assertion  amounts  to  this, — that  there  are  no  cabs.  To  the 
reading  world  at  large  this  may  not  seem  to  be  much,  but  let 
the  reading  world  go  to  New  York,  and  it  will  find  out  how 
much  the  deficiency  means.  In  London,  in  Paris,  in  Florence, 
in  Home,  in  the  Havana,  or  at  Grand  Cairo,  the  cab-driver  or 
attendant  does  not  merely  drive  the  cab  or  belabour  the  donk- 
ey, but  he  is  the  visitor's  easiest  and  cheapest  guide.  In  Lon- 
don, the  Tower,  Westminster  Abbey,  and  Madame  Tussaud, 
are  found  by  the  stranger  without  difficulty,  and  almost  without 
a  thought,  because  the  cab-driver  knows  the  whereabouts  and 
the  way.  Space  is  moreover  annihilated,  and  the  huge  distances 
of  the  English  metropolis  are  brought  within  the  scope  of  mor- 
tal power.    But  in  New  York  there  is  no  such  institution. 


I 


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]88 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


lis 


In  New  York  thcro  nro  street  omnibnscH  as  wo  Imvc, — there 
aro  street  cars  such  as  last  year  wo  cleclincd  to  liave, — and 
tlierc  arc  very  excellent  public  carriages ;  but  none  ot*  these 
pvo  you  the  accommodation  of  a  cab,  nor  can  all  of  them  com- 
bined do  so.  The  omnibuses,  though  clean  and  excellent,  were 
to  mo  very  unintelligible.  They  have  .no  conductor  to  them. 
To  know  their  different  lines  and  usages  a  man  should  have 
made  a  scientific  study  of  the  city.  To  those  going  un  and 
down  Broadway  I  became  accustomed,  but  in  them  I  was 
never  quite  at  my  case.  Tho  money  has  to  bo  paid  through  a 
little  hole  behind  the  driver's  back,  and  should,  as  I  learned  at 
last,  be  paid  immediately  on  entrance.  But  in  getting  up  to 
do  this  I  always  stumbled  about,  and  it  would  happen  that 
when  with  considerable  difficulty  I  had  settled  my  own  ac- 
count, two  or  threo  ladies  would  enter,  and  would  hand  me, 
without  a  word,  some  coins  with  which  I  had  no  life-long  fa- 
miliarity in  order  that  I  might  go  through  the  same  ceremony 
on  their  account.  Tho  change  I  would  usually  drop  into  tho 
straw,  and  then  there  would  arise  trouble  and  nnhappiness. 
Before  I  became  aware  of  that  law  as  to  instant  payment,  bells 
used  to  be  rung  at  me  which  made  me  uneasy.  I  knew  I  was 
not  behaving  as  a  citizen  should  behave,  but  could  not  compass 
tho  exact  points  of  my  delinquency.  And  then  when  I  desired 
to  escape,  the  door  being  strapped  up  tight,  I  would  halloo 
vainly  at  the  driver  through  tho  little  hole ;  whereas,  had  I 
known  my  duty,  I  should  have  rung  a  bell,  or  pulled  a  strap, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  omnibus  in  question.  In  a 
month  or  two  all  these  things  may  possibly  be  learned ; — but 
the  visitor  requires  his  facilities  for  locomotion  at  the  first  mo- 
ment of  his  entrance  into  tho  city.  I  heard  it  asserted  by  a 
lecturer  in  Boston,  Mr.  Wendell  Phillips,  whose  name  is  there 
a  household  word,  that  citizens  of  the  United  States  carried 
brains  in  their  fingers  as  well  as  in  their  heads,  whereas  "  com- 
mon people,"  by  which  Mr.  Phillips  intended  to  designate  the 
remnant  of  mankind  beyond  the  United  States,  were  blessed 
with  no  such  extended  cerebral  development.  Having  once 
learned  this  fact  from  Mr.  Phillips,  I  understood  why  it  was 
that  a  New  York  omnibus  should  be  so  disagreeable  to  me, 
and  at  tho  same  time  so  suitable  to  the  wants  of  tho  New 
Yorkers. 

And  then  there  are  street  cars  —  very  long  omnibuses  — 
which  run  on  rails  but  are  dragged  by  horses.  They  are 
capable  of  holding  forty  passengers  each,  and  as  far  as  my  ex- 
perience goes  carry  an  average  load  of  sixty.     The  fare  of  tho 


► 


i 


NKW    YOUK. 


180 


omnibus  is  six  cents  or  tlirco  pence.  Tlmt  of  tlio  street  car  fivo 
cunts  or  two  pence  iiuU-pcnny.  They  run  alon«jf  the  (.lillerent 
avenucH,  taking  the  length  of  tlie  city.  I»i  the  upper  or  new 
part  of  tl»e  town  their  course  ia  simple  cnougli,  bui  as  they  de- 
scend to  the  Bowery,  Peckslip,  and  Pearl  Street,  nothing  can 
be  conceived  more  dillicult  or  devious  than  their  courses.  The 
liroadway  onmibus,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  Htraightl  >rward 
honest  vehicle  in  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  becoming,  how- 
ever, dangerous  and  miscellaneous  when  it  ascends  to  Unioa 
Square  and  the  vicinities  of  fashionable  life. 

The  street  cars  are  manned  with  conductors,  and  thereforo 
are  free  from  many  of  the  perils  of  the  omnibus,  but  they  have 
l)crils  of  their  own.  They  are  always  quite  full.  Uy  that  I 
mean  that  every  seat  is  crowded,  that  there  is  a  double  row 
of  men  and  women  standing  down  the  centre,  and  that  tho 
driver's  platform  in  front  is  full,  and  also  the  conductor's  ])lat- 
form  behind.  That  is  the  normal  condition  of  a  street  car  in 
the  Third  Avenue.  You,  as  a  stranger  hi  the  middle  of  tho 
car,  wish  to  be  put  down  at,  let  us  say,  80th  Street.  In  the 
map  of  New  York  now  before  me  the  cross  streets  ruiming 
frotu  east  to  west  are  numbered  up  northwards  as  far  as  154th 
Street.  It  is  quite  useless  for  you  to  give  the  number  as  you 
enter.  Even  an  American  conductor,  with  brains  all  over  him, 
and  an  anxious  desire  to  accommodate,  as  is  the  case  with  all 
these  men,  cannot  remember.  You  are  left  therefore  in  misery 
to  calculate  the  number  of  the  street  as  you  move  along,  vain- 
ly endeavouring  through  the  misty  glass  to  decipher  the  small 
numbers  which  after  a  day  or  tAVO  you  perceive  to  be  written 
on  the  lamp  posts. 

But  I  soon  gave  up  all  attempts  at  keeping  a  seat  in  one  of 
these  cars.  It  became  my  practice  to  sit  down  on  the  outside 
iron  rail  behind,  and  as  the  conductor  generally  sat  in  ni)  lap 
I  was  in  a  measure  protected.  As  for  the  inside  of  these  vehi- 
cles, the  women  of  New  York,  were,  I  must  confess,  too  much 
for  me.  I  would  no  sooner  place  myself  on  a  seat,  than  I  would 
be  called  on  by  a  mute,  unexpressive,  but  still  impressive  stare 
into  my  face,  to  surrender  my  place.  From  cowardice  if  not 
from  gallantry  I  would  always  obey ;  and  as  this  led  to  discom- 
fort and  an  irritated  spirit,  I  preferred  nursing  tho  conductor 
on  the  hard  bar  in  the  rear. 

And  here  if  I  seem  to  say  a  word  against  women  in  America, 
I  beg  that  it  may  be  understood  that  I  say  that  word  only 
against  a  certain  class ;  and  even  as  to  that  class  I  admit  that 
they  are  respectable,  intelligent,  and,  as  I  believe,  industrious. 


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100 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


J' 


Their  manners,  however,  are  to  me  more  odious  than  those  of 
any  other  human  beings  that  I  e\  er  met  elsewliere.  Nor  can 
I  go  on  with  that  which  I  have  to  say  without  carrying  my 
apology  further,  lest  perchance  I  should  be  misunderstood  by 
some  American  women  whom  I  would  not  only  exclude  from 
my  censure,  but  would  include  in  the  very  warmest  eulogiura 
which  words  of  mine  could  express  as  to  those  of  the  female 
sex  whom  I  love  and  admire  the  most.  I  have  known,  do  know, 
and  mean  to  continue  to  know  as  far  as  in  me  may  lie,  Ameri- 
can ladies  as  bright,  as  beautiful,  as  graceful,  as  sweet,  as  mor- 
tal limits  for  brightness,  beauty,  grace,  and  sweetness  will  per- 
mit. They  belong  to  the  aristocracy  of  the  land,  by  whatever 
means  they  may  have  become  aristocrats.  In  America  one 
does  not  inquire  as  to  their  birth,  their  trairing,  or  their  old 
names.  The  fact  of  their  aristocratic  power  comes  out  in  every 
word  and  look.  It  is  not  only  so  with  those  who  have  travelled 
or  with  those  who  are  rich.  I  have  found  female  aristocrats 
with  families  and  slender  means,  who  have  as  yet  made  no 
grand  tour  across  the  ocean.  These  women  are  charming  be- 
yond expression.  It  is  not  only  their  beauty.  Had  he  been 
speaking  of  such,  Wendell  Phillips  would  have  been  right  in 
saying  that  they  have  brains  all  over  them.  So  much  for  those 
who  are  bright  and  beautiful;  who  are  graceful  and  sweet! 
And  now  a  word  as  to  those  who  to  me  are  neither  bright 
nor  beautiful;  and  who  can  be  to  none  either  graceful  or 
Bweet. 

It  is  a  hard  task  that  of  speaking  ill  of  any  woman,  but  it 
seems  to  me  that  he  who  takes  upon  himself  to  praise  incurs 
the  duty  of  dispraising  also  where  dispraise  is.  or  to  him  istcrrs 
to  be,  deserved.  The  trade  of  a  novelist  is  very  much  that  of 
describing  the  softness,  sweetness,  and  loving  dispositions  of 
women ;  and  this  he  does,  copying  as  best  he  can  from  nature. 
But  if  he  cnly  sings  of  that  which  is  sweet,  whereas  that  which 
is  not  sweet  too  frequently  presents  itself,  his  song  will  in  the 
end  be  untrue  and  ridiculous.  Women  are  entitled  to  much 
observance  from  men,  but  they  are  entitled  to  no  observance 
which  is  incompatible  with  truth.  Women,  by  the  conventional 
laws  of  society,  are  allowed  to  exact  much  from  men,  but  they 
are  allowed  to  exact  nothing  for  which  they  should  not  make 
some  adequate  return.  It  is  well  that  a  man  should  kneel  in 
spirit  before  the  grace  and  weakness  of  a  woman,  but  it  is  not 
well  that  he  should  kneel  either  in  spirit  or  body  if  there  be 
neither  grace  or  weakness.  A  man  should  yield  everything  to 
a  woman  for  a  word,  for  a  smile, — to  one  look  of  entreaty. 


n 


NEW   YORK. 


Idl 


But  if  there  bo  no  look  of  entreaty,  no  word,  no  smile,  I  do 
not  see  that  he  is  called  upon  to  yield  much. 

The  happy  privileges  with  which  women  are  at  present 
blessed,  have  come  to  them  from  the  spirit  of  chivalry.  That 
spirit  has  taught  men  to  endure  in  order  that  women  may  bo 
at  their  ease ;  and  has  generally  taught  women  to  accept  the 
ease  bestowed  om  them  with  grace  and  thankfulness.  But  in 
America  the  spirit  of  chivalry  has  sunk  deeper  among  men  than 
it  has  among  women.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  that 
country  material  well-being  and  education  are  more  extended 
than  with  us ;  and  that,  therefore,  men  there  have  learned  to 
be  chivalrous  who  with  us  have  hardly  progressed  so  far.  The 
conduct  of  men  to  women  throughout  the  States  is  always  gra- 
cious. They  have  learned  the  lesson.  But  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  women  have  not  advanced  as  far  as  the  men  have  done. 
They  have  acquired  a  sufficient  perception  of  the  privileges 
which  chivalry  gives  them,  but  no  perception  of  that  return 
which  chivalry  demands  from  them.  Women  of  the  class  to 
which  I  aUude  are  always  talking  of  their  rights ;  but  seem  to 
have  a  most  indifferent  idea  of  their  duties.  They  have  no 
scruple  at  demanding  from  men  everything  that  a  man  can  bo 
called  on  to  relinquish  in  a  woman's  behalf,  but  they  do  so 
without  any  of  that  grace  which  turns  the  demand  made  into 
a  favour  conferred. 

I  have  seen  much  of  this  in  various  cities  of  America,  but 
much  more  of  it  in  New  York  than  elsewhere.  I  have  heard 
young  Americans  complain  of  it,  swearing  that  they  must 
change  the  whole  tenor  of  their  habits  towards  women.  I 
have  heard  American  ladies  speak  of  it  with  loathing  and  dis- 
gust. For  myself,  I  have  entertained  on  sundry  occasions  that 
sort  of  feeling  for  an  American  woman  which  the  close  vicinity 
of  an  unclean  animal  produces.  I  have  spoken  of  this  with  ref- 
erence to  street  cars,  because  in  no  position  of  life  does  an  un- 
fortunate man  become  more  liable  to  these  anti-feminine  atroc- 
ities than  in  the  centre  of  one  of  these  vehicles.  The  woman, 
as  she  enters,  drags  after  her  a  misshapen,  dirty  mass  of  battered 
wirework,  which  she  calls  her  crinoline,  and  which  adds  as 
much  to  her  grace  and  comfort  as  a  log  of  wood  does  to  a  donk- 
ey when  tied  to  the  animal's  leg  in  a  paddock.  Of  this  she 
takes  much  heed,  not  managing  it  so  that  it  may  be  conveyed 
up  the  carriage  with  some  decency,  but  striking  it  about  against 
men's  legs,  and  heaving  it  with  violence  over  people's  knees. 
The  touch  of  a  real  woman's  dress  is  in  itself  delicate ;  but  these 
blows  from  a  harpy's  fins  are  loathsome.    If  there  be  two  of 


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192 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


'  r';, 


them  they  talk  loudly  together,  having  a  theory  that  modesty 
has  been  put  out  of  court  by  women's  rights,  l^ut,  though  not 
modest,  the  woman  I  describe  is  ferocious  in  her  propriety. 
She  ignores  the  whole  world  around  her,  and  as  she  sits  with 
raised  chin  and  face  flattened  by  affectation,  she  pretends  to 
declare  aloud  that  she  is  positively  not  aware  that  any  man  is 
even  near  her.  She  speaks  as  though  to  her,  in  her  woman- 
hood, the  neighbourhood  of  men  was  the  same  as  that  of  dogs 
or  cats.  They  are  there,  but  she  does  not  hear  them,  see  them, 
or  even  acknowledge  them  by  any  courtesy  of  motion.  But 
her  own  face  always  gives  her  the  lie.  In  her  assumption  of 
indifference  she  displays  her  nasty  consciousness,  and  in  each 
attempt  at  a  would-be  propriety  is  guilty  of  an  immodesty. 
Who  does  not  know  the  timid  retiring  face  of  the  young  girl 
who  when  alone  among  men  unknown  to  her  feels  that  it  be- 
comes her  to  keep  herself  secluded  ?  As  many  men  as  there 
are  around  her,  so  many  knights  has  such  a  one,  ready  buck- 
lered for  her  service,  should  occasion  require  such  services. 
Should  it  not,  she  passes  on  unmolested, — but  not,  as  she  her- 
self will  wrongly  think,  unheeded.  But  as  to  her  of  whom  I 
am  speaking,  we  may  say  that  every  twist  of  her  body,  and 
every  tone  of  her  voice  is  an  unsuccessful  falsehood.  She  looks 
square  at  you  in  the  face,  and  you  rise  to  give  her  your  seat. 
You  rise  from  a  deference  to  your  own  old  convictions,  and 
from  that  courtesy  which  you  have  ever  paid  to  a  woman's 
dress,  let  it  be  worn  with  ever  such  hideous  deformities.  She 
takes  the  place  from  which  you  have  moved  without  a  word  or 
a  bow.  She  twists  herself  round,  banging  your  shins  with  her 
wires,  while  her  chin  is  still  raised,  and  her  face  is  still  flattened, 
and  she  directs  her  friend's  attention  to  another  seated  man,  as 
though  that  place  were  also  vacant,  and  necessarily  at  her  dis- 
posal. Perhaps  the  man  opposite  has  his  own  ideas  about  chiv- 
alry.   I  have  seen  such  a  thing,  and  have  rejeiced  to  see  it. 

You  will  meet  these  women  daily,  hourly, — everywhere  in 
the  streets.  Now  and  again  you  will  find  them  in  society, 
making  themselves  even  more  odious  there  than  elsewhere. 
Who  they  are,  whence  they  come,  and  why  they  are  so  unlike 
that  other  race  of  women  of  which  I  have  spoken,  you  will 
settle  for  yourself.  Do  we  not  all  say  of  our  chance  acquaint- 
ances afler  half  an  hour's  conversation, — ^nay,  after  half  an  hour 
spent  in  the  same  room  without  conversation, — that  this  wo- 
man is  a  lady,  and  that  that  other  woman  is  not  ?  They  jostle 
each  other  even  among  us,  but  never  seem  to  mix.  They  aro 
closely  allied ;  but  neither  imbues  the  other  with  her  attribute's. 


NEW   YORK. 


193 


■i 


Both  shall  bo  equally  well-born,  or  both  shall  bo  equally  ill- 
born  ;  but  still  it  is  so.  The  contrast  exists  in  England ;  but 
in  America  it  is  much  stronger.  In  England  women  become 
ladylike  or  vulgar.    In  the  States  they  are  either  charming  or 

odious. 

See  that  female  walking  down  Broadway.  She  is  not  exactly 
such  a  one  as  her  I  have  attempted  to  describe  on  her  entrance 
into  the  street  car ;  for  this  lady  is  well-dressed,  if  fine  clothes 
will  make  well-dressing.  The  machinery  of  her  hoops  is  not 
battered,  and  altogether  she  is  a  personage  much  more  distin- 
guished in  all  her  expenditures.  But  yet  she  is  a  copy  of  the 
other  woman.  Look  at  the  train  which  she  drags  behind  her 
over  the  dirty  pavement,  where  dogs  have  been,  and  chewers 
of  tobacco,  and  everything  concerned  with  filth  except  a  scav- 
enger. At  every  hundred  yards  some  unhappy  man  treads 
upon  the  silken  swab  which  she  trails  behind  her, — loosening 
it  dreadfully  at  the  girth  one  would  say ;  and  then  see  the  style 
of  face  and  the  expression  of  features  with  which  she  accepts 
the  sinner's  half-muttered  apology.  The  world,  she  supposes, 
owes  her  everything  because  of  her  silken  train, — even  room 
enough  in  a  crowded  thoroughfare  to  drag  it  along  unmolested. 
But,  according  to  her  theory,  she  owes  the  world  nothing  in 
return.  She  is  a  woman  with  perhaps  a  hundred  dollars  on  her 
back,  and  having  done  the  world  the  honour  of  wearing  them 
in  the  world's  presence,  expects  to  be  repaid  by  the  world's 
homage  and  chivalry.  But  chivalry  owes  her  nothing, — no- 
thing, though  she  walk  about  beneath  a  hundred  times  a  hun- 
dred dollars, — nothing  even  though  she  be  a  woman.  Let  ev- 
ery woman  learn  this, — that  chivalry  owes  her  nothing  unless 
she  also  acknowledge  her  debt  to  chivalry.  She  must  acknowl- 
edge it  and  pay  it ;  and  then  chivalry  will  not  be  backward  in 
making  good  her  claims  upon  it. 

All  this  has  come  of  the  street  cars.  But  as  it  was  neces- 
sary that  I  should  say  it  somewhere,  it  is  as  well  said  on  that 
subject  as  on  any  other.  And  now  to  continue  with  the  street 
cars.  They  run,  as  I  have  said,  the  length  of  the  town,  taking 
parallel  lines.  They  will  take  you  from  the  Astor  House,  near 
the  bottom  of  the  town,  for  miles  and  miles  northward, — half 
way  up  the  Hudson  river, — for,  I  believe,  five  pence.  They  are 
very  slow,  averaging  about  five  miles  an  hour ;  but  they  are 
very  sure.  For  regular  inhabitants,  who  have  to  trave?  five  or 
six  miles  perhaps  to  their  daily  work,  they  are  excellent.  I 
have  nothing  really  to  say  against  the  street  cars.  But  they 
do  not  fill  the  place  of  cabs. 

I 


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104 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i   ' 


>! 
I  I 


There  are,  however,  public  carriages,  roomy  vehicles  dragged 
bv  two  horses,  clean  and  nice,  and  very  well  suited  to  ladies 
visiting  the  city.  But  they  have  none  of  the  attributes  of  the 
cab.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  to  be  found  standing  about.  They 
are  very  slow.  They  are  very  dear.  A  dollar  an  hour  is  the 
regular  charge ;  but  one  cannot  regulate  one's  motion  by  the 
hour.  Going  out  to  dinner  and  back  costs  two  dollars,  over  a 
distance  which  in  London  would  cost  two  shillings.  As  a  rule, 
the  cost  is  four  times  that  of  a  cab ;  and  the  rapidity  half  that 
of  a  cab.  Under  these  circumstances  I  think  I  am  justified  in 
saying  that  there  is  no  mode  of  getting  about  in  New  York  to . 
see  anything. 

And  now  as  to  the  other  charge  against  New  York,  of  their 
being  nothing  to  see.  How  should  there  be  anything  there  to 
see  of  general  interest  ?  In  other  large  cities,  cities  as  large  in 
name  as  New  York,  there  are  works  of  art,  fine  buildings,  ruins, 
ancient  churches,  picturesque  costumes,  and  the  tombs  of  cele- 
brated men.  But  m  New  York  there  are  none  of  these  things. 
Art  has  not  yet  grown  up  there.  One  or  two  fine  figures  by 
Crawford  are  in  the  town, — especially  that  of  the  sorrowing 
Indian  at  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society ;  but  art  is  a  lux- 
ury in  a  city  which  follows  but  slowly  on  the  heels  of  wealth 
and  civilization.  Of  fine  buildings, — which  indeed  are  com- 
prised in  art, — there  are  none  deserving  special  praise  or  re- 
mark. It  might  well  have  been  that  New  York  should  ere 
this  have  graced  herself  with  something  grand  in  architecture ; 
but  she  has  not  done  so.  Some  good  architectural  efiect  there 
is,  and  much  architectural  comfort.  Of  ruins  of  course  there 
can  be  none ;  none  at  least  of  such  ruins  as  travellers  admire, 
though  perhaps  some  of  that  sort  which  disgraces  rather  than 
decorates.  Churches  there  are  plenty,  but  none  that  are  an- 
cient. The  costume  is  the  same  as  our  own  ;  and  I  need  hardly 
say  that  it  is  not  picturesque.  And  the  time  for  the  tombs  of 
celebrated  men  has  not  yet  come.  A  great  man's  ashes  are 
hardly  of  value  till  they  have  all  but  ceased  to  exist. 

The  visitor  to  New  York  must  seek  his  gratification  and  ob- 
tain his  instruction  from  the  habits  and  manners  of  men.  The 
American,  though  he  dresses  like  an  Englishman,  and  eats  roast 
beef  with  a  silver  fork, — or  sometimes  with  a  steel  knife, — as 
does  an  Englishman,  is  not  like  an  Englishman  in  his  mind,  in 
his  aspirations,  in  his  tastes,  or  in  his  politics.  In  his  mind 
he  is  quicker,  more  universally  intelligent,  more  ambitious  of 
general  knowledge,  less  indulgent  of  stupidity  and  ignorance  in 
others,  harder,  sharper,  brighter  with  the  surface  brightness  of 


1-'^ 


NEW    YOIIK. 


195 


Rtcel,  than  is  an  Englishman ;  but  ho  is  more  brittle,  less  endur- 
in""vless  malleable,  and  I  think  less  capable  of  impressions. 
The  mind  of  the  Englishman  has  more  imagination,  but  that  of 
the  American  more  incision.  The  American  is  a  great  ob- 
server, but  he  observes  things  material  rather  than  things  social 
or  picturesque.  He  is  a  constant  and  ready  speculator ;  but  all 
speculations,  even  those  which  come  of  philosophy,  are  with 
him  more  or  less  material.  In  his  aspirations  the  American  is 
more  constant  than  an  Englishman, — or  I  should  rather  say  ho 
is  more  constant  in  aspiring.  Every  citizen  of  the  United  States 
intends  to  do  something.  Every  one  thinks  himself  capable  of 
some  effort.  But  in  his  aspirations  he  is  more  limited  than  an 
Englishman.  The  ambitious  American  never  soars  so  high  as 
the  ambitious  Englishman.  He  does  not  even  see  up  to  so 
great  a  height;  and  when  he  has  raised  himself  somewhat 
above  the  crowd  becomes  sooner  dizzy  with  his  own  altitude 
An  American  of  mark,  though  always  anxious  to  show  his 
mark,  is  always  fearful  of  a  fall.  In  his  tastes  the  American 
imitates  the  Frenchman.  Who  shall  dare  to  say  that  he  is 
wrong,  seeing  that  in  general  matters  of  design  and  luxury  the 
French  have  won  for  themselves  the  foremost  name  ?  I  Avill 
not  say  that  the  American  is  wrong,  but  I  cannot  avoid  think- 
ing that  he  is  so.  I  detest  what  is  called  French  taste;  but 
the  world  is  against  me.  When  I  complained  to  a  landl  rd  of 
an  hotel  out  in  the  West  that  his  furniture  was  useless ;  that  I 
could  not  write  at  a  marble  table  whose  outside  rim  was  curved 
into  fantastic  shapes ;  that  a  gold  clock  in  my  bedroom  which 
did  not  go  would  give  me  no  aid  in  washing  myself;  that  a 
heavy,  immoveable  curtain  shut  out  the  light ;  and  that  papier- 
mache  chairs  with  small  fluffy  velvet  seats  were  bad  to  sit  on 
— he  answered  me  completely  by  telling  me  that  his  house  had 
been  furnished  not  in  accordance  with  the  taste  of  England,  but 
with  that  of  France.  I  acknowledged  the  rebuke,  gave  up  my 
pursuits  of  literature  and  cleanliness,  and  hurried  out  of  the 
house  as  quickly  as  I  could.  All  America  is  now  furnishing  it- 
self by  the  rules  which  guided  that  hotel-keeper.  I  do  not 
merely  allude  to  actual  household  furniture, — to  chairs,  tables, 
and  detestable  gilt  clocks.  The  taste  of  America  is  becoming 
French  in  its  conversation,  French  in  its  comforts  and  French 
in  its  discomforts,  French  in  its  eating,  and  French  in  its  dress, 
French  in  its  manners,  and  will  become  French  in  its  art. 
There  are  those  who  will  say  that  English  taste  is  taking  the 
same  direction.  I  do  not  think  so.  I  strongly  hope  that  it  is 
not  so.  And  therefore  I  say  that  an  Englishman  and  an  Amer- 
ican differ  in  their  tastes. 


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196 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


[;^ 


h 


But  of  all  differences  between  an  Englishman  and  an  Ameri- 
can that  in  politics  is  the  strongest,  and  the  most  essential,  I 
cannot  here,  in  one  paragraph,  define  that  difference  with  suffi- 
cient clearness  to  make  my  definition  satisfactory ;  but  I  trust 
that  some  idea  of  that  difference  may  be  conveyed  by  the  gen- 
eral tenor  of  my  book.  The  American  and  the  Englishman  are 
both  Republicans.  The  governments  of  the  States  and  of  En- 
gland are  probably  the  two  purest  republican  governments  in 
the  world.  I  do  not,  of  course,  here  mean  to  say  that  the  gov- 
ernments are  more  pure  than  others,  but  that  the  systems  are 
more  absolutely  republican.  And  yet  no  men  can  be  much 
further  asunder  in  politics  than  the  Englishman  and  the  Amer- 
ican. The  American  of  the  present  day  puts  a  ballot-box  into 
the  hands  of  every  citizen  and  takes  his  stand  upon  that  and 
that  only.  It  is  the  duty  of  an  American  citizen  to  vote,  and 
when  he  has  voted  he  need  trouble  himself  no  further  till  the 
time  for  voting  shall  come  round  again.  The  candidate  for 
whom  he  has  voted  represents  his  will,  if  he  have  voted  with 
the  majority,  and  in  that  case  he  has  no  right  to  look  for  fur- 
ther influence.  If  he  have  voted  with  the  minority,  he  has  no 
right  to  look  for  any  influence  at  all.  In  either  case  he  has 
done  his  political  work,  and  may  go  about  his  business  till  the 
next  year  or  the  next  two  or  four  years  shall  have  come  round. 
The  Englishman,  on  the  other  hand,  will  have  no  ballot-box, 
and  is  by  no  means  inclined  to  depend  exclusively  upon  voters 
or  upon  voting.  As  far  as  voting  can  show  it,  he  desires  to 
get  the  sense  of  the  country ;  but  he  does  not  think  that  that 
sense  will  be  shown  by  universal  suffrage.  He  thinks  that 
property  amounting  to  a  thousand  pounds  will  show  more  of 
that  sense  than  property  amounting  to  a  hundred ;  but  he  will 
not  on  that  account  go  to  work  and  apportion  votes  to  wealth. 
He  thinks  that  the  educated  can  show  more  of  that  sense  than 
the  uneducated ;  but  he  does  not  therefore  lay  down  any  rule 
about  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  or  apportion  votes  to 
learning.  He  prefers  that  all  these  opinions  of  his  shall  bring 
themselves  out  and  operate  by  their  own  intrinsic  weight.  Nor 
does  he  at  all  confine  himself  to  voting  in  his  anxiety  to  get 
the  sense  of  the  country.  He  takes  it  in  any  way  that  it  will 
show  itself,  uses  it  for  what  it  is  worth, — or  perhaps  for  more 
than  it  is  worth, — and  welds  it  into  that  gigantic  lever  by  which 
the  political  action  of  the  country  is  moved.  Every  man  in 
Great  Britain,  whether  he  possess  any  actual  vote  or  no,  can 
do  that  which  is  tantamount  to  voting  every  day  of  his  life, 
bjtthe  mere  expression  of  his  opinion.    Public  opinion  in  Amer- 


NEW  YOEK. 


107 


ica  has  hitherto  been  nothing,  unless  it  has  managed  to  express 
itself  by  a  majority  of  ballot-boxes.  Public  opinion  in  England 
is  everything,  let  votes  go  as  they  may.  Let  the  people  want 
a  measure,  and  there  is  no  doubt  of  their  obtaining  it.  Only 
the  people  must  want  it ; — as  they  did  want  Catholic  emanci- 
pation, reform,  and  corn-law  repeal ; — and  as  they  would  want 
war  if  it  were  brought  home  to  them  that  their  country  was 
insulted. 

In  attempting  to  describe  this  difference  in  the  political  ac- 
tion of  the  two  countries,  I  am  very  far  from  taking  all  praise 
for  England  or  throwing  any  reproach  on  the  States.  The  po- 
litical action  of  the  States  is  imdoubtedly  the  more  logical  and 
the  clearer.  That  indeed  of  England  is  so  illogical  and  so  little 
clear  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  any  other  nation  to 
assume  it,  merely  by  resolving  to  do  so.  Whereas  the  polit- 
ical action  of  the  States  might  be  assumed  by  any  nation  to- 
morrow, and  all  its  strength  might  be  carried  across  the  water 
in  a  few  written  rules  as  are  the  prescriptions  of  a  physician  or 
the  regulations  of  an  infirmary.  With  us  the  thing  has  grown 
of  habit,  has  been  fostered  by  tradition,  has  crept  up  uncared 
for  and  in  some  parts  unnoticed.  It  can  be  written  in  no  book, 
can  be  described  in  no  words,  can  be  copied  by  no  statesmen, 
and  I  almost  believe  can  be  understood  by  no  people  but  that 
to  whose  peculiar  uses  it  has  been  adapted. 

In  speaking  as  I  have  here  done  of  American  taste  and  Amer- 
ican politics  I  must  allude  to  a  special  class  of  Americans  who 
are  to  be  met  more  generally  in  New  York  than  elsewhere, — 
men  who  are  educated,  who  have  generally  travelled,  who  are 
almost  always  agreeable,  but  who  as  regards  their  politics  are 
to  me  the  most  objectionable  of  all  men.  As  regards  taste  they 
are  objectionable  to  me  also.  But  that  is  a  small  thing ;  and 
as  they  are  quite  as  likely  to  be  right  as  I  am  I  will  say  nothing 
against  their  taste.  But  in  politics  it  seems  to  me  that  these 
men  have  fallen  into  the  bitterest  and  perhaps  into  the  basest 
of  errors.  Of  the  man  who  begins  his  life  with  mean  political 
ideas,  having  sucked  them  in  with  his  mother's  milk,  there  may 
be  some  hope.  The  evil  is  at  any  rate  the  fault  of  his  forefa- 
thers rather  than  of  himself.  But  who  can  have  hope  of  him 
who  having  been  thrown  by  birth  and  fortune  into  the  running 
river  of  free  political  activity,  has  allowed  himself  to  be  drifted 
into  the  stagnant  level  of  general  political  servility?  There 
are  very  many  such  Americans.  They  call  themselves  repub- 
licans, and  sneer  at  the  idea  of  a  limited  monarchy,  but  they 
declare  that  there  is  no  republic  so  safe,  so  equal  for  all  men, 


U.fi 


198 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


!,   •» 


\   '. 


I;l: 


so  purely  democratic  as  that  now  existinpf  in  France.  Under 
the  French  empire  all  men  arc  equal.  Tlierc  is  no  aristocracy; 
no  oligarchy  ;  no  overshadowing  of  the  little  by  the  great.  One 
superior  is  admitted ; — admitted  on  earth,  as  a  superior  is  also 
admitted  in  heaven.  Under  him  everything  is  level,  and — pro- 
vided he  be  not  impeded — everything  is  free.  He  knows  how 
to  rule,  and  the  nation,  allowing  him  the  privilege  of  doing  so, 
can  go  along  its  course  safely ; — can  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 
If  few  men  can  rise  high,  so  also  can  few  men  fall  low.  Polit- 
ical equality  is  the  one  thing  desirable  in  a  commonwealth,  and 
by  this  arrangement  political  equality  is  obtained.  Such  is  the 
modern  creed  of  many  an  educated  republican  of  the  States. 

To  me  it  seems  that  such  a  political  state  is  about  the  vilest 
to  which  a  man  can  descend.  It  amounts  to  a  tacit  abandon- 
ment of  the  struggle  which  men  are  making  for  political  truth 
and  political  beneficence,  in  order  that  bread  and  meat  may  be 
eaten  in  peace  during  the  score  of  years  or  so  that  are  at  the 
moment  passing  over  us.  The  politicians  of  this  class  have 
decided  for  themselves  that  the  summum  boiium  is  to  be  found 
in  bread  and  the  circus  games.  If  they  be  free  to  eat,  free  to 
rest,  free  to  sleep,  free  to  drink  little  cups  of  coffee  while  the 
world  passes  before  them  on  a  boulevard,  they  have  that  free- 
dom which  they  covet.  But  equality  is  necessary  as  well  as 
freedom.  There  must  be  no  towering  trees  in  this  parterre  to 
overshadow  the  clipped  shrubs,  and  destroy  the  uniformity  of 
a  growth  which  should  never  mount  more  than  two  feet  above 
the  earth.  The  equality  of  this  politician  would  forbid  any  to 
rise  above  him  instead  of  inviting  all  to  rise  up  to  him.  It  is 
the  equality  of  fear  and  of  selfishness,  and  not  the  equality  of 
courage  and  philanthropy.  And  brotherhood  too  must  be  in- 
voked,— fraternity  as  we  may  better  call  it  in  the  jargon  of  the 
school.  Such  politicians  tell  one  much  of  fraternity,  and  de- 
fine it  too.  It  consists  in  a  general  raising  of  the  hat  to  all 
mankind ;  in  a  daily  walk  that  never  hurries  itself  into  a  jos- 
tling trot,  inconvenient  to  passengers  on  the  pavement ; — in  a 
placid  voice,  a  soft  smile,  and  a  small  cup  of  coffee  on  a  boule- 
vard. It  means  all  this,  but  I  could  never  find  that  it  meant 
any  more.  There  is  a  nation  for  which  one  is  almost  driven 
to  think  that  such  political  aspirations  as  these  are  suitable; 
but  that  nation  is  certainly  not  the  States  of  America. 

And  yet  one  finds  many  American  gentlemen  who  have  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  drifted  into  such  a  theory.  They  have 
begun  the  world  as  republican  citizens,  and  as  such  they  must 
go  on.    But  in  their  travels  and  theii*  studies,  and  in  the  luxu- 


NEW  YORK. 


109 


ry  of  their  life,  they  have  learned  to  dislike  the  rowdiness  of 
tlicir  country's  politics.  They  want  things  to  be  soft  and  easy 
— as  republican  as  you  please,  but  with  as  little  noise  as  possi- 
ble. The  President  is  there  for  four  years.  Why  not  elect  him 
for  eight,  for  twelve,  or  for  life  ? — for  eternity  if  it  were  possi- 
ble to  find  one  who  could  continue  to  live?  It  is  to  this  way 
of  thinking  that  Americans  are  driven,  when  the  polish  of  Eu- 
rope has  made  the  roughness  of  their  own  elections  odious  to 
them. 

"  Have  you  seen  any  of  our  great  institootions,  sir  ?"  That 
of  course  is  a  question,  which  is  put  to  every  Englishman  who 
has  visited  New  York,  and  the  Englishman  wlio  intends  to 
say  that  he  has  seen  New  York,  should  visit  many  of  them.  I 
went  to  schools,  hospitals,  lunatic  asylums,  institutes  for  deaf 
and  dumb,  water  works,  historical  societies,  telegraph  offices, 
and  large  commercial  establishments.  I  rather  think  that  I  did 
my  work  in  a  thorough  and  conscientious  manner,  and  I  owe 
much  gratitude  to  those  who  guided  me  on  such  occasions. 
Perhaps  I  ought  to  describe  all  these  institutions ;  but  were  I 
to  do  so,  I  fear  that  I  should  inflict  fifty  or  sixty  very  dull  pages 
on  my  readers.  If  I  could  make  all  that  I  saw  as  clear  and  in- 
telligible to  others  as  it  was  made  to  me  who  saw  it,  I  might  do 
some  good.  But  I  know  that  I  should  fail.  I  marvelled  much 
at  the  developed  intelligence  of  a  room  full  of  deaf  and  dumb 
pupils,  and  was  greatly  astonished  at  the  performance  of  one 
special  girl,  who  seemed  to  be  brighter  and  quicker,  and  more 
rapidly  easy  with  her  pen  than  girls  generally  are  who  can  hear 
and  talk ;  but  I  cannot  convey  my  enthusiasm  to  others.  On 
such  a  subject  a  writer  may  be  correct,  may  be  exhaustive,  may 
be  statistically  great ;  but  he  can  hardly  be  entertaining,  and 
the  chances  are  that  he  will  not  be  instructive. 

In  all  such  matters,  however,  New  York  is  pre-eminently 
great.  All  through  the  States  suffering  humanity  receives  so 
much  attention  that  humanity  can  hardly  be  said  to  suffer.  The 
daily  recurring  boast  of  "  our  glorious  institootions,  sir,"  always 
provokes  the  ridicule  of  an  Englishman.  The  words  have  be- 
come ridiculous,  and  it  would,  I  think,  be  well  for  the  nation  if 
the  term  *'  Institution"  could  be  excluded  from  its  vocabulary. 
But,  in  truth,  they  are  glorious.  The  country  in  this  respect 
boasts,  but  it  has  done  that  which  justifies  a  boast.  The  ar- 
rangements for  supplying  New  York  with  water  are  magnifi- 
cent. The  drainage  of  the  new  part  of  the  city  is  excellent. 
The  hospitals  are  almost  alluring.  The  lunatic  asylum  which  I 
saw  was  perfect, — though  I  did  not  feel  obliged  to  the  resident 


<t 


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1 
I' 


200 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I    '. 


physician  for  introducinpj  mc  to  .ill  the  worst  patients  as  coun- 
trymen of  my  own.  "An  English  lady,  Mr.  Irollopo.  I'll  in- 
introduco  you.  Quito  a  hopeless  case.  Two  old  women. 
They've  been  here  fitly  years.  They're  English.  Another  gen- 
tleman from  England,  Mr.  Trollope.  A  very  interesting  case ! 
Confirmed  inebriety." 

And  as  to  the  schools,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  mention 
them  with  too  high  a  praise.  I  am  speaking  here  specially  of 
New  York,  though  I  might  say  the  same  of  Boston,  or  of  all 
New  England.  I  do  not  know  any  contrast  that  would  be 
more  surprising  to  an  Englishman,  up  to  that  moment  igno- 
rant of  the  matter,  than  that  which  ho  would  find  by  visiting 
first  of  all  a  free  school  in  London,  and  then  a  free  school  in 
New  York.  If  ho  would  also  learn  the  number  of  children 
that  are  educated  gratuitously  in  each  of  the  two  cities,  and 
also  the  number  in  each  which  altogether  lack  education,  he 
would,  if  susceptible  of  statistics,  be  surprised  also  at  that. 
But  seeing  and  hearing  are  always  more  effective  than  mere 
figures.  The  female  pupil  at  a  free  school  in  London  is,  as  a 
rule,  either  a  ragged  pauper,  or  a  charity  girl,  if  not  degraded 
at  least  stigmatized  by  the  badges  and  dress  of  the  Charity. 
We  Englishmen  know  well  the  type  of  each,  and  have  a  fairly 
correct  idea  of  the  amount  of  education  which  is  imparted  to 
them.  We  see  the  result  aflerwards  when  the  same  girls  be- 
come our  servants,  and  the  wives  of  our  grooms  and  porters. 
The  female  pupil  at  a  free  school  in  New  York  is  neither  a 
pauper  nor  a  charity  girl.  She  is  dressed  with  the  utmost  de- 
cency. She  is  perfectly  cleanly.  In  speaking  to  her,  you  can- 
not in  any  degree  guess  whether  her  father  has  a  dollar  a  day, 
or  three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Nor  will  you  be  enabled  to 
guess  by  the  manner  in  which  her  associates  treat  her.  As  re- 
gards her  own  manner  to  you,  it  is  always  the  same  as  though 
her  father  were  in  all  respects  your  equal.  As  to  the  amount 
of  her  knowledge,  I  fairly  confess  that  it  is  terrific.  When,  in 
the  first  room  which  I  visited,  a  slight  slim  creature  was  had 
up  before  me  to  explain  to  me  the  properties  of  the  hypothe- 
nuse  I  fairly  confess  t.iat,  as  regards  education,  I  backed  down, 
and  that  I  resolved  to  confine  my  criticisms  to  manner,  dress, 
and  general  behaviour.  In  the  next  room  I  ^^as  more  at  my 
ease,  finding  that  ancient  Roman  history  was  on  the  tapis. 
"  Why  did  the  Romans  run  away  with  the  Sabine  women  ?" 
asked  the  mistress,  herself  a  pretty  woman  of  about  three-and- 
twenty.  "Because  they  were  pretty,"  simpered  out  a  little 
girl  with  a  cherry  mouth.    The  answer  did  not  give  complete 


NEW   YORK. 


201 


Ratisfaction ;  and  then  followetl  a  somewliat  abstruse  explana- 
tion on  the  subject  of  j)opulation.  It  was  all  done  with  jjjood 
faith  and  a  serious  intent,  and  showed  what  it  was  intended  to 
show, — that  the  girls  there  educated  had  in  truth  reached  tho 
consideration  of  important  subjects,  and  that  they  were  leagues 
beyond  that  terrible  repetition  of  A  li  C,  to  which,  I  fear,  that 
most  of  our  free  metropolitan  schools  are  still  necessarily  con- 
fined. You  and  I,  reader,  were  wo  called  on  to  supermtend 
the  education  of  girls  of  sixteen,  might  not  select  as  favourite 
points  either  tho  hypothenuse,  or  tho  ancient  methods  of  pop- 
ulating young  colonies.  There  may  be,  and  to  us  on  the  Eu- 
ropean side  of  tho  Atlantic  there  will  be,  a  certain  amount  of 
absurdity  in  tho  transatlantic  idea  that  all  knowledge  is  knowl- 
edge, and  that  it  should  be  imparted  if  it  be  not  knowledge  of 
evil.  But  as  to  the  general  result,  no  fair-minded  man  or  wo- 
man can  have  a  doubt.  That  the  lads  and  girls  in  these  schools 
are  excellently  educated  comes  home  as  a  fact  to  the  mind  of 
any  one  who  will  look  into  tho  subject.  That  girl  could  not 
have  got  as  far  as  the  hypothenuse  without  a  competent  and 
abiding  knowledge  of  much  that  is  veiy  far  beyond  the  outside 
limits  of  what  such  girls  know  with  us.  It  was  at  least  mani- 
fest in  the  other  examination  that  the  girls  knew  as  well  as  I 
did  who  were  the  Romans,  and  who  were  the  Sabine  women. 
That  all  this  is  of  use,  was  shown  in  the  very  gestures  and 
bearings  of  the  girl.  JEmoUit  moreSj  as  Colonel  Newcombo 
used  to  say.  That  young  woman  whom  I  had  watched  while 
she  cooked  her  husband's  dinner  upon  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, had  doubtless  learned  all  about  the  Sabine  women,  and 
I  feel  assured  that  she  cooked  her  husband's  dinner  all  the  bet- 
ter for  that  knowledge, — and  faced  the  hardships  of  the  world 
with  a  better  front  than  she  would  have  done  had  she  been  ig- 
norant on  the  subject. 

In  order  to  make  a  comparison  between  the  schools  of  Lon- 
don and  those  of  New  York,  I  have  called  them  both  free 
schools.  They*  are  in  fact  more  free  in  New  York  than  they 
are  in  London,  because  in  New  York  every  boy  and  girl,  let  his 
parentage  be  what  it  may,  can  attend  these  schools  without  any 
payment.  Thus  an  education  as  good  as  the  American  mind 
can  compass,  prepared  with  every  care,  carried  on  by  highly 
paid  tutors,  under  ample  surveillance,  provided  with  all  that  is 
most  excellent  in  the  way  of  rooms,  desks,  books,  charts,  maps, 
and  implements,  is  brought  actually  within  the  reach  of  every- 
body. I  need  not  point  out  to  Englishmen  how  different  is  the 
nature  of  schools  in  London.    It  must  not,  however,  be  sup- 

12 


•'I 


1 

* 

* 

1 

j 

I 

I 

1 

« .■ 


(i 


T 


202 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


I 


'  \ 


Fofied  that  these  nro  charity  schools.  Sucli  is  not  their  nature. 
iOt  \iH  Hiiy  wliat  we  may  as  to  the  beauty  of  charity  as  a  vir- 
tue, the  recipient  of  charity  in  its  customary  sense  among  us  is 
ever  more  or  less  degraded  by  the  position.  In  the  States  that 
has  been  fully  understood,  and  the  schools  to  which  I  allude 
are  carefully  preserved  from  any  such  taint.  Throughout  the 
States  a  8ei)arate  tax  is  levied  for  the  maintenance  of  these 
schools,  and  as  the  tax-payer  supports  them,  he  is  of  course  en- 
titled to  the  advantage  which  they  confer.  The  child  of  the 
non-tax-payer  is  also  entitled,  and  to  him  the  boon,  if  strictly 
analysed,  will  come  in  the  shape  of  a  charity.  But  under  the 
system  as  it  is  arranged,  this  is  not  analysed.  It  is  understood 
that  the  school  is  open  to  all  in  the  ward  to  which  it  belongs, 
and  no  inquiry  is  made  whether  the  pupil's  parent  has  or  has 
rot  paid  anything  towards  the  school's  support.  I  found  this 
theory  carried  out  so  far  that  at  the  deaf  and  dumb  school, 
where  some  of  the  poorer  children  are  wholly  provided  by  the 
institution,  care  is  taken  to  clothe  them  in  dresses  of  difterent 
colours  and  different  make,  in  order  that  nothing  may  attach 
to  them  which  has  the  appearance  of  a  badge.  Political  econ- 
omists will  see  something  of  evil  in  this.  But  philanthropists 
will  see  very  much  that  is  good. 

It  is  not  without  a  purpose  that  I  have  given  this  somewhat 
glowing  account  of  a  girls'  school  in  New  York  so  soon  after 
my  little  picture  of  New  York  women,  as  they  behave  them- 
selves in  the  streets  and  street  cars.  It  will,  of  course,  be  said 
that  those  women  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  by  no  means  in  terms 
of  admiration,  are  the  very  girls  whose  education  has  been  so 
excellent.  This  of  course  is  so ;  but  I  beg  to  remark  that  I 
have  by  no  means  said  that  an  excellent  school  education  will 
produce  all  female  excellences.  The  fact,  I  take  it  is  this, — 
that  seeing  how  high  in  the  scale  these  girls  have  been  raised, 
one  is  anxious  that  they  should  be  raised  higher.  One  is  sur- 
prised at  their  pert  vulgarity  and  hideous  airs,  not  because  they 
are  so  low  in  our  general  estimation  but  becaase  they  are  so 
high.  Women  of  the  same  class  in  London  are  humble  enough, 
and  therefore  rarely  offend  us  who  are  squeamish.  They  show 
by  their  gestures  that  they  hardly  think  themselves  good  enough 
to  sit  by  lis ;  they  apologise  for  their  presence ;  they  conceive 
it  to  be  their  duty  to  be  lowly  in  their  gestures.  The  question 
is  which  is  best,  the  crouching  and  crawling,  or  the  impudent 
unattractive  self-composure.  Not,  my  reader,  which  action  on 
her  part  may  the  better  conduce  to  my  comfort  or  to  yours ! 
That  is  by  no  means  the  question.    Which  is  the  better  for  the 


NEW    YORK. 


203 


I 


woman  liorsolf?  Tliat  I  tako  it  is  tho  point  to  bo  (looidod. 
That  there  is  somethinj^  better  than  cither  wo  rIkiII  all  ai^reo; — 
but  to  my  tliinkinj^  tho  crouehing  and  erawling  is  the  lowest 
typo  of  all. 

At  that  school  I  saw  some  five  or  six  liuncbed  girls  collected 
in  one  room,  and  lieard  them  sing.  Tho  singing  was  very 
j)retty,  and  it  was  all  very  nice ;  but  I  own  that  1  was  rather 
startled,  and  to  tell  tho  truth  somewhat  abashed,  when  I  was 
invited  to  "  say  a  few  words  to  them."  No  idea  of  such  a  sug- 
gestion had  dawned  upon  me,  and  I  felt  myself  quite  at  a  loss. 
To  bo  called  up  before  tivo  hundred  men  is  bad  enough,  but 
how  much  worse  before  that  number  of  girls !  What  could  I 
say  but  that  they  were  all  very  pretty  ?  As  far  as  I  can  re- 
member I  did  say  that  and  nothing  else.  Very  pretty  thcv 
wore,  and  neatly  dressed,  and  attractive ;  but  among  them  all 
there  was  not  a  pair  of  rosy  cheeks.  How  should  there  be, 
when  every  room  in  tho  building  was  lieated  up  to  tho  condi- 
tion of  an  oven  by  those  damnable  liot-air  pipes  I 

In  England  a  tasto  for  very  large  shops  has  come  up  during 
the  last  twenty  years.  A  firm  is  not  doing  a  good  business, 
or  at  any  rate  a  distinguished  business,  unless  ho  can  assert  in 
his  trade  card  that  he  occupies  at  least  half  a  dozen  liouses — 
Nos.  105,  100,  107,  108,  109,  and  110.  The  old  way  of  paying 
for  what  you  want  over  tho  counter  is  gone ;  and  when  you 
buy  a  yard  of  tape  or  a  new  carriage, — for  either  of  wliich  ar- 
ticles you  will  probably  visit  the  same  establishment, — you  go 
through  about  tho  same  amount  of  ceremony  as  when  you  sell 
a  thousand  pounds  out  of  tho  stocks  in  ])ropria  personL  But 
all  this  is  still  further  exaggerated  in  New  York.  Mr.  Stewart's 
store  there  is  perhaps  the  handsomest  institution  in  the  city, 
and  his  hall  of  audience  for  new  carpets  is  a  magnificent  saloon. 
"  You  have  nothing  like  that  in  England,"  my  friend  said  to 
me  as  he  walked  me  through  it  in  triumph.  "  I  wish  we  had  no- 
thing approaching  to  it,"  I  answered.  For  I  confess  to  a  liking 
for  the  old-fashioned  private  shops.  Harper's  establishment  for 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  books  is  also  very  wonderful. 
Everything  is  done  on  the  premises,  down  to  the  very  colour- 
ing of  the  paper  which  lines  the  covers,  and  places  the  gilding 
on  their  backs.  The  firm  prints,  engraves,  electroplates,  sews, 
binds,  publishes,  and  sells  wholesale  and  retail.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  authors  have  rooms  in  the  attics  where  tho 
other  slight  initiatory  step  is  taken  towards  the  production 
of  literature, 
r    New  York  is  built  upon  an  island,  which  is  I  believe  about 


fy 


Vi, 


X.) 


i 


♦ .' 


.** 


?  , 


Kt 


n 


il 


I.,: 


'i-l! 


204 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i'< 


^ 


I 


ten  miles  long,  counting  from  the  Bouthern  point  at  the  Battery 
up  to  Carmansvillc,  to  which  place  the  city  is  presumed  to  ex- 
tend northwards.  This  island  is  called  Manhattan, — a  name 
which  I  have  always  thought  would  have  been  more  graceful 
for  the  city  than  that  of  New  York.  It  is  formed  by  the  Sound 
or  East  river,  which  divides  the  continent  from  Long  Island, 
by  t/he  Hudson  river  which  runs  into  the  Sound  or  rather  joins 
it  at  the  city  foot,  and  by  a  small  stream  called  the  Haarlem  river 
which  runs  out  of  the  Hudson  and  meanders  away  into  the 
Sound  at  the  north  of  the  city,  thus  cutting  the  city  off  from 
the  mair  land.  The  breadth  of  the  island  does  not  much  ex- 
ceed two  miles,  and  therefore  the  city  is  long,  and  not  capable 
of  extension  in  point  of  breadth.  In  its  old  days  it  clustered 
itself  round  about  the  Point,  and  stretched  itself  up  from  there 
along  the  quays  of  the  two  waters.  The  streets  down  in  this 
part  of  the  town  are  devious  enough,  twisting  themselves  about 
with  delightful  irregularity;  but  as  the  city  grew  there  came 
the  taste  for  parallelograms,  and  the  upper  streets  are  rectangu- 
lar and  numbered.  Broadway,  the  street  of  New  York  with 
which  the  world  is  generally  best  acquainted,  begins  at  the 
southern  point  of  the  town  and  goes  northward  through  it. 
For  some  two  miles  and  a  half  it  walks  away  in  a  straight  line, 
and  then  it  turns  to  the  left  towards  the  Hudson,  and  becomes  in 
fact  a  continuation  of  another  street  called  the  Bowery,  which 
comes  up  in  a  devious  course  from  the  south-east  extremity  of 
the  island.  From  that  time  Broadway  never  again  takes  a 
straight  course,  but  crosses  the  various  Avenues  in  an  oblique 
direction  till  it  becomes  the  Bloomingdale  road,  and  under 
that  name  takes  itself  out  of  town.  There  are  eleven  so-called 
Avenues,  which  descend  in  absolutely  straight  lines  from  the 
northern,  and  at  present  unsettled,  extremity  of  the  new  town, 
making  their  way  southward  till  they  lose  themselves  among 
the  old  streets.  These  are  called  First  Avenue,  Second  Ave- 
nue, and  so  on.  The  town  had  already  progressed  two  miles 
up  northwards  from  the  Battery  before  it  had  caught  the  par- 
allelogrammic  fever  from  Philadelphia,  for  at  about  that  dis- 
tance we  find  "First  Street."  First  Street  runs  across  the 
Avenues  from  water  to  water,  and  then  Second  Street.  I  will 
not  name  them  all,  seeing  that  they  go  up  to  154th  Street  I 
They  do  so  at  least  on  the  map,  and  I  believe  on  the  lamp- 
posts. But  the  houses  are  not  yet  built  in  order  beyond  60th 
or  60th  Street.  The  other  hundred  streets,  each  of  two  miles 
long,  with  the  Avenues,  which  are  mostly  unoccupied  for  four 
or  five  miles,  is  the  ground  over  which  the  young  New  York- 


.«m-a«j*i«i*r<*i  ■ 


NEW  YORK. 


205 


era  are  to  spread  themselves.  I  do  not  in  the  least  doubt  that 
they  will  occupy  it  all,  and  that  154th  Street  will  find  itself  too 
narrow  a  boundary  for  the  population. 

I  have  said  that  there  was  some  good  architectural  effect  in 
New  York,  and  I  alluded  chiefly  to  that  of  the  Fifth  Avenue. 
The  Fifth  Avenue  is  the  Belgrave  Square,  the  Park  Lane,  and 
the  Pall  Mall  of  New  York.  It  is  certainly  a  very  fine  street. 
The  houses  in  it  are  magnificent,  not  having  that  aristocratic 
look  which  some  of  our  detached  London  residences  enjoy,  or 
the  palatial  appearance  of  an  old-fashioned  hotel  in  Paris,  but 
an  air  of  comfortable  luxury  and  commercial  wealth  which  is 
not  excelled  by  the  best  houses  of  any  other  town  that  I  know. 
They  are  houses,  not  hotels  or  palaces ;  but  they  are  very  roomy 
houses,  with  every  luxury  that  complete  finish  can  give  them. 
Many  of  them  cover  large  spaces  of  ground,  and  their  rent  will 
sometimes  go  up  as  high  as  800/.  and  1000/.  a  year.  Generally 
the  best  of  these  houses  are  owned  by  those  who  live  in  them, 
and  rent  is  not  therefore  paid.  But  this  is  not  always  the  case, 
and  the  sums  named  above  may  be  taken  as  expressing  their 
value.  In  England  a  man  should  have  a  very  large  income  indeed 
who  could  afford  to  pay  1000/.  a  year  for  his  house  in  London. 
Such  a  one  would  as  a  matter  of  course  have  an  establishment  in 
the  country,  and  be  an  Earl  or  a  Duke  or  a  millionaire.  But 
it  is  different  in  New  York.  The  resident  there  shows  his 
wealth  chiefly  by  his  house,  and  though  he  may  probably  have 
a  villa  at  Newport  or  a  box  somewhere  up  th«  Hudson  he  has 
no  second  establishment.  Such  a  house  therefore  will  not  rep- 
resent a  total  expenditure  of  above  4,000/.  a  year. 

There  are  c'iiurches  on  each  side  of  Fifth  Avenue, — perhaps 
five  or  six  within  sight  at  one  time, — which  add  much  to  the 
beauty  of  the  street.  They  are  well-built,  and  in  fairly  good 
taste.  These,  added  to  the  general  well-being  and  splendid 
comfort  of  the  place,  give  it  an  effect  better  than  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  individual  houses  would  seem  to  warrant.  I 
own  that  I  have  enjoyed  the  vista  as  I  have  walked  up  and 
down  Fifth  Avenue,  and  have  felt  that  the  city  had  a  right  to 
be  proud  of  its  wealth.  But  the  greatness  and  beauty  and 
glory  of  wealth  have  on  such  occasions  been  all  in  all  with 
me.  I  know  no  great  man,  no  celebrated  statesman,  no  phil- 
anthropist of  peculiar  note  who  has  lived  in  Fifth  Avenue. 
That  gentleman  on  the  right  made  a  million  of  dollars  by  in- 
venting a  shirt-collar ;  this  one  on  the  left  electrified  the  world 
by  a  lotion ;  as  to  the  gentleman  at  the  corner  there, — there 
are  rumours  about  him  and  the  Cuban  slave-trade ;  but  my  in- 


Cl  •'' 


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h/  ,^ 


206 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


1 


r. 


ii      '•* 


W' 


formaut  by  no  means  knows  that  they  are  true.  Such  are  the 
aristocracy  of  Fifth  Avenue.  I  can  only  say  that  if  I  could 
make  a  million  dollars  by  a  lotion,  I  should  certainly  be  right  to 
live  in  such  a  house  as  one  of  those. 

The  suburbs  of  New  York  are,  by  the  nature  of  the  locali- 
ties, divided  from  the  city  by  water.  New  Jersey  and  Hobo- 
ken  are  on  the  other  side  of  the  Hudson,  and  in  another  State. 
Williamsburgh  and  Brooklyn  are  in  Long  Island,  which  is  a 
part  of  the  State  of  New  York.  But  these  places  are  as  easily 
reached  as  Lambeth  is  reached  from  Westminster.  Steam  fer- 
ries ply  every  three  or  four  minutes,  and  into  these  boats  coaches, 
carts,  and  waggons  of  any  size  or  weight  are  driven.  In  fact 
they  make  no  other  stoppage  to  the  commerce  than  that  occa- 
sioned by  the  payment  of  a  few  cents.  Such  payment  no  doubt 
is  a  stoppage,  and  therefore  it  is  that  New  Jersey,  Brooklyn, 
and  Williamsburgh  are,  at  any  rate  in  appearance,  very  dull 
and  uninviting.  They  are,  however,  very  populous.  Many 
of  t*he  quieter  citizens  prefer  to  live  there ;  and  I  am  told  that 
the  Brooklyn  tea-parties  consider  themselves  to  be,  in  aesthetic 
feeling,  very  much  ahead  of  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  more 
cpulent  centres  of  the  city.  In  beauty  of  scenery  Staten 
Island  is  very  much  the  prettiest  of  the  suburbs  of  New 
York.  The  view  from  the  hill  side  in  Staten  Island  down  upon 
New  York  harbour  is  very  lovely.  It  is  the  only  really  good 
view  of  that  magnificent  harbour  which  I  have  been  able  to 
find.  As  for  appreciating  such  beauty  when  one  is  entering  a 
port  from  sea,  or  leaving  it  for  sea,  I  do  not  believe  in  any  such 
power.  The  ship  creeps  up  or  creeps  out  while  the  mind  is 
engaged  on  other  matters.  The  passenger  is  uneasy  either 
with  hopes  or  fears ;  and  then  the  grease  of  the  engines  offends 
one's  nostrils.  But  it  is  worth  the  tourist's  while  to  look  down 
upon  New  York  harbour  from  the  hill  side  in  Staten  Island. 
When  I  was  there.  Fort  Lafayette  looked  black  in  the  centre 
of  the  channel,  and  we  knew  that  it  was  crowded  with  the 
victims  of  secession.  Fort  Tompkins  was  being  built,  to  guard 
the  pass, — worthy  of  a  name  of  richer  sound ;  and  Fort  some- 
thing else  was  bristhng  with  new  canon.  Fort  Hamilton,  on 
Long  Island,  opposite,  was  frowning  at  us ;  and  immediately 
around  us  a  regiment  of  volunteers  was  receiving  regimental 
stocks  and  boots  from  the  hands  of  its  officers.  Everything 
was  bristling  with  war ;  and  one  could  not  but  think  that  not 
in  this  way  had  New  York  raised  herself  so  quickly  to  her 
present  greatness. 

But  the  glory  of  New  York  is  the  Central  Park ; — its  glory 


NEW   YORK. 


207 


in  the  mind  of  all  New  Yorkers  of  the  present  clay.  The  first 
question  asked  of  you  is  whether  you  have  seen  the  Central 
Park,  and  the  second  is  as  to  what  you  think  of  it.  It  does 
not  do  to  say  simply  that  it  is  fine,  grand,  beautiful,  and  mirac- 
ulous. You  must  swear  by  cock  and  pie  that  it  is  more  fine, 
more  grand,  more  beautiful,  more  miraculous  than  anything 
else  of  the  kind  anywhere.  Here  you  encounter,  in  its  most 
annoying  form,  that  necessity  for  eulogium  which  presses  you 
everywhere.  For,  in  truth,  taken  as  it  is  at  present,  the  Cen- 
tral Park  is  not  fine,  nor  grand,  nor  beautiful.  As  to  the  mir- 
acle, let  that  pass.  It  is  perhaps  as  miraculous  as  some  other 
great  latter-day  miracles. 

But  the  Central  Park  is  a  very  great  fact,  and  aflTords  a 
strong  additional  proof  of  the  sense  and  energy  of  the  people. 
It  is  very  large,  being  over  three  miles  long,  and  about  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  in  breadth.  When  it  was  found  that  New 
York  was  extending  itself,  and  becoming  one  of  the  largest 
cities  of  the  world,  a  space  was  selected  between  Fifth  and 
Seventh  Avenues,  immediately  outside  the  limits  of  the  city  as 
then  built,  but  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  city  as  it  is  intended 
to  be  built.  The  ground  around  it  became  at  once  of  great 
value ;  and  I  ilo  not  doubt  that  the  present  fashion  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue  about  Twentieth  Street  will  in  course  of  time  move 
itself  up  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  as  it  looks,  or  will  look,  over  the 
Park  at  Seventieth,  Eightieth,  and  Ninetieth  Streets.  The 
great  waterworks  of  the  city  bring  the  Croton  River,  whence 
New  York  is  supplied,  by  an  aqueduct  over  the  Haarlem  river 
into  an  enormous  reservoir  just  above  the  Park;  and  hence  it 
has  come  to  pass  that  there  will  be  water  not  only  for  sanitary 
and  useful  purposes,  but  also  for  ornament.  At  present  the 
Park,  to  English  eyes,  seems  to  be  all  road.  The  trees  are  not 
grown  up,  and  the  new  embankments,  and  new  lakes,  and  new 
ditches,  and  new  paths  give  to  the  place  anything  but  a  pic- 
turesque appearance.  The  Central  Park  is  good  for  what  it 
will  be,  rather  than  for  what  it  is.  The  summer  heat  is  so 
very  great  that  I  doubt  much  whether  the  people  of  New 
York  will  ever  enjoy  such  verdure  as  our  parks  show.  But 
there  will  be  a  pleasant  assemblage  of  walks  and  water-works, 
with  fresh  air,  and  fine  shrubs  and  flowers,  immediately  within 
the  reach  of  the  citizens.  All  that  art  and  energy  can  do  will 
be  done,  and  the  Central  Park  doubtless  will  become  one  of 
the  great  glories  of  New  York.  When  I  was  expected  to  de- 
clare that  St.  James's  Park,  Green  Park,  Hyde  Park,  and  Ken- 
sington Gardens,  altogether,  were  nothing  to  it,  I  confess  that 
I  could  only  remain  mute. 


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1 1 

.J 

'ii 

208 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I  I    I 

m 


m 


Those  who  desire  to  learn  what  are  the  secrets  of  society  in 
New  York,  I  would  refer  to  the  Potiphar  Papers.  The  Poti- 
phar  Papers  are  perhaps  not  as  well  known  in  England  as  they 
deserve  to  be.  They  were  published,  I  think,  as  much  as  seven 
or  eight  years  ago ;  but  are  probably  as  true  now  as  they  were 
then.  What  I  saw  of  society  in  New  York  was  quiet  and 
pleasant  enough ;  but  doubtless  I  did  not  climb  into  that  circle 
in  which  Mrs.  Potiphar  held  so  distinguished  a  position.  It 
may  be  true  that  gentlemen  habitually  throw  fragments  of 
their  supper  and  remnants  of  their  wine  on  to  their  host's  car- 
pets ;  but  if  so  I  did  not  see  it. 

As  I  progress  in  my  work  I  feel  that  duty  will  call  upon  me 
to  write  a  separate  chapter  on  hotels  in  general,  and  I  will  not, 
therefore,  here  say  much  about  those  in  New  York.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  few  towns  in  the  world,  if  any,  afford  on 
the  whole  better  accommodation,  but  there  are  many  in  which 
the  accommodation  is  cheaper.  Of  the  railways  also  I  ought 
to  say  something.  The  fact  respecting  them  which  is  most  re- 
markable is  that  of  their  being  continued  into  the  centre  of 
the  town  through  the  streets.  The  cars  are  not  dragged 
through  the  city  by  locomotive  engines,  but  by  horses;  the 
pace  therefore  is  slow,  but  the  convenience  to  travellers  in  be- 
ing brought  nearer  to  the  centre  of  trade  must  be  much  felt. 
It  is  as  though  passengers  from  Liverpool  and  passengers  from 
Bristol  were  carried  on  from  Euston  Square  and  Paddington 
along  the  New  Road,  Portland  Place,  and  Regent  Street  to 
Pall  Mall,  or  up  the  City  Road  to  the  Bank.  As  a  general 
rule,  however,  the  railways,  railway  cars,  and  all  about  them 
are  ill-managed.  They  are  monopolies,  and  the  public,  through 
the  press,  has  no  restraining  power  upon  them  as  it  has  in  En- 
gland. A  parcel  sent  by  express  over  a  distance  of  forty  miles 
will  not  be  delivered  within  twenty-four  hours.  I  once  made 
my  plaint  on  this  subject  at  the  bar  or  office  of  an  hotel,  and 
was  told  that  no  remonstrance  was  of  avail.  "  It  is  a  monop- 
oly," the  man  told  me,  "  and  if  we  say  anything,  we  are  told 
that  if  we  do  not  like  it  we  need  not  use  it."  In  railway  mat- 
ters and  postal  matters  time  and  punctuality  are  not  valued  in 
the  States  as  they  are  with  us,  and  the  public  seem  to  acknowl- 
edge that  they  must  put  up  with  defects, — that  they  must  grin 
and  bear  tbem  in  America,  as  the  public  no  doubt  do  in  Aus- 
tria where  such  affairs  are  managed  by  a  government  bureau. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  I  spoke  of  the  population 
of  New  York,  and  I  cannot  end  it  without  remarking  that  out 
of  that  population  more  than  one-eighth  is  composed  of  Ger- 


THE  CONSTITUnON   OP  THE   STATE   OP   NEW   YORK.       209 

mans.  It  is,  I  believe,  computed  that  there  are  about  120,000 
Germans  in  the  city,  and  that  only  two  other  German  cities  iu 
the  world,  Vienna  and  Berlin,  have  a  larger  German  popula- 
tion than  New  York.  The  Germans  are  good  citizens  and 
thriving  men,  and  are  to  be  found  prospering  all  over  the 
northern  and  western  parts  of  the  Union.  It  seems  that  they 
are  excellently  well  adapted  to  colonization,  though  they  have 
in  no  instance  become  the  dominant  people  in  a  colony,  or  car- 
ried with  them  their  own  language  or  their  own  laws.  The 
French  have  done  so  in  Algeria,  in  some  of  the  West  India 
islands,  and  quite  as  essentially  into  Lower  Canada,  where  their 
language  and  laws  still  prevail.  And  yet  it  is,  I  think,  beyond 
doubt  that  the  French  are  not  good  colonists,  as  are  the  Ger- 
mans. 

Of  the  ultimate  destiny  of  New  York  as  one  of  the  ruling 
commercial  cities  of  the  world,  it  is,  I  think,  impossible  to 
doubt.  Whether  or  no  it  will  ever  equal  London  in  popula- 
tion I  will  not  pretend  to  say.  Even  should  it  do  so,  should 
its  numbers  so  increase  as  to  enable  it  to  say  that  it  had  done 
so,  the  question  could  not  vbry  well  be  settled.  When  it 
comes  to  pass  that  an  assemblage  of  men  in  one  so-called  city 
have  to  be  counted  by  millions,  there  arises  the  impossibility 
of  defining  the  limits  of  that  city,  and  of  saying  who  belong  to 
it  and  who  do  not.  An  arbitrary  line  may  be  drawn,  but  that 
arbitrary  line,  though  perhaps  false  when  drawn  as  including 
too  much,  soon  becomes  more  false  as  including  too  little. 
Ealing,  Acton,  Fulham,  Putney,  Norwood,  Sydenham,  Black- 
heath,  Woolwich,  Greenwich,  Stratford,  Highgate,  and  Hamp- 
stead,  are,  in  truth,  component  parts  of  Loudon,  and  very 
shortly  Brighton  will  be  as  much  so.  ^ 


if 


T 


i'   I «       i: 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Hi 


THE   CONSTTniTION   OP  THE   STATE   OP  NEW  YORK. 

As  New  York  is  the  most  populous  State  of  the  Union,  hav- 
ing the  largest  representation  in  Congress, — on  which  account 
it  has  been  called  the  Empire  State, — I  propose  to  mention,  as 
shortly  as  may  be,  the  nature  of  its  separate  Constitution  as  a 
State.  Of  course  it  will  be  understood  that  the  constitutions 
of  the  different  States  are  by  no  means  the  same.  They  have 
been  arranged  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  different  peo- 
ple concerned,  and  have  been  altered  from  time  to  time  to  suit 
such  altered  judgment.    But  as  the  States  together  form  one 


A.:i 


'■  ''.:  yi 


f^W 


210 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


% 


'. 


^« 


nation,  and  on  such  matters  as  foreign  affairs,  war,  customs,  and 
post-office  regulations,  are  bound  together  as  much  as  are  tlie 
English  counties,  it  is,  of  course,  necessary  that  the  constitution 
of  each  should  in  most  matters  assimilate  itself  to  those  of  the 
others.  Tliese  constitutions  are  very  much  alike.  A  Govern- 
or, with  two  houses  of  legislature,  generally  called  the  Senate 
and  the  House  of  Representatives,  exists  in  each  State.  In  the 
State  of  New  York  the  lower  house  is  called  the  Assembly.  In 
most  States  the  Governor  is  elected  annually;  but  in  some 
States  for  two  years,  as  in  New  York.  In  Pennsylvania  lie  is 
elected  for  three  years.  The  House  of  Representatives  or  the 
Assembly  is,  I  think,  always  elected  for  one  session  only ;  but 
as,  in  many  of  the  States,  the  Legislature  only  sits  once  in  two 
years,  the  election  recurs  of  course  at  the  same  interval.  The 
franchise  in  all  the  States  is  nearly  universal,  but  in  no  State  is 
it  perfectly  so.  The  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  other 
officers  are  elected  by  vote  of  the  people  as  well  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature.  Of  course  it  will  be  understood  that 
each  State  makes  laws  for  itself, — that  they  are  in  nowise  de- 
pendent on  the  Congress  assembled  at  Washington  for  their 
laws, — unless  for  laws  which  refer  to  matters  between  the 
United  States  as  a  nation  and  other  nations,  or  between  one 
State  and  another.  Each  State  declares  with  what  punishment 
crimes  shall  be  visited ;  what  taxes  shall  be  levied  for  the  use 
of  the  State ;  what  laws  shall  be  passed  as  to  education  ;  what 
shall  be  the  State  judiciary.  With  reference  to  the  judiciary, 
however,  it  must  be  understood,  that  the  United  States  as  a 
nation  have  separate  national  law  courts  before  which  come  all 
cases  litigated  between  State  and  State,  and  all  cases  which  do 
not  belong  in  every  respect  to  any  one  individual  State.  In  a 
subsequent  chapter  I  will  endeavour  to  explain  this  more  fully. 
In  endeavouring  to  understand  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  it  is  essentially  necessary  that  we  should  remember  that 
we  have  always  to  deal  with  two  different  political  arrange- 
ments,— that  which  refers  to  the  nation  as  a  whole,  and  that 
which  belongs  to  each  State  as  a  separate  governing  power  in 
itself.  What  is  law  in  one  State  is  not  law  in  another.  Never- 
theless there  is  a  very  great  likeness  throughout  these  various 
constitutions ;  and  any  political  student  who  shall  have  thor- 
oughly mastered  one,  will  not  have  much  to  learn  in  mastering 
the  others. 

This  State,  now  called  New  York,  was  first  settled  by  the 
Dutch  in  1614,  on  Manhattan  Island.  They  established  a  gov- 
ernment in  1629,  under  the  name  of  the  New  Netherlands.    In 


I 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OP  THE   STATE   OP   NEW   YORK.        211 

1664  Charles  II.  granted  the  province  to  his  brother,  James  II., 
then  Duke  of  York,  and  possession  was  taken  of  the  country  on 
his  behalf  by  one  Colonel  Nichols.  In  1673  it  was  recaptured 
by  the  Dutch,  but  they  could  not  hold  it,  and  tlie  Duke  of 
York  again  took  possession  by  patent.  A  legislative  body 
was  first  assembled  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  in  1683; 
from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  parliamentary  representation 
was  introduced  into  the  American  colonies  at  a  very  early  date. 
The  declaration  of  independence  was  made  by  the  revolted  col- 
onies in  1776,  and  in  1777  the  first  constitution  was  adopted  by 
the  State  of  New  York.  In  1822  this  was  changed  for  anoth- 
er ;  and  the  one  of  which  I  now  purport  to  state  some  of  the 
details  was  brought  into  action  in  1847.  In  this  constitution 
there  is  a  provision  that  it  shall  be  overhauled  and  remodelled, 
if  needs  be,  once  in  twenty  years.  Article  XIII.  Sec.  2. — "  At 
the  general  election  to  be  held  in  1866,  and  in  each  twentieth 
year  thereafter,  the  question,  '  Shall  there  be  a  convention  to 
revise  the  Constitution  and  amend  the  same  V  shall  b  decided 
by  the  electors  qualified  to  vote  for  members  of  the  Legislature." 
So  that  the  New  Yorkers  cannot  be  twitted  with  the  presump- 
tion of  finality  in  reference  to  their  legislative  arrangements. 

The  present  constitution  begins  with  declaring  the  inviola- 
bility of  trial  by  jury  and  of  habeas  corpus, — "unless  when,  in 
cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require  its 
suspension."  It  does  not  say  by  whom  it  may  be  suspended, 
or  who  is  to  judge  of  the  public  safety,  but,  at  any  rate,  it  may 
be  presumed  that  such  suspension  was  supposed  to  come  from 
the  powers  of  the  State  which  enacted  the  law.  At  the  pres- 
ent moment  the  habeas  corpus  is  suspended  in  New  York,  and 
this  suspension  has  proceeded  not  from  the  powers  of  the  State, 
but  from  the  Federal  Government,  without  the  sanction  even 
of  the  Federal  Congress. 

"  Every  citizen  may  freely  speak,  write,  and  publish  his  sen- 
timents on  all  subjects,  being  responsible  for  the  abuse  of  that 
right ;  and  no  law  shall  be  passed  to  restrain  or  abridge  the 
liberty  of  speech  or  of  the  press."  Art.  I.  Sec.  8.  But  at  the 
present  moment  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is  utterly  ab- 
rogated in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  it  is  in  other  States.  I 
mention  this  not  as  a  reproach  against  either  the  State  or  the 
Federal  Government,  but  to  show  how  vain  all  laws  are  for  the 
protection  of  such  rights.  If  they  be  not  protected  by  the 
feelings  of  the  people, — if  the  people  are  at  any  time,  or  from 
any  cause,  willing  to  abandon  such  privileges,  no  written  laws 
will  preserve  them. 


1^ 


V>'^^ 


'  'a'..>|iD!|1 


•  \ 


Vi^t 


212 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


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I  , 


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U 


In  Art.  I.  Sec.  14,  there  is  a  proviso  that  no  land — land,  that 
is,  used  for  agricultural  purposes — shall  be  let  on  lease  for  a 
longer  period  than  twelve  years.  "  No  lease  or  grant  of  agri- 
cultural land  for  a  longer  period  than  twelve  years  hereafter 
made,  in  which  shall  bo  reserved  any  rent  or  service  of  any 
kind,  shall  bo  valid."  I  do  not  understand  the  intended  virtue 
of  this  proviso,  but  it  shows  very  clearly  how  different  are  the 
practices  with  reference  to  land  in  England  and  America. 
Farmers  in  the  States  almost  always  are  the  owners  of  the 
land  which  they  farm,  and  such  tenures  as  those,  by  which  the 
occupiers  of  land  generally  hold  their  farms  with  us,  arc  almost 
unknown.  There  is  no  such  relation  as  that  of  landlord  and 
tenant  as  regards  agricultural  holdings. 

Every  male  citizen  of  New  York  may  vote  who  is  twenty- 
one,  who  has  been  a  citizen  for  ten  days,  who  has  lived  in  the 
State  for  a  year,  and  for  four  months  in  the  county  in  which 
he  votes.  He  can  vote  for  all  "  officers  that  now  are,  or  here- 
after may  be,  elective  by  the  people."  Art.  II.  Sec.  1.  "  But," 
the  section  goes  on  to  say,  "  no  man  of  colour,  unless  he  shall 
have  been  for  three  years  a  citizen  of  the  State,  and  for  one 
year  next  preceding  any  election  shall  have  been  possessed  of 
a  freehold  estate  of  the  value  of  250  dollars  (50/.),  and  shall 
have  been  actually  rated,  and  paid  a  tax  thereon,  shall  be  enti- 
tled to  vote  at  such  election."  This  is  the  only  embargo  with 
which  universal  suffrage  is  laden  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  third  article  provides  for  the  election  of  the  Senate  and 
the  Assembly.  The  Senate  consists  of  thirty-two  members. 
And  it  may  here  be  remarked  that  large  as  is  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  great  as  is  its  population,  its  Senate  is  less  numerous 
than  that  of  many  other  States.  In  Massachusetts,  for  instance, 
there  are  forty  senators,  though  the  population  of  Massachu- 
setts is  barely  one  third  that  of  New  York.  In  Virginia  there 
are  fifty  senators,  whereas  the  free  population  is  not  one  third 
of  that  of  New  York.  As  a  consequence  the  Senate  of  New 
York  is  said  to  be  filled  with  men  of  a  higher  class  than  are 
generally  found  in  the  Senates  of  other  States.  Then  follows 
in  the  article  a  list  of  the  districts  which  are  to  return  the  Sen- 
ators. These  districts  consist  of  one,  two,  three,  or  in  one  case 
four  counties,  according  to  the  population. 

The  article  does  not  give  the  number  of  members  of  the 
Lower  House,  nor  does  it  even  state  what  amount  of  popula- 
tion shall  be  held  as  entitled  to  a  member.  It  merely  provides 
for  the  division  of  the  State  into  districts  which  shall  contain 
an  equal  number,  not  of  population,  but  of  voters.  The  House 
of  Assembly  does  consist  of  128  members. 


THE   CONSTITUTION    OF   THE   STATE   OF   NEW    YOUK.       213 

It  is  then  stipulated  that  every  member  of  both  liouses  shall 
receive  three  dollars  a  day,  or  twelve  shillings,  for  their  serv- 
ices during  the  sitting  of  the  legislature ;  but  this  sum  is  never 
to  exceed  300  dollars,  or  sixty  pounds,  in  one  year,  unless  an 
extra  Session  bo  called.  There  is  also  an  allowance  for  the 
travelling  expenses  of  members.  It  is,  I  presume,  generally 
known  that  the  members  of  the  Congress  at  Washington  are 
all  paid,  and  that  the  same  is  the  case  with  reference  to  the 
legislatures  of  all  the  States. 

No  member  of  the  New  York  legislature  can  also  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Washington  Congress,  or  hold  any  civil  or  military 
office  under  the  general  States  Government. 

A  majority  of  each  House  must  be  present,  or  as  the  article 
says,  "  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business."  Each  House 
is  to  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings.  The  doors  are  to  be 
open, — except  when  the  public  welfare  shall  require  secrecy. 
A  singular  proviso  this,  in  a  country  boasting  so  much  of  free- 
dom !  For  no  speech  or  debate  in  either  House  shall  the  leg- 
islature be  called  in  question  in  any  other  place.  The  legisla- 
ture assembles  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  January,  and  sits  for 
about  three  months.     Its  seat  is  at  Albany. 

The  executive  power,  (Art.  IV.)  is  to  be  vested  in  a  Govern- 
or and  a  Lieutenant-Governor,  both  of  whom  shall  be  chosen 
for  two  years.  The  Governor  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  must  be  thirty  years  of  age,  and  have  lived  for  the  last 
four  years  in  the  State.  He  is  to  be  commander-in-chief  of  the 
military  and  naval  forces  of  the  State, — as  is  the  President  of 
those  of  the  Union.  I  see  that  this  is  also  the  case  in  inland 
States,  which  one  would  say  can  have  no  navies.  And  with 
reference  to  some  States  it  is  enacted  that  the  Governor  is 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  navy,  and  militia,  showing  that 
some  army  over  and  beyond  the  militia  may  be  kept  by  the 
State.  In  Tennessee,  which  is  an  inland  State,  it  is  enacted 
that  the  Governor  shall  be  "  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
and  navy  of  this  State,  and  of  the  militia,  except  when  they 
shall  be  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States."  In  Ohio 
the  same  is  the  case,  except  that  there  is  no  mention  of  militia. 
In  New  York  there  is  no  proviso  with  reference  to  the  service 
of  the  United  States.  I  mention  this  as  it  bears  with  some 
strength  on  the  question  of  the  right  of  secession,  and  indicates 
the  jealousy  of  the  individual  States  with  reference  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government.  The  Governor  can  convene  extra  Sessions 
of  one  House  or  of  both.  He  makes  a  message  to  the  legisla- 
ture when  it  meets, — a  sort  of  Queen's  speech ;  and  he  receives 


a 


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214 


NORTH    AMKRU'A. 


n  V 


11 


lor  his  fiorviccs  a  compensation,  to  be  (established  hy  law.  In 
Now  York  this  amounts  to  800/.  a  year.  In  Home  States  this 
is  as  low  as  200/.,  and  iiOO/.  In  Virginia  it  ia  1000/.  In  Cali- 
fornia, 1200/. 

The  Governor  can  pardon,  except  in  cases  of  treason.  IIo 
has  also  a  veto  upon  all  bills  sent  up  by  the  legislature.  If  ho 
exercises  this  veto  ho  returns  the  bill  to  the  legislature  with 
his  reasons  for  so  doing.  If  the  bill  on  reconsideration  by  the 
Houses  bo  again  passed  by  a  majority  of  two  thirds  in  each 
House,  it  becomes  law  in  spite  of  the  Governor's  veto.  The 
veto  of  the  President  at  Washington  is  of  the  same  nature. 
Such  are  the  ])owers  of  the  Governor.  But  though  they  are 
very  full,  the  Governor  of  each  State  does  not  practically  exer- 
ciso  any  great  political  power,  nor  is  he,  even  politically,  a  great 
man.  You  might  live  in  a  State  during  the  whole  term  of  his 
government  and  hardly  hoar  of  him.  There  is  vested  in  him 
by  the  language  of  the  constitution  a  much  wider  power  than 
that  intrusted  to  the  Governors  of  our  colonies.  JBut  in  our 
colonies  everybody  talks,  and  thinks,  and  knows  about  the 
Governor.  As  far  as  the  limits  of  the  colony  the  Governor  is 
a  great  man.  But  this  is  not  the  case  with  reference  to  tho 
Governors  in  the  different  States. 

The  next  article  provides  that  the  Governor's  ministers,  viz., 
the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Comptroller,  Treasurer,  and  Attor- 
ney-General, shall  be  chosen  every  two  years  at  a  general  elec- 
tion. In  this  respect  the  State  constitution  differs  from  that 
of  the  national  constitution.  The  President  at  Washington 
names  his  own  ministers, — subject  to  the  approbation  of  the 
Senate.  He  makes  many  other  appointments  with  the  same 
limitation.  As  regards  these  nommations  in  general,  the  Sen- 
ate, I  believe,  is  not  slow  to  interfere ;  but  with  reference  to 
the  ministers  it  is  understood  that  the  names  sent  in  by  the 
President  shall  stand.  Of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Comptroller, 
<fcc.,  belonging  to  the  different  States,  and  who  are  elected  by 
the  people,  in  a  general  way  one  never  hears.  No  doubt  thev 
attend  their  offices  and  take  their  pay,  but  they  are  not  politi- 
cal personages. 

The  next  article.  No.  VI.,  refers  to  the  Judiciary,  and  is  very 
complicated.  After  considerable  study  I  have  failed  to  under- 
stand it.  The  judges  are  elected  by  vote,  and  remain  in  office 
for,  I  believe,  a  term  of  eight  years.  In  Sect.  20  of  this  article 
it  is  provided  that — "  No  judicial  officer,  except  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  shall  receive  to  his  own  use  any  fees  or  perquisites  of 
office."  How  pleasantly  this  enactment  must  sound  in  the 
ears  of  the  justices  of  the  peace.     • 


run  CONSTITUTION  OF  TUB  STATE  OF  NEW   YORK. 


215 


Article  VII.  refers  to  fiscal  matters,  and  is  more  especially 
interesting  as  showing  liow  greatly  the  State  of  New  York  has 
ilependcd  on  its  canals  for  its  wealtli.  These  canals  are  the 
property  of  the  State ;  and  by  this  article  it  seems  to  be  pro- 
vided that  they  shall  not  only  maintain  themselves,  but  main- 
tain to  a  considerable  extent  the  State  expenditure  also,  and 
stand  in  lieu  of  taxation.  It  is  provided,  section  G,  that  \h^^ 
"  legislature  shall  not  sell,  lease,  or  otherwise  dispose  of  any  of 
the  canals  of  the  State;  but  that  they  shall  remain  the  proper- 
ty of  the  State,  and  under  its  management  for  over."  iiut  in 
spite  of  its  canals  the  State  does  not  seem  to  be  doing  very  well, 
for  I  see  that  in  1800,  its  income  was  4,780,000  dollars,  and  its 
expenditure  5,100,000,  whereas  its  debt  was  32,500,000  dollars. 
Of  all  the  States,  Pennsylvania  is  the  most  indebted,  Virginia 
is  the  second  on  the  list,  and  New  York  the  third.  Now 
Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  Delaware,  and  Texas,  owo 
no  State  debts.     All  the  other  State  ships  have  taken  in  ballast. 

The  militia  is  supposed  to  consist  of  all  men  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  under  forty-five  years  of  age.  But  no  one  need  bo 
enrolled,  who  from  scruples  of  conscience  is  averse  to  bearing 
arms.  At  the  present  moment  such  scruples  do  not  seem  to 
be  very  general.  Then  follows,  in  Article  Al.,  a  detailed  enact- 
ment as  to  the  choosing  of  militia  officers.  It  may  bo  perhaps 
sufficient  to  say  that  the  privates  are  to  choose  the  captains  and 
the  subalterns ;  the  captains  and  subalterns  arc  to  choose  the 
field  officers;  and  tlie  field  officers  the  brigadier-generals  and 
inspectors  of  brigade.  The  Governor,  however,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Senate  shall  nominate  all  major-generals.  Now  that 
real  soldiers  have  unfortunately  be*como  necessary  the  above 
plan  has  not  been  found  to  work  well. 

Such  is  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  which 
has  been  intended  to  work  and  does  work  quite  separately  from 
that  of  the  United  States.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  purport  has 
been  to  make  it  as  widely  democratic  as  possible, — to  provide 
that  all  power  of  all  description  shall  come  directly  from  the 
people,  and  that  such  power  shall  return  to  the  people  at  short 
mtervals.  The  Senate  and  the  Governor  each  remain  for  two 
years,  but  not  for  the  same  two  years.  If  a  new  Senate  com- 
mence its  work  in  1861,  a  new  Governor  will  come  in  in  1862. 
But,  nevertheless,  there  is  in  the  form  of  Government  as  thus 
established  an  absence  of  that  close  and  immediate  responsibil- 
ity which  attends  our  ministers.  When  a  man  has  been  voted 
in,  it  seems  that  responsibility  is  over  for  the  period  of  the  re- 
quired service.    He  has  been  chosen,  and  the  country  which 


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I:    . 


210 


NORTH    AMKUICA. 


V^ 


has  choHcn  him  is  to  trust  that  l«o  will  do  his  best.  I  do  not 
know  that  this  matters  much  with  rctbrcncc  to  the  legislature 
or  governments  of  the  different  States,  for  tlieir  State  legisla- 
tures and  governments  are  but  puny  powers ;  but  in  the  legis- 
lature and  government  at  Washington  it  does  matter  very 
much.  Hut  I  shall  have  another  opportunity  of  speaking  on 
that  subject. 

Nothing  has  struck  mo  so  much  in  America  as  the  fact  tliat 
these  State  legislatures  are  puny  powers.  The  absence  of  any 
tidings  what(!ver  of  their  doings  across  the  water  is  a  proof  of 
this.  AVho  has  hoard  of  the  legislature  of  New  Yorlc  or  of 
Massachusetts?  It  is  boasted  liero  that  their  insignificance  is 
a  sign  of  the  well-being  of  the  people ; — that  the  smallness  of 
the  power  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  machine  shows  how 
beautifully  the  machine  is  organised,  and  how  well  it  works. 
"  It  is  better  to  have  little  governors  than  great  governors,"  an 
American  said  to  tne  once.  "It  is  our  glory  that  we  know  how 
to  live  without  having  great  men  over  us  to  rule  us."  That 
glory,  if  ever  it  were  a  glory,  has  come  to  an  end.  It  seems  to 
rae  that  all  these  troubles  have  come  upon  the  States  because 
they  have  not  placed  high  men  in  high  places.  The  less  of 
laws  and  the  less  of  control  the  better,  providing  a  people  can 
go  right  with  few  laws  and  little  control.  One  may  say  that 
no  laws  and  no  control  would  be  best  of  all, — provided  that 
none  were  needed.  But  this  is  not  exactly  the  position  of  the 
American  people. 

The  two  professions  of  law-making  and  of  governing  have 
become  unfashionable,  low  in  estimation,  and  of  no  repute  in 
the  States.  The  municipal^owers  of  the  cities  have  not  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  leading  men.  The  word  politician  has 
come  to  bear  the  meaning  of  political  adventurer  and  almost  of 
political  blackleg.  If  A  calls  B  a  politician  A  intends  to  vilify 
B  by  so  calling  him.  Whether  or  no  the  best  citizens  of  a  State 
will  ever  be  induced  to  serve  in  the  State  legislature  by  a  no- 
bler consideration  than  that  of  pay,  or  by  a  higher  tone  of  polit- 
ical morals  than  that  now  existing,  I  cannot  say.  It  seems  to 
me  that  some  great  decrease  in  the  numbers  of  the  State  legis- 
lators should  be  a  first  step  towards  such  a  consummation. 
There  are  not  many  men  in  each  State  who  can  aflford  to  give 
up  two  or  three  months  of  the  year  to  the  Stato  service  for 
nothing ;  but  it  may  be  presumed  that  in  each  State  there  are 
a  few.  Thofje  who  are  induced  to  devote  their  time  by  the 
payment  of  60/.,  can  hardly  be  the  men  most  fitted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  legislation.    It  certainly  has  seemed  to  nie  that  the 


BOSTON. 


217 


members  of  llio  State  Icglsliiturca  and  of  the  State  govormnonts 
are  not  heM  in  that  respect  and  treated  witli  tliat  confiilcnce  to 
Arhich,  in  the  eyes  ot  an  Englishman,  such  functionaries  should 
bo  held  as  entitled. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

BOSTON. 

From  Now  York  wo  returned  to  Boston  by  TTartford,  tho 
capital,  or  one  of  the  capitals  of  Connecticut.  This  j)roud  lit- 
tle State  is  composed  of  two  old  provinces,  of  which  Hartford 
and  New  Haven  were  tho  two  metropolitan  towns.  Indeed 
there  was  a  third  colony  called  Saybrook,  which  was  joined  to 
Hartford.  As  neither  of  tho  two  could  of  course  civo  way 
when  Hartford  and  Now  Haven  Avere  made  into  one,  tlio  houses 
of  legislature  and  tho  seat  of  government  arc  changed  about, 
year  by  year.  Connecticut  is  a  very  proud  little  State,  and 
has  a  pleasant  legend  of  its  own  stanchness  in  tho  old  colonial 
days.  Iti  1602  the  colonies  wore  united,  and  a  charter  was 
given  t  -  Lhem  by  Charles  II.  But  some  years  later,  in  1080, 
when  I  bad  days  of  James  II.  had  come,  this  charter  was 
considered  to  bo  too  liberal,  and  order  was  given  that  it  should 
be  suspended.  One  Sir  Edmund  Andross  had  been  appointed 
governor  of  all  New  England,  and  sent  word  from  Boston  to 
Connecticut  that  the  charter  itself  should  be  given  up  to  him. 
This  the  men  of  Connecticut  refused  to  do.  Whereupon  Sir 
Edmund  with  a  military  following  presented  himself  at  their 
assembly,  declared  their  governing  powers  to  be  dissolved,  and 
after  much  palaver  caused  the  charter  itself  to  be  laid  upon  the 
table  before  him.  The  discussion  hfid  been  long,  having  lasted 
through  the  day  i*ito  the  night,  and  tho  room  had  been  lighted 
with  candles.  On  a  sudden  each  light  disappeared,  and  Sir 
Edmund  with  his  followers  were  in  the  dark.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  when  the  light  was  restored  the  charter  was  gone,  and 
Sir  Edmund,  the  governor-general,  was  baffled,  as  all  govern- 
ors-general and  all  Sir  Edmunds  always  are  in  such  cases.  The 
charter  was  gone,  a  gallant  Captain  Wadsworth  having  carried 
it  off  and  hidden  it  in  an  oak  tree.  The  charter  was  renewed 
when  William  III.  came  to  the  throne,  and  now  hangs  triumph- 
antly in  the  State  House  at  Hartford.  The  charter  oak  has, 
alas !  succumbed  to  the  weather,  but  was  standing  a  few  years 
since.  The  men  of  Hartford  are  very  proud  of  their  charter, 
and  regard  it  as  the  parent  of  their  existing  liberties  quite  as 

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218 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


much  as  though  no  national  revolution  of  their  own  had  inter- 
vened. 

And  indeed  the  Northern  States  of  the  Union,  especially 
those  of  New  England,  refer  all  their  liberties  to  the  old  char- 
ters which  they  held  from  the  mother-country.  They  rebelled, 
as  they  themselves  would  seem  to  say,  and  set  themselves  up 
as  a  separate  people,  not  because  the  mother-country  had  re- 
fused to  them  by  law  sufficient  liberty  and  sufficient  self-con- 
trol, but  because  the  mother-country  infringed  the  liberties  and 
powers  of  self-c<jntrol  which  she  herself  had  given.  The  moth- 
er-country, so  these  States  declare,  had  acted  the  part  of  Sir 
Edmund  Andross,  had  endeavoured  to  take  away  their  charters. 
So  they  also  put  out  the  lights,  and  took  themselves  to  an  oak 
tree  of  their  own, — which  is  still  standing,  though  winds  from 
the  infernal  regions  are  now  battering  its  branches.  Long  may 
it  stand ! 

Whether  the  mother-country  did  or  did  not  infringe  the 
charters  she  had  given,  I  will  not  here  inquire.  As  to  the  na- 
ture of  those  alleged  infringements,  are  they  not  written  down 
to  the  number  of  twenty -seven  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence? I  have  taken  tlie  liberty  of  appending  this  Declaration 
to  tb  ^  end  of  my  book,  and  the  twenty  seven  par£"^raphs  may 
all  be  seen.  They  mostly  begin  with  He.  "  He"  has  done 
this,  and  "  He"  has  done  that.  The  "  He"  is  poor  George  IH., 
whose  twenty-seven  mortal  sins  against  his  transatlantic  colo- 
nies are  thus  recapitulated.  It  would  avail  nothing  to  argue 
now  whether  those  deeds  were  sins  or  virtues ;  nor  would  it 
have  availed  then.  The  child  had  grown  up  and  was  strong, 
and  chose  to  go  alone  into  the  world.  The  young  bird  was 
fledged,  and  flew  away.  Poor  George  III.  with  his  cackling 
was  certainly  not  efficacious  in  restraining  such  a  flight.  But 
it  is  gratifying  to  see  how  this  new  people,  when  they  had  it 
in  their  power  to  change  all  their  laws,  to  throw  themselves 
upon  any  Utopian  theory  that  the  folly  of  a  wild  philanthropy 
could  devise,  to  discard  as  abominable  every  vestige  of  English 
rule  and  English  power, — it  is  gratifying  to  see  that  when  they 
could  have  done  all  this,  they  did  not  do  so,  but  preferred  to 
cling  to  things  English.  Their  old  colonial  limits  were  still  to 
be  the  borders  of  their  States.  Their  old  charters  were  still 
to  be  regarded  as  the  sources  from  whence  their  State  powers 
had  come.  The  old  laws  were  to  remain  in  force.  The  prece- 
dents of  the  English  courts  were  to  be  held  as  legal  precedents 
in  the  courts  of  the  new  nation, — and  are  now  so  held.  It  was 
still  to  be  England, — but  England  without  a  King  making  his 


BOSTON. 


219 


last  struggle  for  political  power.  This  was  the  idea  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  this  was  their  feeling;  and  that  idea  has  been  carried 
out,  and  that  feeling  has  remained. 

la  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York  nothing  is  said 
about  the  religion  of  the  people.  It  was  regarded  as  a  subject 
with  which  the  constitution  had  no  concern  whatever.  But  as 
soon  as  we  come  among  the  stricter  people  of  New  England 
we  find  that  the  constitution-makers  have  not  been  able  abso- 
lutely tD  ignore  the  subject.  In  Connecticut  it  is  enjoined  that 
as  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to  worship  the  Supreme  Being,  and 
their  right  to  render  that  worship  in  the  mode  most  consistent 
with  their  consciences,  no  person  shall  be  by  law  compelled  to 
join  or  be  classed  with  any  religious  association.  The  line  of 
argument  is  hardly  logical,  the  conclusion  not  being  in  accord- 
ance with,  or  hanging  on  the  first  of  the  two  premises.  But 
nevertheless  the  meaning  is  clear.  In  a  free  country  no  man 
shall  be  made  to  worship  after  any  special  fashion ;  but  it  is 
decreed  by  the  constitution  that  every  man  is  bound  by  duty 
to  worship  after  some  fashion.  The  article  then  goes  on  to  say 
how  they  who  do  worship  are  to  be  taxed  for  the  support  of 
their  peculiar  church.  I  am  not  quite  clear  whether  the  New 
Yorkers  have  not  managed  this  difficulty  with  greater  success. 
When  we  come  to  the  old  Bay  State, — to  Massachusetts, — w^o 
find  the  Christian  religion  spoken  of  in  the  Constitution  as  that 
which  in  some  one  of  its  forifls  should  receive  the  adherence 
of  every  good  Christian. 

Hartford  is  a  pleasant  little  town,  with  English -looking 
houses,  and  an  English-looking  country  around  it.  Here,  as 
everywhere  through  the  States,  one  is  struck  by  the  size  and 
comfort  of  the  residences.  I  sojourned  there  at  the  house  of  a 
friend,  and  could  find  no  limit  to  the  number  of  spacious  sitting- 
rooms  which  it  contained.  The  modest  dining-room  and  draw- 
ing-room which  suffice  with  us  for  men  of  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred a  year  would  be  regarded  as  very  mean  accommodation 
by  persons  of  similar  incomes  in  the  States. 

I  found  that  Hartford  was  all  alive  with  trade,  and  that 
wages  were  high,  because  there  are  there  two  factories  for  the 
manufacture  of  arms.  Colt's  pistols  come  from  Hartford,  as  do 
also  Sharpens  rifles.  Wherever  arms  can  be  prepared,  or  gun- 
powder; where  clothes  or  blankets  fit  for  soldiers  can  be  made, 
or  tents  or  standards,  or  things  appertaining  in  any  way  to 
Avarfare,  there  trade  was  still  brisk.  No  being  is  more  costly 
in  his  requirements  than  a  soldier,  and  no  soldier  so  costly  as 
the  American.    He  must  eat  and  driok  of  the  best,  and  have 


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220 


NORTH   AMEE     A. 


good  boots  and  warm  bedding,  and  good  shelter.  There  were 
during  the  Christmas  of  1861  above  half  a  million  of  soldiers  so 
to  be  provided, — the  President,  in  his  mes&age  made  in  Decem- 
ber to  Congress,  declared  the  number  to  be  above  six  hundred 
thousand — and  therefore  in  such  places  as  Hartford  trade  was 
very  brisk.  I  went  over  the  rifle  factory,  and  was  shown  ev- 
erything, but  I  do  not  know  that  I  brought  away  much  with 
me  that  was  worth  any  reader's  attention.  The  best  of  rifles, 
I  have  no  doubt,  were  being  made  with  the  greatest  rapidity, 
and  all  were  sent  to  the  army  as  soon  as  finished.  I  saw  some 
murderous-looking  weapons,  with  swords  attached  to  them  in- 
stead of  bayonets,  but  have  since  been  told  by  soldiers  that  the 
old-fashioned  bayonet  is  thought  to  be  more  serviceable. 

Immediately  on  my  arrival  in  Boston  I  heard  that  Mr.  Em- 
erson was  going  to  lecture  at  the  Tremont  Hall  on  the  subject 
of  the  war,  and  I  resolved  to  go  and  hear  him.  I  was  ac- 
quainted with  Mr.  Emerson,  and  by  reputation  knew  him  well. 
Among  us  in  England  he  is  regarded  as  transcendental,  and 
perhaps  even  as  mystic  in  his  philosophy.  His  'Representa- 
tive Men'  is  the  work  by  which  he  is  best  known  on  our  side 
of  the  water,  and  I  have  heard  some  readers  declare  that  they 
could  not  quite  imderstand  Mr.  Emerson's  'Representative 
Men.'  For  myself,  I  confess  that  I  had  broken  down  over 
some  portions  of  that  book.  Since  I  had  become  ac'iuainted 
with  him  I  had  read  others  of  his  writings,  especially  his  book 
on  England,  and  had  found  that  he  improved  greatly  on  ac- 
quaintance. I  think  that  he  has  confined  his  mysticism  to  the 
book  above  named.  In  conversation  he  is  very  clear,  and  by 
no  means  above  the  small  practical  things  of  the  M'orld.  He 
would,  I  fancy,  know  as  well  what  interest  he  ought  to  receive 
for  his  money  as  though  he  were  no  philosopher ;  and  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  if  he  held  land  he  would  make  his  hay  while 
the  sun  shone,  as  might  any  common  farmer.  Before  I  had  met 
Mr.  Emerson,  when  my  idea  of  him  was  formed  simply  on  the 
'Representative  Men,'  I  should  have  thought  that  a  lecture 
from  him  on  the  war  would  have  taken  his  hearers  all  among 
the  clouds.  As  it  was,  I  still  had  my  doubts,  and  was  inclined 
to  fear  that  a  subject  which  could  only  be  handled  usefully  at 
such  a  time  before  a  large  audience  by  a  combination  of  com- 
mon sense,  high  principles,  and  eloquence,  would  hardly  be  safe 
in  Mr.  Emerson's  hands.  I  did  not  doubt  the  high  principles, 
but  feared  much  that  there  would  be  a  lack  of  common  sense. 
So  many  have  talked  on  that  subject,  and  have  shown  sc  great 
a  lack  of  common  sonse  I  As  to  the  eloquence,  that  might  be 
there,  or  might  not. 


BOSTON. 


221 


Mr.  Emerson  is  a  Massachusetts  man,  very  well  known  in 
Boston,  and  a  great  crowd  was  collected  to  hear  him.  I  sup- 
pose there  were  some  three  thousand  persons  in  the  room.  1 
confess  that  when  he  took  his  place  before  us  my  prejudices 
were  against  him.  The  matter  in  hand  required  no  philosophy. 
It  required  common  sense,  and  the  very  best  of  common  sense. 
It  demanded  that  he  should  be  impassioned,  for  of  what  interest 
can  any  address  be  on  a  matter  of  public  politics  without  pas- 
sion ?  But  it  demanded  that  the  passion  should  be  winnowed, 
and  free  from  all  rhodomontade.  I  fancied  what  might  be  said 
on  such  a  subject  as  to  that  overlauded  star-spangled  banner, 
and  how  the  star-spangled  flag  would  look  when  wrapped  in  a 
mist  of  mystic  Platonism. 

But  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  there  was  nothing  mystic 
— no  Platonism ;  and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  the  star-spangled 
banner  was  altogether  omitted.  To  the  national  eagle  he  did 
allude.  "  Your  American  eagle,"  he  said,  "is  very  well.  Pro- 
tect it  here  and  abroad.  But  beware  of  the  American  pea- 
cock." He  gave  an  account  of  the  war  from  the  beginning, 
showing  how  it  had  arisen,  and  how  it  had  been  conducted; 
and  he  did  so  with  admirable  simplicity  and  truth.  He  thought 
the  North  were  right  about  the  war ;  and  as  I  thought  so  also, 
I  was  not  called  upon  to  disagree  with  him.  He  was  terse  and 
perspicuous  in  his  sentences,  practical  in  his  advice,  and  above 
all  things,  true  in  what  he  said  to  his  audience  of  themselves. 
They  who  know  America  will  understand  how  hard  it  is  for  a 
public  man  in  tlie  States  to  practise  such  truth  in  his  addresses. 
Fluid  compliments  and  high-flown  national  eulogium  are  ex- 
pected. In  this  instance  none  were  forthcoming.  The  North 
had  risen  with  patriotism  to  make  this  effort,  and  it  was  now 
warned  that  in  doing  so  it  was  simply  doing  its  national  duty. 
And  then  came  the  subject  of  slavery.  I  had  been  told  that 
Mr.  Emerson  was  an  abolitionist,  and  knew  that  I  must  disa- 
gree with  him  on  that  head,  if  on  no  other.  To  me  it  has  al- 
ways seemed  that  to  mix  up  the  question  of  general  abolition 
with  this  war  must  be  the  work  of  a  man  too  ignorant  to  un- 
derstand the  real  subject  of  the  war,  or  too  false  to  his  country 
to  regard  it.  Throughout  the  whole  lecture  I  was  waiting  for 
Mr.  Emerson's  abolition  doctrine,  but  no  abolition  doctrine 
came.  The  words  abolition  and  compensation  were  mentioned, 
and  then  there  was  an  end  of  the  sulDJect.  If  Mr.  Emerson  be 
an  abolitionist  he  expressed  his  views  very  mildly  on  that  oc- 
casion. On  the  whole  the  lecture  was  excellent,  and  that  little 
iidvice  about  the  peacock  was  in  itself  worth  an  hour's  atten- 
tion. 


I 


Vu,  I  i 


r  . 


f 


I      . 


'•  V 


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1      ! 

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i    1 

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Vi 


il     \i 


f    • 


222 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


That  practice  of  lecturing  is  "  quite  an  institution"  in  the 
States.     So  it  is  in  England,  my  readers  will  say.     But  in  Eng- 
land it  is  done  in  a  different  way,  with  a  different  object,  and 
with  much  less  of  result.     With  us,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  lec- 
tures are  mostly  given  gratuitously  by  the  lecturer.    They  are 
got  up  here  and  there  with  some  philanthropical  object,  and 
in  the  hope  that  an  hour  at  the  disposal  of  young  men  and  wo- 
men may  be  rescued  from  idleness.    The  subjects  chosen  are 
social,  literary,  philanthropic,  romantic,  geographical,  scientific, 
religious, — anything  rather  than  political.    The  lecture-rooms 
are  not  usually  filled  to  overflowing,  and  there  is  often  a  ques- 
tion whether  the  real  good  achieved  is  worth  the  trouble  taken. 
The  most  popular  lectures  are  give,  by  big  people,  whose  pres- 
ence is  likely  to  be  attractive ;  and  the  whole  thing,  I  fear  we 
must  confess,  is  not  pre-eminently  successful.     In  the  Northern 
States  of  America  the  matter  stands  on  a  very  different  footing. 
Lectures  there  are  more  popular  than  either  theatres  or  concerts. 
Enormous  halls  are  built  for  them.    Tickets  for  long  courses 
are  taken  with  avidity.    Very  large  sums  are  paid  to  popular 
lecturers,  so  that  the  profession  is  lucrative, — more  so,  I  am 
given  to  understand,  than  is  the  cognate  profession  of  litera- 
ture.   The  whole  thing  is  done  in  great  style.    Music  is  intro- 
duced.   The  lecturer  stands  on  a  large  raised  platform,  on 
which  sit  around  him  the  bald  and  hoary-headed  and  superla- 
tively wise.    Ladies  come  in  large  numbers ;  especially  those 
who  aspire  to  soar  above  the  frivolities  of  the  world.    Politics 
is  the  subject  most  popular,  and  most  general.    The  men  and 
women  of  Boston  could  no  more  do  without  their  lectures,  than 
those  of  Paris  could  do  without  their  theatres.     It  is  the  dec- 
orous diversion  of  the  best  ordered  of  her  citizens.    The  fast 
young  men  go  to  clubs,  and  the  fast  young  women  to  dances, 
as  fast  young  men  and  women  do  in  other  places  that  are 
wicked  ;  but  lecturing  is  the  favourite  diversion  of  the  steady- 
minded  Bostonian.     After  all,  I  do  not  know  that  the  result  is 
very  good.    It  does  not  seem  that  much  will  be  gained  by  such 
lectures  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic, — except  that  respectable 
killing  of  an  evening  which  might  otherwise  be  killed  less  res- 
pectably.    It  is  but  an  industrious  idleness,  an  attempt  at  a 
royal  road  to  information,  that  habit  of  attending  lectures.    Let 
any  man  or  woman  say  what  he  has  brought  away  from  any 
such  attendance.     It  is  attractive,  that  idea  of  being  studious 
without  any  of  the  labour  of  study ;  but  I  fear  it  is  illusive.    If 
an  evening  can  be  so  passed  without  ennui,  I  believe  that  that 
may  be  regarded  as  the  best  result  to  be  gained.    But  then  it 


!  J 


BOSTON. 


223 


BO  often  happens  that  the  evening  is  not  passed  without  ennui  I 
Of  course  in  saying  this,  I  am  not  alluding  to  lectures  given  in 
special  places  as  a  course  of  special  study.  Medical  lectures, 
110  doubt,  are  a  necessary  part  of  medical  education.  As  many 
as  two  or  three  thousand  often  attend  these  political  lectures  in 
Boston,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  on  that  account  the  popu- 
lar subjects  are  much  better  understood.  Nevertheless  I  re- 
solved to  hear  more,  hoping  that  I  might  in  that  way  teach 
myself  to  understand  what  were  the  popular  politics  m  New 
England.  Whether  or  no  I  may  have  learned  this  in  any  other 
way  I  do  not  perhaps  know ;  but  at  any  rate  I  did  not  learn  it 
in  this  way. 

The  next  lecture  which  I  attended  was  also  given  in  the  Tre- 
mont  Hall,  and  on  this  occasion  also  the  subject  of  the  war  was 
to  be  treated.  The  special  treachery  of  the  rebels  was,  I  think, 
the  matter  to  be  taken  in  hand.  On  this  occasion  also  the 
room  was  full,  and  my  hopes  of  a  pleasant  hour  ran  high.  For 
some  fifteen  minutes  I  listened,  md  I  am  bound  to  say  that  the 
gentleman  discoursed  in  excellent  English.  He  was  master  of 
that  wonderful  fluency  Avhich  is  peculiarly  the  gift  of  an  Ameri- 
can. He  went  on  from  one  sentence  to  another  with  rhythmic 
tones  and  unerring  pronunciation.  He  never  faltered,  never  re- 
peated his  words,  never  fell  into  those  vile  half-muttered  hems 
and  haws  by  which  an  Englishman  in  such  a  position  so  gener- 
ally betrays  his  timidity.  But  during  the  whole  time  of  my 
remaining  in  the  room  he  did  not  give  expression  to  a  single 
thought.  He  went  on  from  one  soft  platitude  to  another,  and 
uttered  words  from  which  I  would  defy  any  one  of  his  audience 
to  carry  away  with  them  anything.  And  yet  it  seemed  to  me 
that  his  audience  was  satisfied.  I  was  not  satisfied,  and  man- 
aged to  escape  out  of  the  room. 

The  next  lecturer  to  whom  I  listened  was  Mr.  Everett.  Mr. 
Everett's  reputation  as  an  orator  is  very  great,  and  I  was  espe- 
cially anxious  to  hear  him.  I  had  long  since  known  that  his 
power  of  delivery  was  very  marvellous ;  that  his  tones,  elocu- 
tion, and  action  were  all  great ;  and  that  he  was  able  to  com- 
mand the  minds  and  sympathies  of  his  audience  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  His  subject  also  was  the  war ; — or  rather  the  causes 
of  the  war,  and  its  qualification.  Had  the  North  given  to  the 
South  cause  of  provocation  ?  Had  the  South  been  fair  and 
honest  in  its  dealings  with  the  North  ?  Had  any  compromise 
been  possible  by  which  the  war  might  have  been  avoided,  and 
the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  North  preserved  ?  Seeing  that  Mr. 
Everett  is  a  Northern  man  and  was  lecturing  to  a  Boston  audi- 


^H'7 

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l|^■'■"': 

''  i    C! 

224 


NOBTH  AMBBICA. 


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cnce,  one  knew  well  how  these  questions  would  be  answered, 
but  the  manner  of  the  answering  would  be  everything.  This 
lecture  was  given  at  Roxboro',  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Boston. 
So  I  went  out  to  Roxboro'  with  a  party,  and  found  mvself  hon- 
oured by  being  placed  on  the  platform  among  the  bald-headed 
ones  and  the  superlatively  wise.  This  privilege  is  naturally 
gratifying,  but  it  entails  on  him  who  is  so  gratified  the  incon- 
venience of  sitting  at  the  lecturer's  back,  whereas  it  is  perhaps 
better  for  the  listener  to  be  before  his  face. 

I  could  not  but  be  amused  by  one  little  scenic  incident. 
When  we  all  went  upon  the  platform,  some  one  proposed  that 
the  clergymen  should  lead  the  way  out  of  the  waiting-room  in 
which  we  bald-headed  ones  and  superlatively  wise  were  assem- 
bled. But  to  this  the  manager  of  the  affair  demurred.  He 
wanted  the  clergymen  for  a  purpose,  he  said.  And  so  the  pro- 
fane ones  led  the  way,  and  the  clergym  m,  of  whom  there  might 
be  some  six  or  seven,  clustered  in  around  the  lecturer  at  last. 
Early  in  his  discourse  Mr.  Everett  told  us  what  it  was  that  the 
country  needed  at  this  period  of  her  trial.  Patriotism,  courage, 
the  bravery  of  the  men,  the  good  wishes  of  the  women,  tlie  self- 
denial  of  all, — "and,"  continued  the  lecturer,  turning  to  his  im- 
mediate neighbours,  "  the  prayers  of  those  holy  men  whom  I 
see  around  me.'*  It  had  not  been  for  nothing  that  the  clergy- 
men were  detained. 

Mr.  Everett  lectures  without  any  book  or  paper  before  him, 
and  continues  from  first  to  last  as  though  the  words  came  from 
him  on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  It  is  known,  however,  that 
it  is  his  practice  to  prepare  his  orations  with  great  care  and 
commit  them  entirely  to  memory,  as  does  an  actor.  Indeed 
he  repeats  the  same  lecture  over  and  over  again,  I  am  told, 
without  the  change  of  a  word  or  of  an  action.  I  did  not  like 
Mr.  Everett's  lecture.  I  did  not  like  what  he  said,  or  the  seem- 
ing spirit  in  which  it  was  framed.  But  I  am  bound  to  admit 
that  his  power  of  oratory  is  very  wonderful.  Those  among 
his  countrymen  who  have  criticised  his  manner  in  my  hearing 
have  said  that  he  is  too  florid,  that  there  is  an  affectation  in 
the  motion  of  his  hands,  and  that  the  intended  pathos  of  his 
voice  sometimes  approaches  too  near  the  precipice  over  which 
the  fall  is  so  deep  and  rapid,  and  at  the  bottom  of  which  lies 
absolute  ridicule.  Judging  for  myself,  I  did  not  find  it  so. 
My  position  for  seeing  was  not  good,  but  my  ear  was  not  of- 
fended. Critics  also  should  bear  in  mind  that  an  orator  does 
not  speak  chiefly  to  them  or  for  their  approval.  He  who 
writes,  or  speaks,  or  sings  for  thousands,  must  write,  speak,  or 


i  ^ 


:'d 


BOSTON. 


226 


Bin*v  as  those  thousands  would  have  him.  That  to  a  dainty 
connoisseur  will  bo  false  music,  which  to  the  general  ear  shall 
be  accounted  as  the  perfection  of  harmony.  An  eloquence  al- 
together suited  to  the  fastidious  and  hypercritical,  would  prob- 
ably fail  to  carry  off  the  hearts  and  interest  the  sympathies  of 
the  young  and  eager.  As  regards  manners,  tone,  and  choice 
of  words,  I  think  that  the  oratory  of  Mr.  Everett  places  him 
very  high.  His  skill  in  his  work  is  perfect.  He  never  falls 
back  upon  a  word.  He  never  repeats  himself.  His  voice  is 
always  perfectly  under  command.  As  for  hesitation  or  timid- 
ity, the  days  for  those  failings  have  long  passed.by  with  hira. 
When  he  makes  a  point,  he  makes  it  well,  and  drives  it  home 
to  the  intelligence  of  every  one  before  him.  Even  that  appeal 
to  the  holy  men  around  him  sounded  well, — or  would  have 
done  so  had  I  not  been  present  at  that  little  arrangement  in 
the  ante-room.  On  the  audience  at  large  it  was  manifestly 
effective. 

But  nevertheless  the  le  '  ure  gave  me  but  a  poor  idea  of  Mr. 
Everett  as  a  politician,  though  it  made  me  regard  him  highly 
as  an  orator.  It  was  impossible  not  to  perceive  that  he  was 
anxious  to  utter  the  sent'racnts  of  the  audience  rather  than  his 
own ; — that  he  was  making  himself  an  echo,  a  powerful  and 
harmonious  echo  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  public  opinion  in 
Boston  at  that  moment; — that  he  was  neither  leading  nor 
teaching  the  people  before  him,  but  allowing  himself  to  be  led 
by  them,  bo  that  he  might  best  play  his  present  part  for  their 
delectation.  He  was  neither  bold  nor  honest,  as  Emerson  had 
been,  and  I  could  not  but  feel  that  every  tyro  of  a  politician 
before  him  would  thus  recognize  his  want  of  boldness  and  of 
honesty.  As  a  statesman,  or  as  a  critic  of  statecraft  and  of 
other  statesmen,  he  is  wanting  in  backbone.  For  many  years 
Mr.  Everett  has  been  not  even  inimical  to  southern  politics  and 
southern  courses,  nor  was  he  among  those  who,  during  the  last 
eight  years  previous  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  fought  the  bat- 
tle for*tiorthern  principles.  I  do  not  say  th  it  on  this  account 
he  is  now  false  to  advocate  the  war.  But  he  cannot  carry  men 
with  him  when,  at  his  age,  he  advocates  it  by  arguments  op- 
posed to  the  tenour  of  his  long  political  life.  His  abuse  of  the 
South  and  of  southern  ideas  was  as  virulent  as  might  be  that 
of  a  young  lad  now  beginning  his  political  career,  or  oft  one 
who  had  through  life  advocated  abolition  principles.  He  heap- 
ed reproaches  on  poor  Virginia,  whose  position  as  the  chief  of 
the  border  States  has  given  to  her  hardly  the  possibility  of 
avoiding  a  Scylla  of  ruin  on  the  one  side,  or  a  Chary bdis  of  re- 

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NORTH   AMERICA. 


1 


1 1 


hellion  on  tho  other.     When  ho  spoke  as  he  did  of  Virginia, 
ridiculing  the  idea  of  her  sacred  soil,  even  I,  Englishman  as  I 
am,  could  not  but  think  of  Washington,  of  Jefferson,  of  Ran- 
dolph, and  of  Madison.     He  should  not  Imvo  spoken  of  Vir- 
ginia as  he  did  speak;  for  no  man  could  have  Jknown  better 
Virginia's  difficulties.     But  Virginia  was  at  a  discount  in  Bos- 
ton, and  Mr.  Everett  was  speaking  to  a  Boston  audience.    And 
then  he  referred  to  England  and  to  Europe.     Mr.  Everett  has 
been  minister  to  England,  and  knows  the  people.     He  is  a  stu- 
dent of  history,  and  must,  I  think,  know  that  England's  career 
lias  not  been  unhappy  or  unprosperous.     But  England  also 
was  at  a  discount  in  Boston,  and  Mr.  Everett  was  speaking  to 
a  Boston  audience.    They  are  sending  us  their  advice  across 
the  water,  said  Mr.  Everett.     And  what  is  their  advice  to  us  ? 
that  we  should  come  down  from  the  high  place  we  have  built 
for  ourselves,  and  be  even  as  they  are.    They  screech  at  us 
from  the  low  depths  in  which  they  are  wallowing  in  their  mis- 
ery, and  call  on  us  to  join  them  in  their  wretchedness.    I  am 
not  quoting  Mr.  Everett's  very  words,  for  I  have  not  them  by 
me ;  but  I  am  not  making  them  stronger,  nor  so  strong  as  he 
made  them.     As  I  thought  of  Mr.  Everett's  reputation,  and  of 
his  years  of  study, — of  his  long  political  life  and  unsurpassed 
sources  of  information, — I  could  not  but  grieve  heartily  when 
I  heard  such  words  fall  from  him.     I  could  not  but  ask  myself 
whether  it  were  impossible  that  under  the  present  circum- 
stances of  her  constitution  this  great  nation  of  America  should 
produce  an  honest,  high-minded  statesman.     When  Lincoln 
and  Hamlin,  the  existing  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
States,  were  in  1860  as  yet  but  the  candidates  of  the  republi- 
can party.  Bell  and  Everett  also  w  jre  the  candidates  of  the  old 
whig,  conservative  party.    Theii*  express  theory  was  this, — 
that  the  question  of  slavery  should  not  be  touched.    Their  pur- 
pose was  to  crush  agitation  and  restore  harmony  by  an  impar- 
tial balance  between  the  North  and  South :  a  tine  purpose, — 
the  finest  of  all  purposes,  had  it  been  practicable.    But  such  a 
course  of  compromise  was  now  at  a  discount  in  Boston,  and 
Mr.  Everett  was  speaking  to  a  Boston  audience.    As  an  ora- 
tor, Mr.  Everett's  excellence  is,  I  think,  not  to  be  questioned ; 
but  as  a  politician  I  cannot  give  him  a  high  rank. 

A^ler  that  I  heard  Mr.  Wendell  Phillips.  Of  him,  too,  as  an, 
orator  all  the  world  of  Massachusetts  speaks  with  great  admi- 
ration, and  I  have  no  doubt  so  speaks  with  justice.  He  is, 
however,  known  as  the  hottest  and  most  impassioned  advocate 
of  abolition.    Not  many  months  since  the  cause  of  abolition, 


^ 


BOSTON. 


227 


ns  advocated  by  him,  was  so  unpopular  in  Boston,  that  INIr. 
Phillips  was  compelled  to  address  his  audience  surromided  by 
a  guard  of  policemen.  Of  this  gentleman,  I  may  at  any  rate 
say  that  he  is  consistent,  devoted,  and  disinterested,  lie  is  an 
abohtionist  by  profession,  and  seeks  to  find  in  every  turn  of  the 
tide  of  politics  some  stream  on  which  he  may  brhig  himself 
nearer  to  his  object.  In  the  old  days,  previous  to  the  selection 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  days  so  old  that  they  are  now  nearly  eighteen 
months  past,  Mr.  Phillips  was  an  anti-Union  man.  lie  advoca- 
ted strongly  the  disseverance  of  the  Union,  so  that  the  country 
to  which  he  belonged  might  have  hands  clean  from  the  taint  of 
slavery.  He  had  probably  acknowledged  to  himself,  that  while 
the  North  and  South  were  bound  together  no  hope  existed  of 
emancipation,  but  that  if  the  North  stood  alone  the  South 
would  become  too  weak  to  foster  and  keep  alive  the  "  social 
institution."  In  which,  if  such  were  his  opinions,  I  am  inclined 
to  agree  with  him.  But  now  he  is  all  for  the  Union,  thinking 
that  a  victorious  North  can  compel  the  immediate  emancipa- 
tion of  southern  slaves.  As  to  which  I  beg  to  say  that  I  am 
bold  to  differ  from  Mr.  Phillips  altogether. 

It  soon  became  evident  to  me  that  Mr.  Phillips  was  unwell, 
and  lecturing  at  a  disadvantage.  His  manner  was  clearly  that 
of  an  accustomed  orator,  but  his  voice  was  weak,  and  he  was 
not  up  to  the  effect  which  he  attempted  to  make.  His  hearers 
were  impatient,  repeatedly  calling  upon  him  to  speak  out,  and 
on  that  account  I  tried  hard  to  feel  kindly  towards  him  and  his 
lecture.  But  I  must  confess  that  I  failed.  To  me  it  seemed 
that  the  doctrine  he  preached  was  one  of  rapine,  bloodshed, 
and  social  destruction.  He  would  call  upon  the  Government 
and  upon  Congress  to  enfranchise  the  slaves  at  once, — now  dur- 
ing the  war, — so  that  the  Southern  power  might  be  destroyed 
by  a  concurrence  of  misfortunes.  And  he  would  do  so  at  once, 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  fearing  lest  the  South  should  be  be- 
fore him,  and  themselves  emancipate  their  own  bondsmen.  I 
have  sometimes  thought  that  there  is  no  being  so  venomous, 
so  bloodthirsty  as  a  professed  philanthropist ;  and  that  when 
the  philanthropist's  ardour  lies  negro-wards,  it  then  assumes  the 
deepest  dye  of  venom  and  bloodthirstiness.  There  are  four 
millions  of  slaves  in  the  southern  States,  none  of  whom  have 
any  capacity  for  self-maintenance  or  self-control.  Four  mill- 
ions of  slaves,  with  the  necessities  of  children,  with  the  passions 
of  men,  and  the  ignorance  of  savages !  And  Mr.  Phillips  would 
emancipate  these  at  a  blow ;  would,  were  it  possible  for  him  to 
do  so,  set  them  loose  upon  the  soil  to  tear  their  masters,  de- 


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NORTH   AMERICA. 


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Btroy  each  other,  and  make  such  a  hell  upon  the  earth  as  has  nev- 
er oven  yet  come  from  the  uncontrolled  passions  and  unsatisfied 
wants  of  men.  But  Congress  cannot  do  this.  All  the  ment- 
bers  of  Congress  put  together  cannot,  according  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  emancipate  a  single  slave  in  South 
Carolina ;  not  if  they  were  all  unanimous.  No  emancipation 
in  a  Slave  State  can  come  otherwise  than  by  the  legislative  en- 
actment of  that  State.  But  it  was  then  thought  that  in  this 
coming  winter  of  1800-Gl  the  action  of  Congress  might  be  set 
aside.  The  North  possessed  an  enormous  army  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  President.  The  South  was  in  rebellion,  and  the 
President  could  pronounce,  and  the  army  perhaps  enforce  the 
confiscation  of  all  property  held  in  slaves.  If  any  who  held 
them  were  not  disloyal,  the  question  of  compensation  might  bo 
settled  afterwards.  How  those  four  million  slaves  should  live, 
and  how  white  men  should  Jive  among  them,  in  some  States  or 
parts  of  States  not  equal  to  the  blacks  in  number ; — as  to  that 
Mr.  Phillips  did  not  give  us  his  opinion. 

And  Mr.  Phillips  also  could  not  keep  his  tongue  away  from 
the  abominations  of  Englishmen  and  the  miraculous  powers  of 
his  own  countrymen.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  told  us 
more  than  once  how  Yankees  carried  brains  in  their  fingers, 
whereas  "  common  people" — alluding  by  that  name  to  Europe- 
ans— had  them  only,  if  at  all,  inside  their  brain-pans.  And  then 
ho  informeli  us  that  Lord  Palmerston  had  always  hated  Amer- 
ica. Among  the  Radicals  there  might  be  one  or  two  who  un- 
derstood and  valued  the  institutions  of  America,  but  it  was  a 
well-known  fact  that  Lord  Palmerston  was  hostile  to  the  coun- 
try. Nothing  but  hidden  enmity, — enmity  hidden  or  not  hid- 
den,— could  be  expected  from  England.  That  the  people  of 
Boston,  or  of  Massachusetts,  or  of  the  North  generally,  should 
feel  sore  against  England  is  to  me  intelligible.  I  know  how 
the  minds  of  men  are  moved  in  masses  to  certain  feelings,  and 
that  it  ever  must  be  so.  Men  in  common  talk  are  not  bound  to 
weigh  their  words,  to  think,  and  speculate  on  their  results,  and 
be  sure  of  the  premises  on  which  their  thoughts  are  founded. 
But  it  is  different  with  a  man  who  rises  before  two  or  three 
thousand  of  his  countrymen  to  teach  and  instruct  them.  After 
that  I  heard  no  more  political  lectures  in  Boston. 

Of  course  I  visited  Bunker's  Hill,  and  went  to  Lexington 
and  Concord.  From  the  top  of  the  monument  on  Bunker's 
Hill  there  is  a  fine  view  of  Boston  Harbour,  and  seen  from 
thence  the  harbour  is  picturesque.  The  mouth  is  crowded 
with  islands  and  jutting  necks  and  promontories ;  and  though 


BOSTON. 


220 


the  shores  arc  in  no  placo  rich  enough  to  mako  tho  scenery 
prand,  tlie  general  effect  is  good.  Tlio  monument,  however,  is 
so  constructed  that  one  can  hardly  get  a  viow  through  tho 
windows  at  tho  top  of  it,  and  there  is  no  outside  gallery  round 
it.  Immediately  below  tho  monument  is  a  marble  figure  of 
Major  Warren,  who  fell  there, — not  from  tlie  top  of  the  monu- 
ment, as  some  one  was  led  to  believe  when  informed  that  on 
that  spot  the  Major  had  fallen.  Bunker's  Hill,  which  is  little 
more  than  a  mound,  is  at  Charlestown, — a  dull,  populous,  re- 
spectable, and  very  unattractive  suburb  of  Boston. 

Bunker's  Hill  has  obtained  a  considerable  name,  and  is  ac- 
counted great  in  tho  annals  of  American  history.  In  England 
we  have  all  heard  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and  some  of  us  dislike  the 
sound  as  much  as  Frenchmen  do  that  of  Waterloo.  In  the 
States  men  talk  of  Bunker's  Hill  as  we  may,  perhaps,  talk  of 
Agincourt  and  such  favourite  fields.  But,  after  all,  little  was 
done  at  Bunker's  Hill,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  no  victory  was 
gained  there  by  either  party.  The  road  from  Boston  to  tho 
town  of  Concord,  on  which  stands  the  village  of  Lexington,  is 
the  true  scene  of  the  earliest  and  greatest  deeds  of  the  men  of 
Boston.  T' 3  monument  at  Bunker's  Ilill  stands  high  and 
commands  attention,  while  those  at  Lexington  and  Concord 
are  very  lowly  and  command  no  attention.  But  it  is  of  that 
road  and  what  was  done  on  it  that  Massachusetts  should  be 
proud.  When  the  colonists  first  began  to  feel  that  they  were 
oppressed,  and  a  half  resolve  was  made  to  resist  that  oppression 
by  force,  they  began  to  collect  a  few  arms  and  some  gunpow- 
der at  Concord,  a  small  town  about  eighteen  miles  from  Bos- 
ton. Of  this  preparation  the  English  Governor  received  tidings, 
and  determined  to  send  a  party  of  soldiers  to  seize  the  arms. 
This  he  endeavoured  to  do  secretly ;  but  he  was  too  closely 
watched,  and  word  was  sent  down  over  the  waters  by  which 
Boston  was  then  surrounded  that  the  colonists  might  h\i  pre- 
pared for  the  soldiers.  At  that  time  Boston  Neck,  as  it  was 
and  is  still  called,  was  the  only  connection  between  the  town 
and  the  main  land,  and  the  road  over  Boston  Neck  did  not  lead 
to  Concord.  Boats  therefore  were  necessarily  used,  and  there 
was  some  difficulty  in  getting  the  soldiers  to  the  nearest  point. 
They  made  their  way,  however,  to  the  road,  and  continued  their 
route  as  far  as  Lexington  without  interruption.  Here,  howev- 
er, they  were  attacked,  and  the  first  blood  of  that  war  was  shed. 
The'  shot  three  or  four  of  the — rebels,  I  suppose  I  should  in 
strioc  language  call  them,  and  then  proceeded  on  to  Concord. 
But  at  Concord  they  were  stopped  and  repulsed,  and  along  the 


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road  hack  from  Concord  to  Lexington  thoy  wcro  driven  with 
Blaughtcr  and  dismay.  And  tlius  the  rebclhon  was  commenced 
which  led  to  the  cstabli.sliment  of  a  people  which,  lot  us  En- 
glishmen say  and  think  what  wo  may  of  them  at  this  present 
moment,  has  made  itself  one  of  the  tivo  great  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  has  enabled  us  to  boast  that  the  two  out  of  the  five 
who  enjoy  the  greatest  liberty  and  the  widest  prosperity,  speak 
the  English  language  and  are  known  by  English  names.  For 
all  that  has  come  and  is  like  to  come,  I  say  again,  long  may  that 
honour  remain.  I  could  not  but  feel  that  that  road  from  Bos- 
ton to  Concord  deserves  a  name  in  the  world's  history  greater, 
perhaps,  than  has  yet  been  given  to  it. 

Concord  is  at  present  to  bo  noted  as  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Emerson  and  of  Mr.  Hawthorne,  two  of  those  many  men  of  let- 
ters of  whose  presence  Boston  and  its  neighbourhood  have  rea- 
son to  be  proud.  Of  Mr.  Emerson  I  have  already  spoken.  The 
author  of  the  *  Scarlet  Letter'  I  regard  as  certainly  the  first  of 
American  novelists.  I  know  what  men  will  say  of  Mr.  Cooper, 
— and  I  also  am  an  admirer  of  Cooper's  novels.  But  I  cannot 
think  that  Mr.  Cooper's  powers  were  equal  to  those  of  Mr. 
Hawthorne,  though  his  mode  of  thought  may  have  been  more 

f:enial,  and  his  choice  of  subjects  more  attractive  in  their  day. 
n  point  of  imagination,  which,  after  all,  is  the  novelist's  great- 
est gift,  I  hardly  know  any  living  author  who  can  be  accounted 
superior  to  Mr.  Hawthorne. 

Very  much  has,  undoubtedly,  been  done  in  Boston  to  carry 
out  that  theory  of  Colonel  Newcome's — Emollit  mores^  by 
which  the  Colonel  meant  to  signify  his  opinion  that  a  compe- 
tent knowledge  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  with  a  taste 
for  enjoying  those  accomplishments,  goes  very  far  towards  i-he 
making  of  a  man,  and  will  by  no  means  mar  a  gentleman.  In 
Boston  nearly  every  man,  woman,  and  child  has  had  his  or  her 
manners  so  far  softened ;  and  though  they  may  still  occasionally 
be  somewhat  rough  to  the  outer  touch,  the  inward  effect  is 
plainly  visible.  With  us,  especially  among  our  agricultural  pop- 
ulation, the  absence  of  that  inner  softening  is  as  visible. 

I  went  to  see  a  public  libfary  in  the  city,  which,  if  not  found- 
ed by  Mr.  Bates,  whose  name  is  so  well  known  in  London  as 
connected  with  the  house  of  Messrs.  Baring,  has  been  greatly 
enriched  by  him.  It  is  by  his  money  that  it  has  been  enabled 
to  do  its  work.  In  this  library  there  is  a  certain  number  of  thou- 
sands of  volumes — a  great  many  volumes,  as  there  are  in  most 
public  libraries.  There  are  books  of  all  classes,  from  ponderous 
unreadable  folios,  of  which  learned  men  know  the  title-pages, 


BOSTON. 


231 


<lown  to  the  lightest  literature.  Novels  are  by  no  means  cs- 
cliewed, — are  rather,  if  I  understood  aright,  con.sidorcd  as  one 
of  tlie  Hta})!es  of  the  library.  From  this  library  any  book,  ex- 
cepting such  rare  volumes  as  in  all  libraries  are  considered  holy, 
is  given  out  to  any  inhabitant  of  Boston,  without  any  payment, 
on  presentation  of  a  8imj)lo  request  on  a  i)repared  form.  In 
point  of  fact  it  is  a  gratuitous  circulating  library  open  to  all 
i3oston,  rich  or  poor,  young  or  old.  The  books  seemed  in  gen- 
eral to  be  confided  to  young  children,  who  came  as  messengers 
from  their  fathers  and  mothers,  or  brothers  and  sisters.  No 
question  whatever  is  asked,  if  the  ai)plicant  is  known  or  tho 
place  of 'lis  residence  undoubted.  If  there  be  no  such  knowl- 
edge, or  there  bo  any  doubt  as  to  the  residence,  the  applicant 
is  questioned,  tho  object  being  to  confine  the  use  of  tho  library 
to  the  bond  fide  inhabitants  of  tho  city.  Practically  tlio  books 
are  given  to  those  who  ask  for  them,  whoever  they  may  be. 
Boston  contains  over  200,000  inhabitants,  and  all  those  200,000 
are  entitled  to  them.  Some  twenty  men  and  women  are  kept 
employed  from  morning  to  night  in  carrying  on  this  circulating 
library;  and  there  is,  moreover,  attached  to  tho  establishment 
a  largo  reading-room  supplied  with  papers  and  magazines,  open 
to  tho  public  of  Boston  on  tho  same  terms. 

Of  course  I  asked  whether  a  great  many  of  the  boo^is  were 
not  lost,  stolen,  and  destroyed ;  and  of  course  I  was  told  that 
there  were  no  losses,  no  thefts,  and  no  destruction.  As  to 
thefts,  the  librarian  did  not  seem  to  think  that  any  instance  of 
such  an  occurrence  could  be  found.  Among  the  poorer  classes 
a  book  might  sometimes  be  lost  when  they  were  changing  their 
lodgings,  but  any  thing  so  lost  was  more  than  replaced  by  tho 
fines.  A  book  is  taken  out  for  a  week,  and  if  not  brought  back 
at  the  end  of  that  week,  when  the  loan  can  be  renewed  if  tho 
reader  wishes,  a  fine,  I  think  of  two  cents,  is  incurred.  Tho 
children,  when  too  late  with  the  books,  bring  in  the  two  cents 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  tho  sum  so  collected  fully  replaces 
all  losses.  It  was  all  couleur  de  rose;  the  librarian  esses  looked 
very  pretty  and  learned,  and,  if  I  remember  aright,  mostly  wore 
spectacles ;  the  head  librarian  was  enthusiastic ;  the  nice  in- 
structive books  were  properly  dogs-eared ;  my  own  produc- 
tions were  in  enormous  demand ;  the  call  for  books  over  tho 
counter  was  brisk,  and  the  reading-room  was  full  of  readers. 

It  has,  I  dare  say,  occurred  to  other  travellers  to  remark  that 
the  proceedings  at  such  institutions,  when  visited  by  them  on 
their  travels,  are  always  rose  coloured.  It  is  natural  that  the 
bright  side  should  be  shown  to  the  visitor.    It  may  be  that 


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232 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


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many  books  are  called  for  and  returned  unread,  that  many  of 
those  taken  out  are  so  taken  by  persons  who  ought  to  pay  for 
their  novels  at  circulating  libraries,  that  the  librarian  and  libra- 
rianesses  get  very  tired  of  their  long  hours  of  atttndance, — for 
I  found  tliut  they  were  very  long ; — and  that  many  idlers  warm 
themselves  in  that  reading-room ;  nevertheless  the  fact  remains 
— the  Hbrary  is  public  to  all  the  men  and  women  in  Boston,  and 
books  are  given  out  without  payment  to  all  who  may  choose  to 
ask  for  them.  Why  should  not  the  great  Mr.  Mudie  emulate 
Mr.  Bates,  and  open  a  library  in  London  on  the  same  system  ? 

The  librarian  took  me  into  one  special  room,  of  which  he  him- 
self kept  the  key,  to  ihow  me  a  present  which  the  library  had 
received  from  the  English  Government.  The  room  was  filled 
with  volumes  of  two  sizes,  all  bound  alike,  containing  descrip- 
tions and  drawings  of  all  the  patents  taken  out  in  England. 
According  to  this  librarian  such  a  work  would  be  invaluable  as 
to  American  patents ;  but  he  conceived  that  the  subject  had  be- 
come too  confused  to  render  any  such  an  undertaking  possible. 
"  I  never  allow  a  single  volume  to  be  used  for  a  moment  with- 
out the  presence  of  myself  or  one  of  my  assistants,"  said  the 
librarian ;  and  then  he  explained  to  me,  when  I  asked  him  why 
he  was  so  particular,  that  the  drawings  would,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  be  cut  out  and  stolen  if  he  omitted  his  care.  "  But 
they  may  be  copied,"  I  said.  "Yes ;  but  if  Jones  merely  copies 
one.  Smith  may  come  after  him  and  copy  it  also.  Jones  will 
probably  desire  to  hinder  Smith  from  having  any  evidence  of 
such  a  patent."  As  to  the  ordinary  borrowing  and  returning 
of  books,  the  poorest  labourer's  child  in  Boston  might  be  trust- 
ed as  honest ;  but  when  a  question  of  trade  came  up,  of  com- 
mercial competition,  then  the  librarian  was  bound  to  bethink 
himself  that  his  countrymen  are  very  smart.  "I  hope,"  said  the 
librarian,  "  you  will  let  them  know  in  England  how  grateful  we 
are  for  their  present."  And  I  herel'/  execuve  that  librarian's 
commission. 

I  shall  always  look  back  to  social  life  in  Boston  with  great 
pleasure.  I  met  there  many  men  and  women  whom  to  know 
is  a  distinction,  and  with  whom  to  be  intimate  is  a  great  de- 
light. It  was  a  Puritan  city,  in  \t'hich  strict  old  Roundhead 
sentiments  and  laws  used  to  prevail ;  but  now-a-days  ginger  is 
hot  in  the  mouth  there,  and  in  spite  of  the  war  there  were  cakes 
and  ale.  There  was  a  law  passed  in  Massachusetts  in  the  old 
days  that  any  girl  should  be  fined  and  imprisoned  who  allowed 
a  young  man  to  kiss  her.  That  law  has  now,  I  think,  fallen  into 
abeyance,  and  such  matters  are  regulate  d  in  Boston  much  as 


.  * 


Y*^^  1 


BOSTON. 


233 


they  are  in  other  large  towns  further  eastward.  It  still,  I  con- 
ceive, calls  itself  a  Puritan  cily,  but  it  has  divested  its  Puritan- 
ism of  austerity,  and  clings  rather  to  the  politics  and  nublic 
bearing  of  its  old  fathers  than  to  their  social  manners  and  pris- 
tine severity  of  intercourse.  The  young  girls  are,  no  doubt, 
much  more  comfortable  under  the  new  dispensation, — and  the 
elderly  men  also,  as  I  fancy.  Sunday,  as  regards  the  outer 
streets,  is  sabbatical.  But  Sunday  evenings  within  doors  I  al- 
ways found  to  be,  what  my  friends  in  that  country  call "  quite 
a  good  time."  It  is  not  the  thing  in  Boston  to  smoke  in  the 
streets  during  the  day ;  but  the  wisest,  the  sagest,  and  the  most 
lioly, — even  those  holy  men  whom  the  lecturer  saw  around  him 
— seldom  refuse  a  cigar  in  the  dining-room  as  soon  as  the  ladies 
have  gone.  Perhaps  even  the  wicked  weed  would  make  its  ap- 
pearance before  that  sad  eclipse,  thereby  postponing,  or  perhaps 
absolutely  annihilating,  the  melancholy  period  of  widowhood  to 
both  parties,  and  would  light  itself  under  the  very  eyes  of  those 
who  in  sterner  cities  will  lend  no  countenance  to  such  lightings. 
Ah  me,  it  was  very  pleasant !  I  confess  I  like  this  abandonment 
of  the  stricter  rules  of  the  more  decorous  world.  I  fear  that 
there  is  within  me  an  aptitude  to  the  milder  debaucheries  which 
makes  such  deviations  pleasant.  I  like  to  drink  and  I  like  to 
smoke,  but  I  do  not  like  to  turn  women  out  of  the  room.  Then 
comes  the  question  whether  one  can  have  all  that  one  likes  to- 
gether. In  some  small  circles  in  New  England  I  found  people 
simple  enough  to  fancy  that  they  could.  In  Massachusetts  the 
Maine  Liquor  Law  is  still  the  law  of  the  land,  but,  like  that  other 
law  to  which  I  have  alluded,  it  has  fallen  very  much  out  of  use. 
At  any  rate  it  had  not  reached  the  houses  of  the  gentlemen  with 
whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  acquaintance.  But  here  I 
must  guard  myself  from  being  misunderstood.  I  saw  but  one 
drunken  man  through  all  New  England,  and  he  was  very  re- 
spectable. He  was,  however,  so  uncommonly  drunk  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  count  for  two  or  three.  The  Puritans  of 
Boston  are,  of  course,  simple  in  their  habits  and  simple  in  their 
expenses.  Champagne  and  canvas-back  ducks  I  found  to  be 
the  provisions  most  in  vogue  among  those  who  desired  to  ad- 
here closely  to  the  manners  of  their  forefathers.  Upon  the 
whole  I  found  the  ways  of  life  which  had  been  brought  over  in 
the  'Mayflower'  from  the  stern  sects  of  England,  and  preserved 
through  the  revolutionary  war  for  liberty,  to  be  very  pleasant 
ways,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  that  a  Yankee  Puritan  can  be 
an  uncommonly  pleasant  fellow.  I  wish  that  some  of  them  did 
not  diue  so  early ;  for  when  a  man  sits  down  at  half-past  two, 


1 1 


H' 


Hi 


* 


.   r'  u 


!;   ( 
\    . : 

i:  , 


234 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


|j^: 


{. 


that  keeping  up  of  the  after-dinner  recreations  till  bedtime  be- 
comes hard  work. 

In  Boston  the  houses  are  very  spacious  and  excellent,  and 
they  are  always  furnished  with  those  luxuries  which  it  is  so 
difficult  to  introduce  into  an  old  house.  They  have  hot  and 
cold  water  pipes  into  every  room,  and  baths  attached  to  the 
bed-chambers.  It  is  not  only  that  comfort  is  increased  by  such 
arrangements,  but  that  much  labour  is  saved.  In  an  old  En- 
glish house  it  will  occupy  a  servant  the  best  part  of  the  day  to 
carry  water  up  and  down  for  a  large  family.  Everything  also 
is  spacious,  commodious,  and  well  lighted.  I  certainly  think 
that  in  house-building  the  Americans  have  gone  beyond  us, 
for  even  our  new  houses  are  not  commodious  as  are  theirs. 
One  practice  v/hich  they  have  in  their  cities  would  hardly  suit 
our  limited  London  spaces.  When  the  body  of  the  house  is 
built,  they  throw  out  the  dining-room  behind.  It  stands  alone, 
as  it  were,  with  no  other  chamber  above  it,  and  removed  from 
the  rest  of  the  house.  It  is  consequently  behind  the  double 
drawing-rooms  which  form  the  ground-floor,  and  is  approached 
from  them,  and  also  from  the  back  of  the  hall.  The  second  en- 
trance to  the  dining-room  is  thus  near  the  top  of  the  kitchen 
stairs,  which  no  doubt  is  its  proper  position.  The  whole  of  the 
upper  part  of  the  house  is  thus  kept  for  the  private  uses  of  the 
family.  To  me  this  plan  of  building  recommended  itself  as  be- 
ing very  commodious. 

I  found  the  spirit  for  the  war  quite  as  hot  at  Boston  now  (in 
November),  if  not  hotter  than  it  was  when  I  was  there  ten 
weeks  earlier ;  and  I  found  also,  to  my  grief,  that  the  feeling 
against  England  was  as  strong.  I  can  easily  understand  how 
difficult  it  must  have  been,  and  still  must  be,  to  Englishmen  at 
home  to  understand  this,  and  see  how  it  has  com3  to  pass.  It 
has  not  arisen,  as  I  think,  from  the  old  jealousy  of  England. 
It  has  not  sprung  from  that  source  which  for  years  has  induced 
certain  newspapers,  especially  the '  New  York  Herald'  to  vilify 
England.  I  do  not  think  that  the  men  of  New  England  have 
ever  been,  as  regards  this  matter,  in  the  same  boat  with  the 
'  New  York  Herald.'  But  when  this  war  between  the  North 
and  South  first  broke  out,  even  before  there  was  as  yet  a  war, 
the  Northern  men  had  taught  themselves  to  expect  what  they 
called  British  sympathy,  meaning  British  encouragement.  They 
regarded,  and  properly  regarded,  the  action  of  the  South  as  a 
rebellion,  and  said  among  themselves  that  so  staid  and  conserv- 
ative a  nation  as  Great  Britain  would  surely  countenance  them 
in  quelling  rebels.    If  not, — should  it  come  to  pass  that  Great 


4 


BOSTON. 


235 


Britain  should  show  no  such  countenance  and  sympathy  for 
Northern  law,  if  Great  Britain  did  not  respond  to  her  friend 
fis  she  was  expected  to  respond,  then  it  would  appear  that 
Cotton  was  king,  at  least  in  British  eyes.  The  war  did  come, 
and  Great  Britain  regarded  the  two  parties  as  belligerents, 
standing,  as  far  as  she  was  concerned,  on  equal  grounds.  This 
it  was  that  first  gave  rise  to  that  fretful  anger  against  England 
which  has  gone  so  far  towards  ruining  the  northern  cause. 
We  know  how  such  passions  are  swelled  by  being  ventilated, 
and  how  they  are  communicated  from  mind  to  mind  till  they 
become  national.  Politicians — American  politicians  I  here 
mean — have  their  own  future  careers  ever  before  their  eyes, 
and  are  driven  to  make  capital  where  they  can.  Hence  it  is 
that  such  men  as  Mr.  Seward  in  the  cabinet,  and  Mr.  Everett 
out  of  it,  can  reconcile  it  to  themselves  to  speak  as  they  have 
done  of  England.  It  was  but  the  other  day  that  Mr.  Everett 
spoke  in  one  of  his  orations  of  the  hope  that  still  existed  that 
the  flag  of  the  United  States  might  still  float  over  the  whole 
continent  of  North  America.  What  would  he  pay  of  an  En- 
glish statesman  who  should  speak  of  putting  up  the  Union  Jack 
on  the  State  House  in  Boston  ?  Such  words  tell  for  the  mo- 
ment on  the  hearers,  and  help  to  gain  some  slight  popularity ; 
but  they  tell  for  more  than  a  moment  on  those  who  read  them 
and  remember  them. 

And  then  came  the  capture  of  Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason.  I 
was  at  Boston  when  those  men  were  taken  out  of  the  *  Trent' 
by  the  *  San  Jacinto,'  and  brought  to  Fort  Warren  in  Boston^ 
Harbour.  Captain  Wilkes  was  the  officer  who  had  made  the 
capture,  and  he  immediately  was  recognized  as  a  hero.  He 
was  invited  to  banquets  and  feted.  Speeches  were  made  to 
him  as  speeches  are  commonly  made  to  high  officers  who  come 
home  after  many  perils  victorious  from  the  wars.  His  health  was 
drunk  with  great  applause,  and  thanks  were  voted  to  him  by 
one  of  the  Houses  of  Congress.  It  was  said  that  a  sword  was 
to  be  given  to  him,  but  I  do  not  think  that  the  gift  w^as  con- 
summp^'jd.  Should  it  not  have  been  a  policeman's  truncheon  ? 
Had  he  at  the  best  done  anything  beyond  a  policeman's  work  ? 
Of  Captain  Wilkes  no  one  would  complain  for  doing  police- 
man's duty.  If  his  country  were  satisfied  with  the  manner  in 
which  he  did  it,  England,  if  she  quarrelled  at  all,  would  not 
quarrel  with  him.  It  may  now  and  again  become  the  duty  of 
a  brave  officer  to  do  work  of  so  low  a  calibre.  It  is  a  pity  that 
an  ambitious  sailor  should  find  himself  told  off  for  so  mean  a 
task,  but  the  world  would  know  that  it  is  not  his  fault.    No  one 


Vi 


I  r 


■•'\ 


r%  I 


¥ 


li  ! 


23G 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


,l'i 


;;i 


could  blame  Captain  Wilkes  .or  acting  policeman  on  the  seas. 
But  who  ever  before  heard  of  giving  a  man  glory  for  achieve- 
ments so  little  glorious?  How  Captain  Wilkes  must  have 
blushed  when  those  speeches  were  made  to  him,  when  that  talk 
about  the  sword  came  up,  when  the  thanks  arrived  to  him  from 
Congress!  An  officer  receives  his  country's  thanks  when  he 
has  been  in  great  peril,  and  has  borne  himself  gallantly  through 
his  danger ;  when  he  has  endured  the  brunt  of  war,  and  come 
through  it  with  victory ;  when  he  has  exposed  himself  on  be- 
half of  his  country  and  singed  his  epaulets  with  an  enemy's 
fire.  Captain  Wilkes  tapped  a  merchantman  on  the  shoulder 
in  the  high  seas,  and  told  him  that  his  passengers  were  want- 
ed. In  doing  this  he  showed  no  lack  of  spirit,  for  it  mighn  bo 
his  duty;  but  where  was  his  spirit  w^en  he  submitted  to  bo 
thanked  for  siich  work  ? 

And  then  there  arose  a  clamour  of  justification  among  the 
lawyers ;  judges  and  ex-judges  flew  to  Wheaton,  Phillimore, 
and  Lord  Stowell.  Before  twenty-four  hours  were  over,  every 
man  and  every  woman  in  Boston  were  armed  with  precedents. 
Then  there  was  the  burning  of  the  *  Caroline.'  England  had 
improperly  burned  the  *  Caroline'  on  Lake  Erie,  or  rather  in 
one  of  the  American  ports  on  Lake  Erie,  and  had  then  begged 
pardon.  If  the  States  had  been  wrong,  they  would  beg  par- 
don ;  but  whether  wrong  or  right,  they  would  not  give  up  Sli- 
dell  and  Mason.  But  the  lawyers  soon  waxed  stronger.  The 
men  were  manifestly  ambassadors,  and  as  such  contraband  of 
war.  Wilkes  was  quite  right,  only  he  should  have  seized  the 
vessel  also.  He  was  quite  right,  for  though  Slidell  and  Mason 
might  not  be  ambassadors,  they  were  undoubtedly  carrying  de- 
spatches. In  a  few  hours  there  began  to  be  a  doubt  whether 
the  men  could  be  ambassadors,  because  if  called  ambassadors, 
then  the  power  that  sent  the  embassy  must  be  presumed  to  be 
recognized.  That  Captain  Wilkes  had  taken  no  despatches 
was  true ;  but  the  Captain  suggested  a  way  out  of  this  difliculty 
by  declaring  that  he  had  regarded  the  two  men  themselves  as 
an  incarnated  embodiment  of  despatches.  At  any  rate,  they 
were  contraband  of  war.  They  were  going  to  do  an  injury -to 
the  North.  It  was  pretty  to  hear  the  charming  women  of  Bos- 
ton, as  they  became  learned  in  the  law  of  nations :  "  Wheaton 
is  quite  clear  about  it,"  one  young  girl  said  to  me.  It  was  the 
first  I  had  ever  heard  of  Wheaton,  and  so  far  was  obliged  to 
knock  under.  All  the  world,  ladies  and  lawyers,  expressed  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  justice  of  the  seizure,  but  it  was  clear 
that  all  the  world  was  in  a  state  of  the  profoundest  nervous 


mm 


BOSTON. 


237 


anxiety  on  the  subject.  To  me  it  seemed  to  be  the  most  sui- 
cidal act  that  any  party  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  ever  com- 
mitted. All  Americans  on  both  sides  had  felt,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  that  any  assistance  given  by  England  to  one 
or  the  other  would  turn  the  scale.  The  Government  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  must  have  learned  by  this  time  that  England  was  at 
least  true  in  her  neutrality ;  that  no  desire  for  cotton  would 
compel  her  to  give  aid  to  the  South  as  long  as  she  herself  was 
not  ill-treated  by  the  North.  But  it  seemed  as  though  Mr. 
Seward,  the  President's  prime  minister,  had  no  better  work  on 
hand  than  that  of  showing  in  every  way  his  indifference  as  to 
courtesy  with  England.  Insults  offered  to  England  would,  ho 
seemed  to  think,  strengthen  his  hands.  Ho  would  let  England 
know  that  he  did  not  care  for  her.  When  our  minister.  Lord 
Lyons,  appealed  to  him  regarding  the  suspension  of  the  habeas 
corpus,  Mr.  Seward  not  only  answered  him  with  insolence,  but 
instantly  published  his  answer  in  the  papers.  He  instituted  a 
system  of  passports,  especially  constructed  so  as  to  incommode 
Englishmen  proceeding  from  the  States  across  the  Atlantic. 
He  resolved  to  make  every  Englishman  in  America  feel  him- 
self in  some  way  punished  because  England  had  not  assisted 
the  North.  And  now  came  the  arrest  of  Slidell  and  Mason 
out  of  an  English  mail-steamer ;  and  Mr.  Seward  took  care  to 
let  it  be  understood  that,  happen  what  might,  those  two  men 
should  not  be  given  up. 

Nothing  during  all  this  time  astonished  me  so  much  as  the 
estimation  in  which  Mr.  Seward  was  then  held  by  his  own  par- 
ty. It  is,  perhaps,  the  worst  defect  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
States,  that  no  incapacity  on  the  part  of  a  minister,  no  amount 
of  condemnation  expressed  against  him  by  the  people  or  by 
Congress,  can  put  him  out  of  office  during  the  term  of  the  ex- 
isting Presidency.  The  President  can  dismiss  him ;  but  it  gen- 
erally happens  that  the  President  is  brought  in  on  a  "platform," 
which  has  already  nominated  for  him  bis  Cabinet  as  thorough- 
ly as  they  have  nominated  him.  Mr.  Seward  ran  Mr.  Lincoln 
very  hard  for  the  position  of  candidate  for  the  Presidency  on 
the  Republican  interest.  On  the  second  voting  of  the  Repub- 
lican delegates  at  the  Convention  at  Chicago,  Mr.  Seward  polled 
184  to  Mr.Lincoln's  181.  But  as  a  clear  half  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  votes  was  necessary — that  is  233  out  of  465 — there  was 
necessarily  a  third  polling,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  won  the  day.  On 
that  occasion  Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Cameron,  both  of  whom  be- 
came members  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  were  also  candidates 
for  -"he  White  House  on  the  Republican  side.    I  mention  this 


\  '■■■ 


^'V 


■"! 


¥ 


I     \  I 


i    M 


• 


h  i  m 


I 


^ 


238 


NOKTH   AMERICA. 


1.^. 


■il: 


I. 


hero  to  show,  that  though  the  President  can  in  fact  dismiss  his 
Ministers,  he  is  in  a  great  manner  bound  to  them,  and  that  a 
"iVIinister  in  Mr.  Seward's  position  is  hardly  to  be  dismissed. 
But  from  the  1st  of  November,  1861,  till  the  day  on  which  I 
left  the  States,  I  do  not  think  that  I  heard  a  good  word  spoken 
of  Mr.  Seward  as  a  Minister  even  by  one  of  his  own  party. 
The  Radical  or  Abolitionist  Republicans  all  abused  him.  The 
Conservative  or  Anti-abolition  liepublicans,  to  whose  party  ho 
would  consider  himself  as  belonging,  spoke  of  him  as  a  mis- 
take. He  had  been  prominent  as  Senator  from  New  York,  and 
had  been  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  but  had  none  of 
the  aptitudes  of  a  statesman.  He  was  there,  and  it  was  a  pity. 
He  was  not  so  bad  as  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Minister  for  War ;  that 
was  the  best  his  own  party  could  say  for  him,  even  in  his  own 
State  of  New  York.  As  to  the  Democrats,  their  language  re- 
specting him  was  as  harsh  as  any  that  I  have  heard  used  to- 
wards the  Southern  leaders.  He  seemed  to  have  no  friend,  no 
one  who  trusted  him ; — and  yet  he  was  the  President's  chief 
minister,  and  seemed  to  have  in  his  own  hands  the  power  of 
mismanaging  all  foreign  relations  as  he  pleased.  But,  in  truth, 
the  States  of  America,  great  as  they  are,  and  much  as  they 
have  done,  have  not  produced  Statesmen.  That  theory  of  gov- 
erning by  the  little  men  rather  than  by  the  great,  has  not  been 
found  to  answer,  and  such  follies  as  those  of  Mr.  Seward  have 
been  the  consequence. 

At  Boston,  and  indeed  elsewhere,  I  found  that  there  was 
even  then, — at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  no 
true  conception  of  the  neutrality  of  England  with  reference  to 
the  two  parties.  When  any  argument  was  made,  showing  that 
England,  who  had  carried  those  messengers  from  the  South, 
would  undoubtedly  have  also  carried  messengers  from  the 
North,  the  answer  always  was — "  But  the  Southerners  are  all 
rebels.  Will  England  regard  us,  who  are  by  treaty  her  friend, 
as  she  does  a  people  that  is  in  rebellion  against  its  own  govern- 
ment ?"  That  was  the  old  story  over  again,  and  as  it  was  a 
very 'long  story,  it  was  hardly  of  use  to  go  back  through  all  its 
details.  But  the  fact  was  that  unless  there  had  been  such  ab- 
solute neutrality — such  equality  between  the  parties  in  the  eyes 
of  England — even  Captain  Wilkes  would  not  have  thought  of 
stopping  the  '  Trent,'  or  the  government  at  Washington  of  jus- 
tifying such  a  proceeding.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Government  at  Washington  had  justified  that  proceeding. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  had  distinctly  done  so  in  his  official 
report ;  and  that  report  had  been  submitted  to  the  President 


BOSTON. 


239 


and  published  by  his  order.  It  was  because  England  was  neu- 
tral between  the  North  and  South  that  Captain  Wilkes  claimed 
to  have  the  right  of  seizing  those  two  men.  It  had  been  the 
President's  intention,  some  month  or  so  before  this  aftair,  to 
send  Mr.  Everett  and  other  gentlemen  over  to  England  with 
objects  as  regards  the  North,  similar  to  those  which  had  caused 
the  sending  of  Slidell  and  Mason  with  reference  to  the  South. 
What  would  Mr.  Everett  have  thought  had  he  been  refused  a 
passage  from  Dover  to  Calais,  because  the  carrying  of  him 
would  have  been  towards  the  South  a  breach  of  neutrality  ? 
It  would  never  have  occurred  to  him  that  he  could  become 
subject  to  such  stoppage.  How  should  we  have  been  abused 
for  Southern  sympathies  had  we  so  acted?  We, forsooth, who 
carry  passengers  about  the  world,  from  China  and  Australia, 
round  to  Chili  and  Peru,  who  have  the  charge  of  the  world's 
passengers  and  letters,  and  as  a  nation  incur  out  of  our  pocket 
annually  a  loss  of  some  half-million  of  pounds  sterling  for  the 
privilege  of  doing  so,  are  to  inquire  the  business  of  every  Amer- 
ican traveller  before  we  let  him  on  board,  and  be  stopped  in 
our  work  if  we  take  anybody  on  one  side  whose  journeyings 
may  be  conceived  by  the  other  side  to  be  to  them  prejudicial ! 
Not  on  such  terms  will  Englishmen  be  willing  to  spread  civ- 
ilization across  the  ocean!  I  do  not  pretend  to  understand 
Wheaton  and  Phillimore,  or  even  to  have  read  a  single  word 
of  any  international  law.  I  have  refused  to  read  any  such, 
knowing  that  it  would  only  confuse  and  mislead  me.  But  I 
have  my  common  sense  to  guide  me.  Two  men  living  in  one 
street,  quarrel  and  shy  brickbats  at  each  other,  and  make  the 
whole  street  very  uncomfortable.  Not  only  is  no  one  to  inter- 
fere with  them,  but  they  are  to  have  the  privilege  of  deciding 
that  their  brickbats  have  the  right  of  way,  rather  than  the  or- 
dinary intercourse  of  the  neighbourhood !  If  that  be  national 
law,  national  law  must  be  changed.  It  might  do  for  some  cen- 
turies back,  but  it  cannot  do  now.  Up  to  this  period  my  sym- 
pathies had  been  with  the  North.  I  thought,  and  still  think, 
that  the  North  had  no  alternative,  that  the  war  had  been  forced 
upon  them,  and  that  they  had  gone  about  their  work  with  pa- 
triotic energy.  But  this  stopping  of  an  English  mail-steamer 
was  too  much  for  me. 

What  will  they  do  in  England  ?  was  now  the  question.  But 
for  any  knowledge  as  to  that,  I  had  to  wait  till  I  reached  Wash- 
ington. 


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240 


liOBTU   AMERICA. 


r^'!'' 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CAMBRIDGE   AND  LOWELL. 

The  two  places  of  most  general  interest  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston  arc  Cambridge  and  Lowell.  Cambridge  is  to  Massa- 
chusetts, and,  I  may  almost  say,  is  to  all  the  northern  States, 
what  Cambridge  and  Oxford  are  to  England.  It  is  the  seat 
of  the  University  which  gives  the  highest  education  to  be  at- 
tained by  the  highest  classes  in  that  country.  Lowell  also  is 
in  little  to  Massachusetts  and  to  New  England  what  Manches- 
ter is  to  us  in  so  great  a  degree.  It  is  the  largest  and  most 
prosperous  cotton-manufacturing  town  in  the  States. 

Cambridge  is  not  above  three  or  four  miles  from  Boston. 
Indeed,  the  town  of  Ccambridge  properly  so  called  begins  where 
Boston  ceases.  The  Harvard  College — that  is  its  name,  taken 
from  one  of  its  original  founders — is  reached  by  horse-cars  in 
twenty  minutes  from  the  city.  An  Englishman  feels  inclined 
to  regard  the  place  as  a  suburb  of  Boston ;  but  if  he  so  ex- 
presses himself,  he  will  not  find  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  men 
of  Cambridge. 

The  University  is  not  so  large  as  I  had  expected  to  find  it. 
It  consists  of  Harvard  College,  as  the  undergraduates'  depart- 
ment, and  of  professional  schools  of  law,  medicine,  divinity,  and 
science.  In  a  few  words  that  I  will  say  about  it  I  will  confine 
myself  to  Hai'vard  College  proper,  conceiving  that  the  profes- 
sional schools  connected  with  it  have  not  in  themselves  any 
special  interest.  The  average  number  of  undergraduates  does 
not  exceed  450,  and  thecia  are  divided  into  four  classes.  The 
average  number  of  degrees  taken  annually  by  bachelors  of  art 
is  something  under  100.  Four  years*  residence  is  required  for 
a  degree,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period  a  degree  is  given  as  a 
matter  of  course  if  the  candidate's  conduct  has  been  satisfac- 
tory. When  a  young  man  has  pursued  his  studies  for  that  pe- 
riod, going  through  the  required  examinations  and  lectures,  he 
is  not  subjected  to  any  final  examination  as  is  the  case  with  a 
candidate  for  a  degree  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  It  is,  per- 
haps, in  this  respect  that  the  greatest  difference  exists  between 
the  English  Universities  and  Harvard  College.  With  us  a 
young  man  may,  I  take  it,  still  go  through  his  three  or  four 
years  with  a  small  amount  of  study.  But  his  doing  so  does 
not  insure  him  his  degree.  If  he  have  utterly  wasted  his  time 
he  is  plucked,  and  late  but  heavy  punishment  comes  upon  him. 


'  i 


CAMBBIOOE  AND   LOWELL. 


241 


At  Cambridge  in  Masaachnsetts  the  daily  work  of  tlio  men  is 
made  more  obligatory ;  but  if  this  be  gone  through  with  such 
diligence  as  to  enable  the  student  to  hold  his  own  during  the 
four  years,  he  has  his  degree  as  a  matter  of  course.  There  are 
no  degrees  conferring  special  honour.  A  man  cannot  go  out 
"  in  honours"  as  he  does  with  us.  There  are  no  "  firsts"  or 
"  double  firsts ;"  no  "  wranglers ;"  no  "  senior  opts"  or  "junior 
opts."  Nor  are  there  prizes  of  fellowships  and  livings  to  ha 
obtained.  It  is,  I  think,  evident  from  tliis  that  the  greatest  in- 
centives to  high  excellence  are  wanting  at  Harvard  College. 
There  is  neither  the  reward  of  honour  nor  of  money.  There  is 
none  of  that  great  competition  which  exists  at  our  Cambridge 
for  the  high  place  of  Senior  Wrangler ;  and,  consequently,  the 
degree  of  excellence  attained  is  no  doubt  lower  than  with  us. 
But  I  conceive  that  the  general  level  of  the  University  educa- 
tion is  higher  there  than  with  us ;  that  a  young  man  is  more 
sure  of  getting  his  education,  and  that  a  smaller  percentage  of 
men  leaves  Ilarvard  College  utterly  uneducated  than  goes  in 
that  condition  out  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  The  education  at 
Harvard  College  is  more  diversified  in  its  nature,  and  study  is 
more  absolutely  the  business  of  the  place  than  it  is  at  our  Uni- 
versities. 

The  expense  of  education  at  Harvard  College  is  not  much 
lower  than  at  our  colleges ;  with  us  there  are,  no  doubt,  more 
men  who  are  absolutely  extravagant  than  at  Cambridge,  Mas- 
sachusetts. The  actual  authorized  expenditure  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  is  only  60^.  per  annum,  ^.  e.  249  dollars ;  but  this 
does  not,  by  any  means,  include  everything.  Some  of  the  rich- 
er young  men  may  spend  as  much  as  300/.  per  annum,  but  the 
largest  number  vary  their  expenditure  from  100/.  to  180/.  per 
annum ;  and  I  take  it  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  our  Uni- 
versities. There  are  many  young  men  at  Harvard  College  of 
very  small  means.  They  will  live  on  70/.  per  annum,  and  will 
earn  a  great  portion  of  that  by  teaching  in  the  vacations.  There 
are  thirty-six  scholarships  attached  to  the  University  varying  in 
value  from  20/.  to  60/.  per  annum ;  and  there  is  also  a  benefi- 
ciary fund  for  supplying  poor  scholars  with  assistance  during 
their  collegiate  education.  Many  are  thus  brought  up  at  Cam- 
bridge who  have  no  means  of  their  own,  and  I  think  I  may  say 
that  the  consideration  in  which  they  are  held  among  their 
brother  students  is  in  no  degree  affected  by  their  position.  I 
doubt  whether  we  can  say  so  much  of  the  sizars  and  bible 
clerks  at  our  Universities. 

At  Harvard  College  there  is,  of  course,  none  of  that  old-fash- 


•^ 


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242 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


*        ' 


'S 


ioned,  timc-hononred,  delicious,  medireval  life  which  lends  ro 
much  grace  and  beauty  to  our  colleges.  There  are  no  gates, 
no  porter's  lodges,  no  butteries,  no  halls,  no  battles,  and  no 
common  rooms.  There  are  no  proctors,  no  bulldogs,  no  bur- 
sers,  no  deans,  no  morning  and  evening  chapel,  no  quads,  no 
surplices,  no  caps  and  gowns.  I  have  already  said  that  there 
are  no  examinations  for  degrees  and  no  honours;  and  I  can 
easily  conceive  that  in  the  absence  of  all  these  essentials  many 
an  Englishman  will  ask  what  right  Harvard  College  has  to  call 
itself  a  University. 

I  have  said  that  there  are  no  honours,  —  and  in  our  sense 
there  are  none.  But  I  should  give  offence  to  my  American 
friends  if  I  did  not  explain  that  there  are  prizes  given — I  think, 
all  in  money,  and  that  they  vary  from  60  to  10  dollars.  These 
are  called  deturs.  The  degrees  are  given  on  Commencement 
Day,  at  which  occasion  certain  of  the  expectant  graduates  are 
selected  to  take  parts  in  a  public  literary  exhibition.  To  be  so 
selected  seems  to  be  tantamount  to  taking  a  degree  in  honours. 
There  is  also  a  dinner  on  Commencement  Day, — at  which,  how- 
ever, "  no  wine  or  other  intoxicating  drink  shall  be  served." 

It  is  required  that  every  student  shall  attend  some  place  of 
Christian  worship  on  Sundays ;  but  he,  or  his  parents  for  him, 
may  elect  what  denomination  of  church  he  shall  attend.  There 
is  a  University  chapel  on  the  Universitv  grounds  which  belongs, 
if  I  remember  right,  to  thu  Episcopalian  Church.  The  young 
men  for  the  most  part  live  in  College,  having  rooms  in  the  Col- 
lege buildings ;  but  they  do  not  board  in  those  rooms.  There 
are  establishments  in  the  town  under  the  patronage  of  the  Uni- 
versity, at  which  dinner,  breakfast,  and  supper  are  provided ; 
and  the  young  men  frequent  one  of  these  houses  or  another  as 
they,  or  their  friends  for  them,  may  arrange.  Every  young 
man  not  belonging  to  a  family  resident  within  a  hundred  miles 
of  Cambridge,  and  whose  parents  are  desirous  to  obtain  the 
protection  thus  provided,  is  placed,  as  regards  his  pecuniary 
management,  under  the  care  of  a  patron,  and  this  patron  acts 
by  him  as  a  father  does  in  England  by  a  boy  at  school.  He 
pays  out  his  money  for  him  and  keeps  him  out  of  debt.  The 
arrangement  will  not  recommend  itself  to  young  men  at  Oxford 
quite  so  powerfully  as  it  may  do  to  the  fathers  of  some  young 
men  who  have  been  there.  The  rules  with  regard  to  the  lodg- 
ing and  boarding-houses  are  very  stringent.  Any  festive  en- 
tertainment is  to  be  reported  to  the  Pi*esident.  No  wine  or 
spirituous  liquors  may  be  used,  &g.  It  is  not  a  picturesque 
system,  this ;  but  it  has  its  advantages. 


CAMDBIDQK   AND   LOWELL. 


243 


There  is  (i  handsome  library  attached  to  the  Collepo,  which 
the  youug  men  can  use ;  but  it  is  not  as  extensive  as  I  had  ex- 
pected. The  University  is  not  well  ott'  for  funds  by  which  to 
increase  it.  The  new  museum  in  the  College  is  also  a  hand- 
some building.  The  edifices  used  for  the  undergradirates' 
chambers  and  for  the  lecture-rooms  are  by  no  means  handsome. 
They  are  very  ugly  red-brick  houses  standing  hero  and  there 
without  order.  Ihero  are  seven  such,  and  they  are  called 
Brattle  House,  College  House,  Divinity  Hall,  Hollis  Hall,  Hols- 
worthy  Hall,  Massacliusetts  Hall,  and  Stoughton  Hall.  It  is 
almost  astonishing  that  buildings  so  ugly  should  have  been 
erected  for  such  a  purpose.  These,  together  with  the  library, 
the  museum,  and  the  chapel,  stand  on  a  largo  green,  which 
might  bo  made  pretty  enough  if  it  were  kept  well  mown  like 
the  gardens  of  our  Cambridge  colleges ;  but  it  is  much  neglect- 
ed. Here,  again,  the  want  of  funds  —  the  res  angusta  domi  — 
must  be  pleaded  as  an  excuse.  On  the  same  green,  but  at  some 
little  distance  from  any  other  building,  stands  the  President's 
pleasant  house. 

The  immediate  direction  of  the  College  is  of  course  mainly 
in  the  hands  of  the  President,  who  is  supreme.  But  for  the 
general  management  of  the  Institution  there  is  a  Corporation, 
of  which  he  is  one.  It  is  stated  in  the  laws  of  the  University 
that  the  Corporation  of  the  University  and  its  Overseers  con- 
stitute the  Government  of  the  Uiuversity.  The  Corporation 
consists  of  the  President,  five  Fellows,  so  called,  and  a  Treas- 
urer. These  Fellows  are  chosen,  as  vacancies  occur,  by  them- 
selves, subject  to  the  concurrence  of  the  Overseers.  But  these 
Fellows  are  in  nowise  like  to  the  Fellows  of  our  colleges,  hav- 
ing no  salaries  attached  to  their  oflices.  The  Board  of  Over- 
seers consists  of  the  State  Governor,  other  State  officers,  the 
President  and  Treasurer  of  Harvard  College,  and  thirty  other 
persons, — men  of  note,  chosen  by  vote.  The  Faculty  of  the 
College,  in  which  is  vested  the  immediate  care  and  government 
of  the  undergraduates,  is  composed  of  the  President  and  the 
Professors.  The  Professors  answer  to  the  tutors  of  our  col- 
leges, and  upon  them  the  education  of  the  place  depends.  I 
cannot  complete  this  short  notice  of  Harvard  College  without 
saying  that  it  is  happy  in  the  possession  of  that  distinguished 
natural  philosopher.  Professor  Agassiz.  M.  Agassiz  has  col- 
lected at  Cambridge  a  museum  of  such  things  as  natural  phi- 
losophers delight  to  show,  which  I  am  told  is  all  but  invaluable. 
As  ray  ignorance  on  all  such  matters  is  of  a  depth  which  the 
Professor  can  hardly  imagine,  and  which  it  would  have  shock-. 


\  •••', 


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244 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


'1 


'    'I 


iff- 


od  him  to  behold,  I  did  not  visit  tho  mufloum.  Taking  tho 
University  of  Harvard  College  as  a  whole,  I  should  say  that  it 
is  most  remarkable  in  this, — that  it  does  really  give  to  its  pu- 
pils that  education  which  it  professes  to  give.  Of  our  own 
Universities  other  good  things  may  be  said,  but  that  one  special 
good  thing  cannot  always  be  said. 

Cambridge  boasts  itself  as  the  residence  of  four  or  five  men 
well  known  to  fame  on  the  American,  and  also  on  the  European 
side  of  tho  ocean.  President  Felton's*  name  is  very  familiar 
to  us,  and  wherever  Greek  scholarship  is  held  in  repute,  that  is 
known.  So  also  is  the  name  of  Professor  Agassiz,  of  whom  I 
have  spoken.  Russell  Lowell  is  one  of  the  Professors  of  the 
College, — that  Russell  Lowell  who  sang  of  Birdo'fredum  8a- 
win,  and  whoso  Biglow  Papers  were  edited  with  such  an  ardour 
of  love  by  our  Tom  Brown.  Birdo'fredum  is  worthy  of  all  tho 
ardour.  Mr.  Dana  is  also  a  Cambridge  man, — he  who  was  "  two 
years  before  tho  mast,"  and  who  smce  that  has  written  to  us 
of  Cuba.  But  Mr.  Dana,  though  residing  at  Cambridge,  is  not 
of  Cambridge,  and,  though  a  literary  man,  he  does  not  belong 
to  literature.  Ho  is, — could  he  help  it? — a  special  attorney. 
I  must  not,  however,  degrade  him,  for  in  the  States  barristers 
and  attorneys  are  all  one.  I  cannot  but  think  that  ho  could 
help  it,  and  that  ho  should  not  give  up  to  law  what  was  meant 
for  mankind.  I  fear,  however,  that  successful  law  has  caught 
him  in  her  intolerant  clutches,  and  that  literature,  who  surely 
would  bo  the  nobler  mistress,  must  wear  tho  willow.  Last  and 
greatest  is  tho  poet-laureat  of  the  West ;  for  Mr.  Longfellow 
also  lives  at  Cambridge. 

I  am  not  at  all  aware  whether  the  nature  of  the  manufactur- 
ing corporation  of  Lowell  is  generally  understood  by  English- 
men. 1  confess  that  until  I  made  personal  acquaintance  with 
tho  plan,  I  was  absolutely  ignorant  on  tho  subject.  I  knew  that 
Lowell  was  a  manufacturing  town  at  which  cotton  is  made  into 
calico,  and  at  which  calico  is  printed, — as  is  the  case  at  Man- 
chester ;  but  I  conceived  this  was  done  at  Lowell,  as  it  is  done 
at  Manchester,  by  individual  enterprise, — that  I  or  any  one 
else  could  open  a  mill  at  Lowell,  and  that  the  manufacturers 
there  were  ordinary  traders,  as  they  are  at  other  manufactur- 
ing towns.     But  this  is  by  no  means  tho  case. 

*  Since  these  words  were  written  President  Felton  has  died.  I,  as  I  re- 
turned on  my  way  homewards,  had  the  melancholy  privilege  of  being  present 
at  his  funeral.  I  feel  bound  to  record  here  the  great  kindness  with  which 
Mr.  Felton  assisted  me  in  obtaining  such  information  as  I  needed  respecting 
the  Institution  over  which  he  presided. 


CAMDRIDOB  AND.  LOWELL. 


245 


That  which  most  Rurpriflcs  an  English  visitor  on  going 
llirough  tl»c  mills  at  Lowell  is  the  personal  appearance  ot*  the 
mon  and  women  who  work  at  them.  As  there  are  twice  as 
many  women  as  there  are  men,  it  is  to  them  that  the  attention 
is  chiefly  called.  They  are  not  only  better  dressed,  cleaner, 
and  better  mounted  in  every  respect  than  the  girls  employed 
at  manufactories  in  England,  but  they  are  so  infinitely  superior 
as  to  make  a  stranger  immediately  perceive  that  some  very 
strong  cause  must  have  created  the  difference.  We  all  know 
the  class  of  young  women  whom  wo  generally  see  serving  be- 
hind counters  in  the  shops  of  our  larger  cities.  They  are  neat, 
well  dressed,  careful,  especially  about  their  hair,  composed  in 
their  manner,  and  sometimes  a  little  supercilious  in  the  propri- 
ety of  their  demeanour.  It  is  exactly  the  same  class  of  young 
women  that  one  sees  in  the  factories  at  Lowell.  They  are  not 
sallow,  nor  dirty,  nor  ragged,  nor  rough.  They  have  about 
thom  no  signs  of  want,  or  of  low  culture.  Many  of  us  also 
know  the  appearance  of  those  girls  who  work  in  the  factories 
in  England ;  and  I  think  it  will  be  allowed  that  a  second  glance 
at  them  is  not  wanting  to  show  that  they  are  in  evcrv  respect 
inferior  to  the  young  women  who  attend  our  shops.  The  mat- 
ter, indeed,  requires  no  argument.  Any  young  woman  at  a 
shop  would  be  insulted  by  being  asked  whether  she  had  work- 
ed at  a  factory.  The  difference  with  regard  to  the  men  at 
Lowell  is  quite  as  strong,  though  not  so  striking.  Working 
men  do  not  show  their  status  in  the  world  by  their  outward 
appearance  as  readily  as  women ;  and,  as  I  have  said  before, 
the  number  of  the  women  greatly  exceeded  that  of  the  men. 

One  would  of  course  be  disposed  to  say  that  the  superior 
condition  of  the  workers  must  have  been  occasioned  by  supe- 
rior wages ;  and  this,  to  a  certain  extent,  has  been  the  cause. 
But  the  higher  payment  is  not  the  chief  cause.  Women's 
wages,  including  all  that  they  receive  at  the  Lowell  factories, 
average  about  145.  a  week,  which  is,  I  take  it,  fully  a  third  more 
than  women  can  earn  in  Manchester,  or  did  earn  before  the 
loss  of  the  American  cotton  began  to  tell  upon  them.  But  if 
wages  at  Manchester  were  raised  to  the  Lowell  standard,  the 
Manchester  women  would  not  be  clothed,  fed,  cared  for,  and 
educated  like  the  Lowell  women.  The  fact  is,  that  the  work- 
men and  the  workwomen  at  Lowell  are  not  exposed  to  the 
chances  of  an  open  labour  market.  They  are  taken  in,  as  it 
were,  to  a  philanthropical  manufacturing  college,  and  then 
looked  afler  and  regulated  more  as  girls  and  lads  at  a  great 
seminary,  than  as  hands  by  whose  industry  profit  is  to  be  made 


1 1 


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246 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


i 


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out  of  capital.  This  is  all  very  nice  and  pretty  at  Lowell,  but 
T  am  afraid  it  could  not  be  done  at  Manchester. 

There  are  at  present  twelve  different  manufactories  at  T^ow- 
ell,  each  of  which  has  what  is  called  a  separate  corporation. 
The  Merrimack  manufacturing  company  was  incorp  rated  in 
1822,  and  thus  Lowell  was  commenced.  The  Lowell  machine- 
shop  was  incorporated  in  1845,  and  since  that  no  new  estab- 
lishment has  been  added.  In  1821  a  certain  Boston  manufac- 
turing company,  which  had  mills  at  Walthara,  near  Boston,  was 
attracted  by  the  water-power  of  the  river  Merrimack,  on  which 
the  present  town  of  Lowell  is  situated.  A  canal,  called  the 
Pawtucket  Canal,  had  been  made  for  purposes  of  navigation 
from  one  reach  of  the  river  to  another,  with  the  object  of  avoid- 
ing the  Pawtucket  Falls ;  and  this  canal,  with  the  adjacent  wa- 
ter-power of  the  river,  was  purchased  for  the  Boston  Company. 
The  place  was  then  called  Lowell,  after  one  of  the  partners  in 
that  company. 

It  must  be  understood  that  water-power  alone  is  used  for 
preparing  the  cotton  and  working  the  spindles  and  looms  of 
the  cotton  mills.  Steam  is  applied  in  the  two  establishments 
in  which  the  cottons  are  printed,  for  the  purposes  of  printing, 
but  I  think  nowhere  else.  When  the  mills  are  at  full  work, 
about  two-and-a-half  million  yards  of  cotton  goods  are  made 
every  week,  and  nearly  a  million  pounds  of  cotton  are  consumed 
per  week  (i.e.  842,000  lbs.),  but  the  consumption  of  coal  is  only 
30,000  tons  in  the  year.  This  will  give  some  idea  of  the  val- 
ue of  the  water-power.  The  Pawtucket  Canal  was,  as  I  say, 
bought,  and  Lowell  was  commenced.  The  town  was  incor- 
porated in  1826,  and  the  railway  between  it  and  Boston  was 
opened  in  1835,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Jackson,  the 
gentleman  by  whom  the  purchase  of  the  canal  had  in  the  first 
instance  been  made.  Lowell  now  contains  about  40,000  inhab- 
itants. 

The  following  extract  is  taken  from  the  hand-book  to  Low- 
ell : — "  Mr.  F.  C.  Lowell  had  in  his  travels  abroad  observed  the 
effect  of  large  manufacturing  establishments  on  the  character 
of  the  people,  and  in  the  establishment  at  Waltham  the  found- 
ers looked  for  a  remedy  for  these  defects.  They  thought  that 
education  and  good  morals  would  even  enhance  the  profit,  and 
that  they  could  compete  with  Great  Britain  by  introducing  a 
more  cultivated  class  of  ope.'atives.  For  this  purpose  they 
built  boarding-houses,  which,  under  the  direct  supervision  of 
the  agent,  were  kept  by  discreet  matrons" — I  can  answer  for 
the  discreet  matrons  at  Lowell — "  mostly  widows,  no  boarders 


CAMBEIDGB  Ain)  LOWELL. 


247 


being  allowed  except  operatives.  Agents  and  overseers  of  high 
moral  character  were  selected;  regulations  were  adopted  at 
the  mills  and  boarding-houses,  by  which  only  respectable  girls 
were  employed.  The  mills  were  nicely  painted  and  swept," — 
I  can  also  answer  for  the  painting  and  sweeping  at  Lowell, — 
"trees  set  out  in  the  yards  and  along  the  streets,  habits  of  neat- 
ness and  cleanliness  encouraged ;  and  the  result  justified  the 
expenditure.  At  Lowell  the  same  policy  has  been  adopted  and 
extended;  more  spacious  millo  and  elegant  boarding-houses 
have  been  erected ;" — as  to  the  elegance,  it  may  be  a  matter  of 
taste,  but  as  to  the  comfort  there  is  no  question, — "  the  same 
care  as  to  the  classes  employed ;  more  capital  has  been  expend- 
ed for  cleanliness  and  decoration ;  a  hospital  has  been  estab- 
lished for  the  sick,  where,  for  a  small  price,  they  have  an  expe- 
rienced physician  and  skilful  nurses.  An  institute,  with  an  ex- 
tensive library,  for  the  use  of  the  mechanics,  has  been  endowed. 
The  agents  have  stood  forward  in  the  support  of  schools,  church- 
es, lectures,  and  lyceums,  and  their  influence  contributed  highly 
to  the  elevation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  character  of  the 
operatives.  Talent  has  been  encouraged,  brought  forward,  and 
recommended." — For  some  considerable  time  the  young  wo- 
men wrote,  edited,  and  published  a  newspaper  among  them- 
selves, called  the  Lowell  Offering. — "  And  Lowell  has  supplied 
agents  and  mechanics  for  the  later  manufacturing  places  who 
l^ave  given  tone  to  society,  and  extended  the  beneficial  influ- 
ence of  Lowell  through  the  United  States.  Girls  from  the 
country,  with  a  true  Yankee  spirit  of  independence,  and  confi- 
dent in  their  own  powers,  pass  a  few  years  here,  and  then  re- 
turn to  get  married  with  a  dower  secured  by  their  exertions, 
v/ith  more  enlarged  ideas  and  extended  means  of  information, 
and  their  places  are  supplied  by  younger  relatives.  A  larger 
proportion  of  the  female  population  of  New  England  has  been 
employed  at  some  time  in  manufacturing  establishments,  and 
they  are  not  on  this  account  less  good  wives,  mothers,  or  edu- 
cators of  families."  Then  the  account  goes  on  to  tell  how  the 
Health  of  the  girls  has  been  improved  by  their  attendance  at 
the  mills,  how  they  put  money  into  the  savings-banks,  and  buy 
railway-shares  and  farms;  how  there  are  thirty  churches  in 
Lowell,  a  library,  banks,  and  insurance  offices ;  how  there  is  a 
cemetery,  and  a  park,  ?ind  how  everything  is  beautiful,  philan- 
thropic, profitable,  and  magnificent. 

Thus  Lowell  is  the  realization  of  a  commercial  Utopia.  Of 
all  the  statements  made  in  the  little  b*  )ok  which  I  have  quoted 
I  cannot  point  out  one  which  is  exaggerated,  much  less  false. 


« 


«    •'! 


#i 


?: 


248 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


i^ 


I  should  not  call  the  place  elegant ;  in  other  respects  I  am  dis- 
])08ed  to  stand  by  the  book.  Before  I  had  made  any  inquiry 
into  the  cause  of  the  apparent  comfort,  it  struck  me  at  once 
that  some  great  eftbrt  at  excellence  was  being  made.  I  went 
into  one  of  the  discreet  matrons'  residences ;  and  perhaps  may 
give  but  an  indifferent  idea  of  her  discretion  when  I  say  that 
she  allowed  me  to  go  into  the  bedrooms.  If  you  want  to  as- 
certain the  inner  ways  or  habits  of  life  of  any  man,  woman,  or 
child,  see,  if  it  be  practicable  to  do  so,  his  or  her  bedroom. 
You  will  learn  more  by  a  minute's  glance  round  that  holy  of 
holies,  than  by  any  conversation.  Looking-glasses  and  such 
like,  suspended  dresses,  and  toilet-belongings,  if  taken  without 
notice,  cannot  lie  or  even  exaggerate.  The  discreet  matron  at 
first  showed  me  rooms  only  prepared  for  use,  for  at  the  period 
of  my  visit  Lowell  was  by  no  means  full ;  but  she  soon  became 
more  intimate  with  me,  and  I  went  through  the  upper  part  of 
the  house.  My  report  must  be  altogether  in  *her  favour  and 
in  that  of  Lowell.  Everything  was  cleanly,  well-ordered,  and 
feminine.  There  was  not  a  bed  on  which  any  woman  need 
have  hesitated  to  lay  herself  if  occasion  required  it.  I  fear  that 
this  cannot  be  said  of  the  lodgings  of  the  manufacturing  classes 
at  Manchester.  The  boarders  all  take  their  meals  together. 
As  a  rule,  they  have  meat  twice  a-day.  Hot  meat  for  dinner 
is  with  them  as  much  a  matter  of  course,  or  probably  more  so, 
than  with  any  English  man  or  woman  who  may  read  this  book. 
For  in  the  States  of  America  regulations  on  this  matter  are 
much  more  rigid  than  with  us.  Cold  meat  is  rarely  seen,  and 
to  live  a  day  without  meat  would  be  as  great  a  privation  as  to 
pass  a  night  without  bed. 

The  rules  for  the  guidance  of  these  boarding-houses  are  very 
rigid.  The  houses  themselves  belong  to  the  corporations  or 
different  manufacturing  establishments,  and  the  tenants  are  al- 
together in  the  power  of  the  managers.  None  but  operatives 
are  to  be  taken  in.  The  tenants  are  answerable  for  improper 
conduct.  The  doors  are  to  be  closed  at  ten  o'clock.  Any 
boarders  who  do  not  attend  divine  worship  are  to  be  reported 
to  the  managers.  The  yards  and  walks  are  to  be  kept  clean, 
and  snow  removed  at  once ;  and  the  inmates  must  be  vaccin- 
ated, <fcc.,  &c.,  &c.  It  is  expressly  stated  by  the  Hamilton 
Company, — and  I  believe  by  all  the  companies, — that  no  one 
shall  be  employed  who  is  habitually  al  ent  from  public  worship 
on  Sunday,  or  who  is  known  to  be  guilty  of  immorality.  It  is 
stated  that  the  average  wages  of  the  women  are  two  dollars, 
or  eight  shillings,  a  week,  besides  their  board.    I  found  when 


CAMBRIDGE   AND   LOWELL. 


249 


I  was  there  that  from  three  dollars  to  three-and-a-half  a  week 
were  paid  to  the  women,  of  which  they  paid  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  for  their  board.  As  this  would  not  fully 
cover  the  expense  of  their  keep,  twenty-five  cents  a  week  for 
each  was  also  paid  to  the  boarding-house  keepers  by  the  mill 
agents.  This  substantially  came  to  the  same  thing,  as  it  left 
the  two  dollars  a  week,  or  eight  shillings,  with  the  girls  over 
and  above  their  cost  of  living.  The  board  included  washing, 
li<rhts,  food,  bed,  and  attendance, — leaving  a  surplus  of  eight 
shillings  a  week  for  clothes  and  saving.  Now  let  me  ask  any 
one  acquainted  with  Manchester  and  its  operatives,  whether 
that  is  not  Utopia  realized.  Factory  girls,  for  whom  every  com- 
fort of  life  is  secured,  with  211.  a.  year  over  for  saving  and  dress ! 
One  sees  the  failing,  however,  at  a  moment.  It  is  Utopia.  Any 
Lady  Bountiful  can  tutor  three  or  four  peasants  and  make  them 
luxuriously  comfortable.  But  no  Lady  Bountiful  can  give  lux- 
urious comfort  to  half-a-dozen  parishes.  Lowell  is  now  nearly 
forty  years  old,  and  contains  but  40,000  inhabitants.  From  the 
very  nature  of  its  corporations  it  cannot  spread  itself  Chicago, 
which  has  grown  out  of  nothing  in  a  much  shorter  period,  and 
which  has  no  factories,  has  now  120,000  inhabitants.  Lowell 
is  a  very  wonderful  place  and  shows  what  philanthropy  can  do ; 
but  I  fear  it  also  shows  what  philanthropy  cannot  do. 

There  are,  however,  other  establishments,  conducted  on  the 
same  principle  as  those  at  Lowell,  which  have  had  the  same 
amount,  or  rather  the  same  sort,  of  success.  Lawrence  is  now 
a  town  of  about  15,000  inhabitants,  and  Manchester  of  about 
24,000, — if  I  remember  rightly ; — and  at  those  places  the  mills 
are  also  owned  by  corporations  and  conducted  as  are  those  at 
Lowell.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  as  Ne^^  England  takes  her 
place  in  the  world  as  a  great  manufacturing  country — which 
place  she  undoubtedly  will  take  sooner  or  later — she  must  aban- 
don the  hot-house  method  of  providing  for  her  operatives  with 
which  she  has  commenced  her  work.  In  the  first  place,  Lowell 
is  not  open  as  a  manufacturing  town  to  the  capitalists  even  of 
New  England  at  large.  Stock  may,  I  presume,  be  bought  in 
the  corporations,  but  no  interloper  can  establish  a  mill  there. 
It  is  a  close  manufacturing  community,  bolstered  up  on  all  sides, 
and  has  none  of  that  capacity  for  providing  employment  for  a 
thickly-growing  population  which  belongs  to  such  places  as 
Manchester  and  Leeds.  That  it  should  under  its  present  sys- 
tem have  been  made  in  any  degree  profitable  reflects  great 
credit  on  the  managers ;  but  the  profit  does  not  reach  an  amount 
which  in  America  can  be  considered  as  remunerative.    The 

L2 


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250 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'. 


ti 


:\ 


I: 


>:         t. 


Hi 


total  capital  invested  by  the  twelve  corporations  is  thirteen 
million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  oi'  about  two  million  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds.  In  only  one  of  the  corporations,  that 
of  the  Merrimack  Company,  does  the  profit  amount  to  12  per 
cent.  In  one,  that  of  the  Boott  Company,  it  falls  below  7  per 
cent.  The  average  profit  of  the  various  establishments  is  some- 
thing below  9  per  cent.  I  am  of  course  speaking  of  Lowell  as 
it  was  previous  to  the  war.  American  capitalists  are  not,  as  a 
rule,  contented  with  so  low  a  rate  of  interest  as  this. 

The  States  in  these  matters  have  had  a  great  advantage  over 
England.  They  have  been  able  to  begin  at  the  beginning. 
Manufactories  have  grown  up  among  us  as  our  cities  grew ; — 
from  the  necessities  and  chances  of  the  times.  When  labour 
was  wanted  it  was  obtained  in  the  ordinary  way ;  and  so  when 
houses  were  built  they  were  built  in  the  ordinary  way.  We 
had  not  the  experience,  and  the  results  either  for  good  or  bad, 
of  other  nations  to  guide  us.  The  Americans,  in  seeing  and 
resolving  to  adopt  our  commercial  successes,  have  resolved 
also,  if  possible,  to  avoid  the  evils  which  have  attended 'those 
successes.  It  would  be  very  desirable  that  all  our  factory  girls 
should  read  and  write,  wear  clean  clothes,  have  decent  beds, 
and  eat  hot  meat  every  day.  But  that  is  now  impossible. 
Gradually,  with  very  up-hill  work,  but  still  I  trust  with  sure 
work,  much  will  be  done  to  improve  their  position  and  render 
their  life  respectable ;  but  in  England  we  can  have  no  Lowells. 
In  our  thickly  populated  island  any  commercial  Utopia  is  out 
of  the  question.  Nor  can,  as  I  thiuK,  Lowell  be  taken  as  a  type 
of  the  future  manufacturing  towns  of  New  England.  When 
New  England  employs  millions  in  her  factories,  instead  of  thou- 
sands,— the  hands  employed  at  Lowell,  when  the  mills  are  at 
full  work,  are  about  11,000, — she  must  cease  to  provide  for 
them  their  beds  and  meals,  their  church-going  proprieties  and 
orderly  modes  of  life.  In  such  an  attempt  she  has  all  the  expe- 
rience of  the  world  against  her.  But  nevertheless  I  think  she 
will  have  done  much  good.  The  tone  which  she  will  have  given 
will  not  altogether  lose  its  influence.  Employment  in  a  factory 
is  now  considered  reputable  by  a  farmer  and  his  children,  and 
this  idea  will  remain.  Factory  work  is  regarded  as  more  re- 
spectable than  domestic  service,  and  this  prestige  will  not  wear 
itself  altogether  out.  Those  now  employed  have  a  strong  con- 
ception of  the  dignity  of  their  own  social  position,  and  their 
successors  will  inherit  much  of  this,  even  though  they  may  find 
themselves  excluded  from  the  advantages  of  the  present  Utopia. 
The  thing  has  begun  well,  but  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  be- 


CAMBRIDGE   AND   LOWELL. 


251 


ginning.  Steam,  it  may  be  presumed,  will  become  the  motive 
power  of  cotton  mills  in  New  England  as  it  is  with  us ;  and 
Avhen  it  is  so,  the  amount  of  work  to  be  done  at  any  one  place 
will  not  be  checked  by  any  such  limit  as  that  which  now  pre- 
vails at  Lowell.  Water-power  is  very  cheap,  but  it  cannot  be 
extended ;  and  it  would  seem  that  no  place  can  become  large 
as  a  manufacturing  town  which  has  to  depend  chiefly  upon 
water.  It  is  not  improbable  that  steam  may  be  brought  into 
general  use  at  Lowell,  and  that  Lowell  may  spread  itself.  If  it 
should  spread  itself  widely,  it  will  lose  its  Utopian  character- 
istics. 

One  cannot  but  be  greatly  struck  by  the  spirit  of  philan- 
thropy ia  which  the  system  of  Lowell  was  at  first  instituted. 
It  may  be  presumed  that  men  who  put  their  money  into  such 
an  undertaking  did  so  with  the  object  of  commercial  profit  to 
themselves ;  but  in  this  case  that  was  not  their  first  object.  I 
think  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  when  Messrs.  Jackson 
and  Lowell  went  about  their  task,  their  grand  idea  was  to  place 
factory  work  upon  a  respectable  footing, — to  give  employment 
in  mills  which  should  not  be  unhealthy,  degrading,  demorali- 
zing, or  hard  in  its  circumstances.  Throughout  the  northern 
States  of  America  the  same  feeling  is  to  be  seen.  Good  and 
thoughtful  men  have  been  active  to  spread  education,  to  main- 
tain health,  to  make  work  compatible  with  comfort  and  per- 
sonal dignity,  and  to  divest  the  ordinary  lot  of  man  of  the  sting 
of  that  curse  which  was  supposed  to  be  uttered  when  our  first 
father  was  ordered  to  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow. 
One  is  driven  to  contrast  this  feeling,  of  which  on  all  sides  one 
sees  such  ample  testimony,  with  that  sharp  desire  for  profit, 
that  anxiety  to  do  a  stroke  of  trade  at  every  turn,  that  ac- 
knowledged necessity  of  being  smart,  which  we  must  own  is 
quite  as  general  as  the  nobler  propensity.  I  believe  that  both 
phases  of  commercial  activity  may  be  attributed  to  the  same 
characteristic.  Men  in  trade  in  America  are  not  more  covet- 
ous than  tradesmen  in  England,  nor  probably  are  they  more 
generous  or  philanthropical.  But  that  which  they  do,  they 
are  more  anxious  to  do  thoroughly  and  quickly.  They  desire 
that  every  turn  taken  shall  be  a  great  turn, — or  at  any  rate 
that  it  shall  be  as  great  as  possible.  They  go  ahead  either  for 
good  or  bad  with  all  the  energy  they  have.  In  the  institutions 
at  Lowell  I  think  we  may  allow  that  the  good  has  very  much 
prevailed. 

I  went  over  two  of  the  mills,  those  of  the  Merrimack  corpo- 
ration, and  of  the  Massachusetts.     At  the  former  the  printing 


^  \ 


i 


!i;! 


i'l    ' 


252 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I       ' 


,     /    ft. 


establishment  only  was  at  work ;  the  cotton-mills  w«re  closed. 
I  hardly  know  whether  it  will  interest  any  one  to  learr  that 
Romethmg  under  half-a-million  yards  of  calico  are  here  printed 
annually.  At  the  Lowell  bleachery  fifteen  million  yards  are 
dyed  annually.  The  Merrimack  cotton-mills  were  stopped, 
and  so  had  the  other  mills  at  Lowell  been  stopped,  till  some 
short  time  before  my  visit.  Trade  had  been  bad,  and  there 
had  of  course  been  a  lack  of  cotton.  I  was  assured  that  no  se- 
vere suffering  had  been  created  by  this  stoppage.  The  greater 
number  of  hands  had  returned  into  the  country, — to  the  farms 
from  whence  they  had  come ;  and  though  a  discontinuance  of 
work  and  wages  had  of  course  produced  hardship,  there  had 
been  no  actual  privation, — no  hunger  and  want.  Those  of  the 
workpeople  who  had  no  homes  out  of  Lowell  to  which  to  be- 
take themselves,  and  no  means  at  Lowell  of  Hving,  had  received 
relief  before  real  suffering  had  begun.  I  was  assured,  with 
something  of  a  smile  of  contempt  at  the  question,  that  there 
had  been  nothing  like  hunger.  But,  as  I  said  before,  visitors 
always  see  a  great  deal  of  rose  colour,  and  should  endeavour 
to  allay  the  brilliancy  of  the  tint  with  the  proper  amount  of 
human  shading.  But  do  not  let  any  visitor  mix  in  the  browns 
with  too  heavy  a  hand ! 

At  the  Massachusetts  cotton-mills  they  were  working  with 
about  two-thirds  of  their  full  number  of  hands,  and  this,  I  was 
told,  was  about  the  average  of  the  number  now  employed 
throughout  Lowell.  "Working  at  this  rate  they  had  now  on 
hand  a  supply  of  cotton  to  last  them  for  six  months.  Their 
stocks  had  been  increased  lately,  and  on  asking  from  whence, 
I  was  informed  that  that  last  received  had  come  to  them  from 
Liverpool.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  doubt  but  that  a  considera- 
ble quantity  of  cotton  has  been  shipped' back  from  England  to 
the  States  since  the  civil  war  began.  I  asked  the  gentleman, 
to  whose  care  at  Lowell  I  was  consigned,  whether  he  expected 
to  get  cotton  from  the  South, — for  at  that  time  Beaufort  in 
South  Carolina  had  just  been  taken  by  the  naval  expedition. 
He  had,  he  said,  a  political  expectation  of  a  supply  ot  cotton, 
but  not  a  commercial  expectation.  That  at  last  was  the  gist 
of  his  reply,  and  I  found  it  to  be  both  intelligent  and  intelligi- 
ble. The  Massachusetts  mills,  when  at  full  work,  employ  1300 
females  and  400  males,  and  turn  out  640,000  yards  of  calico 
per  week. 

On  my  return  from  Lowell  in  the  smoking  car,  an  old  man 
came  and  squeezed  in  next  to  me.  The  place  was  terribly 
crowded,  and  as  the  old  man  was  thin  and  clean  and  quiet  I 


THE   RIGHTS   OP  WOMEN. 


253 


willingly  made  room  for  him,  so  as  to  avoid  the  contiguity  of 
a  neighbour  who  might  be  neither  thin,  nor  clean,  nor  quiet. 
He  began  talking  to  mo  in  whispers  about  the  war,  and  1  was 
suspicious  that  he  was  a  Southerner  and  a  Secessionist*"  Under 
such  circumstances  his  company  might  not  be  agreeable,  un- 
less he  could  be  induced  to  hold  his  tongue.  At  last  he  said, 
"I  come  from  Canada,  you  know,  and  you, — you're  an  En- 
glishman, and  therefore  I  can  speak  to  you  openly ;"  and  he 
gave  me  an  affectionate  grip  on  the  knee  with  his  old  skinny 
hand.  I  suppose  I  do  look  more  like  an  Eiii?l'.shman  than  an 
American,  but  I  was  surprised  at  his  knowing  me  with  such 
certainty.  "There  is  no  mistaking  you,"  he  said,  "with  your 
round  face  and  your  red  cheeks.  They  don't  look  like  that 
here,"  and  he  gave  me  another  grip.  I  felt  quite  fond  of  the 
old  man,  and  ofiGcix^d  him  a  cigar. 


\  \ 


■ii 


•'> 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE   RIGHTS    OF  WOMEN. 


We  all  know  that  the  subject  which  appears  above  as  the  title 
of  this  chapter  is  a  very  favourite  subject  in  America.  It  is,  I 
hope,  a  very  favourite  subject  in  England  also,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think  has  been  so  for  many  years  past.  The  rights  of  women, 
us  contradistinguished  from  the  wrongs  of  women,  has  perhaps 
been  the  most  precious  of  the  legacies  left  to  us  by  the  feudal  ages. 
How  amidst  the  rough  darkness  of  old  Teuton  rule  women  began 
to  receive  that  respect  which  is  now  their  dearest  right,  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  studies  of  history.  It  came,  I  take  it,  chiefly 
from  their  own  conduct.  The  women  of  the  old  classic  races  seem 
to  have  enjoyed  but  a  small  amount  of  respect  or  of  rights,  and  to 
have  deserved  as  little.  It  may  have  been  very  well  for  one  Cab- 
sar  to  have  said  that  his  wife  should  be  above  suspicion ;  but  his 
wife  was  put  away,  and  therefore  either  did  not  have  her  rights, 
or  else  had  justly  forfeited  them.  The  daughter  of  the  next  Caesar 
lived  in  Roine  the  life  of  a  Messalina,  and  did  not  on  that  account 
seem  to  have  lost  her  "  position  in  society,"  till  she  absolutely  de- 
clined to  throw  any  veil  whatever  over  her  propensities.  But  as 
the  Roman  empire  fell,  chivalry  began.  For  a  time  even  chivalry 
afforded  but  a  dull  time  to  the  women.  During  the  musical  pe- 
riod of  the  troubadours,  ladies,  I  fancy,  had  but  little  to  amuse  them 
save  the  music.  But  that  was  the  beginning,  and  from  that  time 
downwards  the  rights  of  women  have  progressed  very  favourably. 


^ 


4'- 


ft^mm 


254 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


; 


i)'  -.i 


^ 


I 


« 


It  may  be  that  they  have  not  yet  all  that  should  belong  to  them. 
If  that  be  the  case,  let  the  men  lose  no  time  in  making  up  the  dif- 
ference. But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  women  who  are  now  mak- 
ing their  claims  may  perhaps  hardly  know  when  they  are  well  off. 
It  will  be  an  ill  movement  if  they  insist  on  throwing  away  any  of 
the  advantages  they  have  won.  As  for  the  women  in  America 
especially,  I  must  confess  that  I  think  they  have  a  "  good  time.'* 
I  make  them  my  compliments  on  their  sagacity,  intelligence,  and 
attractions,  but  I  utterly  refuse  to  them  any  sympathy  for  sup- 
posed wrongs.  O  fortunatas  sua  si  bona  norint !  Whether  or  no, 
were  I  an  American  married  man  and  father  of  a  family,  I  should 
not  go  in  for  the  rights  of  man — that  is  altogether  another  ques- 
tion. 

This  question  of  the  rights  of  women  divides  itself  into  two 
heads, — one  of  which  is  very  important,  worthy  of  much  consider- 
ation, capable  perhj^ps  of  much  philanthropic  action,  and  at  any 
rate  affording  matter  for  grave  discussion.  This  is  the  question 
of  women's  work ;  how  far  the  work  of  the  world,  which  is  now 
borne  chiefly  by  men,  should  be  thrown  open  to  women  further 
than  is  now  done.  The  other  seems  to  me  to  be  worthy  of  no 
consideration,  to  be  capable  of  no  action,  to  admit  of  no  grave  dis- 
cussion. This  refers  to  the  political  rights  of  women ;  how  far 
the  political  working  of  the  world,  which  is  now  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  men,  should  be  divided  between  them  and  women.  The 
flrst  question  is  being  debated  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  keen- 
ly perhaps  as  on  the  American  side.  As  to  that  other  question,  I 
do  not  know  that  much  has  ever  been  said  about  it  in  Europe. 

"  You  are  doing  nothing  in  England  towards  the  employment 
of  females,"  a  lady  said  to  me  in  one  of  the  States  soon  after  my 
arrival  in  America.  "  Pardon  me,"  I  answered,  "  I  think  we  are 
doing  much,  perhaps  too  much.  At  any  rate  we  are  doing  some- 
thing." I  then  explained  to  her  how  Miss  Faithful!  had  insti- 
tuted a  printing  establishment  in  London ;  how  all  the  work  in 
that  concern  was  done  by  females,  except  such  heavy  tasks  as  those 
for  which  women  could  not  be  fitted,  and  I  handed  to  her  one  of 
Miss  FaithfuU's  cards.  "  Ah,"  said  my  American  friend,  "  poor 
creatures  I  I  have  no  doubt  their  very  flesh  will  be  worked  off 
their  bones."  I  thought  this  a  little  unjust  on  her  part ;  but  nev- 
ertheless, it  occurred  to  me  as  an  answer  not  unfit  to  be  made  by 
some  other  lady, — by  some  woman  who  had  not  already  advocated 
the  increased  employment  of  women.  Let  Miss  FaithfuU  look  to 
that.  Not  that  she  will  work  the  flesh  off  her  young  women's 
bones,  or  allow  such  terrible  consequences  to  take  place  in  Coram- 


THE  RIGHTS   OF   WOMEN. 


255 


street ;  not  that  she  or  that  those  connected  with  her  in  that  en- 
terprise will  do  aught  but  good  to  those  employed  therein.  It 
will  not  even  be  said  of  her  individually,  or  of  her  partners,  that 
they  have  worked  the  flesh  off  women's  bones;  but  may  it  not 
come  to  this,  that  when  the  tasks  now  done  by  men  have  been 
shifted  to  the  shoulders  of  women,  women  themselves  will  so  com- 
plain ?  May  it  not  go  further,  and  come  even  to  this,  that  women 
will  have  cause  for  such  complaint?  I  do  not  think  that  such  a 
result  will  come,  because  I  do  not  think  that  the  object  desired  by 
those  who  are  active  in  the  matler  will  be  attained.  Men,  as  a 
»eneral  rule  among  civilized  nations,  have  elected  to  earn  their  own 
bread  and  the  bread  of  the  women  also,  and  from  this  resolve  on 
their  part  I  do  not  think  that  they  will  be  beaten  oif. 

We  know  that  Mrs.  Dall,  an  American  lady,  has  taken  up  this 
subject,  and  has  written  a  book  on  it,  in  which  great  good  senso 
and  honesty  of  purpose  are  shown.  Mrs.  Dall  is  a  strong  advocate 
for  the  increased  employment  of  women,  and  I,  with  great  defer- 
ence, disagree  with  her.  I  allude  to  her  book  now  because  she  has 
pointed  c  ut,  I  think  very  strongly,  the  great  reason  why  women  do 
not  engage  themselves  advantageously  in  trade  pursuits.  She  by 
no  means  overpraises  her  own  sex,  and  openly  declares  that  young 
women  will  not  consent  to  place  themselves  in  fair  competition 
with  men.  They  will  not  undergo  the  labour  and  servitude  of 
long  study  at  their  trades.  They  will  not  give  themselves  up  to 
an  apprenticeship.  They  will  not  enter  upon  their  tasks  as  though 
they  were  to  be  the  tasks  of  their  lives.  They  may  have  the  same 
physical  and  mental  aptitudes  for  learning  a  trade  as  men,  but  they 
have  not  the  same  devotion  to  the  pursuit,  and  will  not  bind  them- 
selves to  it  thoroughly  as  men  do.  In  all  which  I  quite  agree 
with  Mrs.  Dall ;  and  the  English  of  it  is, — that  the  young  women 
want  to  get  married. 

God  forbid  that  they  should  not  so  want.  Indeed  God  has  for- 
bidden in  a  very  express  way  that  there  should  be  any  lack  of  such 
a  desire  on  the  part  of  women.  There  has  of  late  years  arisen  a 
feeling  among  masses  of  the  best  of  our  English  ladies  that  this 
feminine  propensity  should  be  checked.  We  are  told  that  unmar- 
ried women  may  be  respectable,  which  we  always  knew ;  that  they 
may  be  useful,  which  we  also  acknowledge, — thinking  still  that  if 
married  they  would  be  more  useful ;  and  that  they  may  be  happy, 
which  we  trust, — feeling  confident  however  that  they  might  in  an- 
other position  be  more  happy.  But  the  question  is  not  only  as  to 
the  respectability,  usefulness,  and  happiness  of  womankind,  but  as 
to  that  of  men  also.    If  women  can  do  without  marriage,  can  men 


1 


'■\  ■ 


.# 


'I 


256 


NOIITH   AMERICA. 


:     1^!: 


li  I 


w 


?;  ■■ 


•:5  • 

■f     1 


do  80?  And  if  not,  how,  are  the  men  to  get  wives  if  the  women 
elect  to  remain  single  ? 

It  will  bo  thought  that  I  am  treating  the  subject  as  though  it 
were  simply  jocose,  but  1  beg  to  assure  my  reader  that  such  is  not 
my  intention.  It  certainly  is  the  fact  that  that  disinclination  to 
an  apprenticeship  and  unwillingness  to  bear  the  long  training  for 
a  trade,  of  which  Mrs.  Dull  complains  on  the  part  of  young  wom- 
en, arise  from  the  fact,  that  they  have  other  hopes  with  which  such 
apprenticeships  would  jar;  and  it  is  also  certain  that  if  such  dis- 
inclination be  overcome  on  the  part  of  any  great  number,  it  must 
bo  overcome  by  the  destruction  or  banishment  of  such  hopes.  The 
question  is,  whether  would  good  or  evil  I'csult  from  such  a  change  ? 
It  is  often  said  that  whatever  difficulty  a  woman  may  have  in  get- 
ting a  husband,  no  man  need  encounter  difficulty  in  fin,  *  a  wife. 
IJut  in  spite  of  this  seeming  fact,l  think  it  must  V  ■  «j  ^d  that 
if  women  arc  withdrawn  from  the  marriage  marke..,  .»  must  be 
withdrawn  from  it  also  to  the  same  extent. 

In  any  broad  view  of  this  matter  we  are  bound  to  look,  not  on 
any  individual  case,  and  the  possible  remedies  for  such  cases,  but 
on  the  position  in  the  world  occupied  by  \vomcn  in  general ;  on 
the  general  happiness  and  welfare  of  the  aggregate  feminine  world, 
and  perhaps  also  a  little  on  the  general  happiness  and  welfare  of 
the  aggregate  male  world.  "When  ladies  and  gentlemen  advocate 
the  right  of  wou*«^n  to  employment,  they  are  taking  very  different 
ground  from  that  on  which  stand  those  less  extensive  philanthro- 
pists who  exert  themselves  for  the  benefit  of  distressed  needlewom- 
en, for  instance,  or  for  the  alleviation  of  the  more  bitter  misery  of 
governesses.  The  two  questions  are  in  fact  absolutely  antagonistic 
to  each  other.  The  rights-of-women  advocate  is  doing  his  best  to 
create  that  position  for  women,  from  the  possible  misfortunes  of 
which  the  friend  of  the  needlewomen  is  struggling  to  relieve  them. 
The  one  is  endeavouring  to  throw  work  from  off  the  shoulders  of 
men  on  to  the  shoulders  of  women,  and  the  other  is  striving  to 
lessen  the  burden  which  women  are  already  bearing.  Of  course 
it  is  good  to  relieve  distress  in  individual  cases.  That  Song  of 
the  Shirt,  which  I  regard  as  poetry  of  the  immortal  kind,  has 
done  an  amount  of  good  infinitely  wider  than  poor  Hood  ever 
ventured  to  hope  Of  all  such  efforts  I  would  speak  not  only 
with  respect,  but  with  loving  admiration.  But  of  those  whose  ef- 
forts are  made  to  spread  work  more  widely  among  women,  to  call 
upon  them  to  make  for  us  our  watches,  to  print  our  books,  to  sit 
at  our  desks  as  clerks,  and  to  add  up  our  accounts ;  much  as  I 
may  respect  the  individual  operators  in  such  a  movement,  I  can 
express  no  admiration  for  their  judgment. 


THE    RIOIITS   OF   WOMEN. 


257 


V 


I  havo  ween  women  with  ropo«  round  their  necks  drawinp;  n 
harrow  over  ploughed  ground.  No  one  will,  I  suppose,  say  that 
they  approve  of  that.  But  it  would  not  havo  shocked  n»c  to  see 
men  drawing  a  harrow.  1  should  have  thought  it  slow,  unprolit- 
able  work,  but  my  feelings  would  not  have  been  hurt.  There 
must,  therefore,  be  some  limit ;  but  if  we  men  teach  ourselves  to 
believe  that  work  is  good  for  women,  where  is  the  limit  to  be 
drawn,  and  who  shall  draw  it?  It  is  true  that  there  is  now  no 
actually  defined  limit.  There  is  much  work  that  is  commonly 
open  to  both  sexes.  Personal  domestic  attendance  is  so,  and  the 
attendance  in  shops.  The  use  of  the  needle  is  shared  between 
men  and  women,  and  few,  I  take  it,  know  where  the  sempstress 
ends  and  where  the  tailor  begins.  In  many  trades  a  woman  can 
be,  and  very  often  is,  the  owner  and  manager  of  the  business. 
Painting  is  as  much  open  to  women  as  to  men ;  as  also  is  litera- 
ture. There  can  be  no  defined  limit;  but  nevertheless  there  is  at 
present  a  quasi  limit,  which  the  rights-of-women  advocates  wish 
to  move,  and  so  to  move  that  women  shall  do  more  work  and  not 
less.  A  woman  now  could  not  well  be  a  cab-driver  in  London  ; 
but  are  these  advocates  sure  that  no  wom^n  will  be  a  cab-driver 
wlien  success  has  attended  their  eflforts  ?  And  would  they  like  to 
880  a  woman  driving  a  cab  ?  For  my  part  I  confess  I  do  not  like 
to  see  a  woman  acting  as  road-keeper  on  a  French  railway.  I 
have  seen  a  woman  acting  as  ostler  at  a  public  stage  in  Ireland. 
I  knew  the  circumstances, — how  her  husband  had  become  ill  and 
incapable,  and  how  she  had  been  allowed  to  earn  the  wages ;  but 
nevertheless  the  sight  was  to  me  disagreeable,  and  seemed,  as  far 
as  it  went,  to  degrade  the  sex.  Chivalry  has  been  very  active  in 
raising  women  from  the  hard  and  hardening  tasks  of  the  world, 
and  through  this  action  they  have  become  soft,  tender,  and  virtu- 
ous. It  seems  to  me  that  they  of  whom  I  am  now  speaking  are 
desirous  of  undoing  what  chivalry  has  done. 

The  argument  used  is  of  course  plain  enough.  It  is  said  that 
women  are  left  destitute  in  the  world,— destitute  unless  they  can 
1)6  self-dependent,  and  that  to  women  should  be  given  the  same 
open  access  to  wages  that  men  possess,  in  order  that  they  may  bo 
as  self-dependent  as  men.  Why  should  a  young  woman,  for  whom 
no  father  is  able  to  provide,  not  enjoy  those  means  of  provision 
which  are  open  to  a  young  man  so  circumstanced  ?  But  I  think 
the  answer  is  very  simple.  The  young  man  under  the  happiest 
circumstances  which  may  befall  him  is  bound  to  earn  his  bread. 
The  young  woman  is  only  so  bound  when  happy  circumstances  do 
not  befall  her.     Should  we  endeavour  to  make  the  recurrence  of 


Vi 


I     i 

I 


yf 


I 


V 


258 


NORTH   AMEIUCA. 


\    '. 


i-! 


n 


unhappy  circumstances  inoro  general  or  loss  so  ?  What  docs  any 
tntdusinan,  any  profesHioiiul  mun,  any  mechanic  wish  iur  hi»  chiU 
(Ircii  ?  Ih  it  not  this,  that  his  sons  shall  go  forth  and  earn  their 
bread,  and  that  his  daughters  shall  remain  with  him  till  they  are 
married  .'  In  nut  that  the  mother's  wish  1  Is  it  not  notorious 
that  such  is  the  wi.sii  of  us  all  us  to  our  daughters  ?  In  advocat- 
ing the  rights  of  women  it  is  of  other  men's  girls  that  we  think, 
never  of  our  own. 

But,  nevertheless,  what  shall  we  do  for  those  women  who  must 
cam  their  bread  by  their  own  work  ?  Whatever  we  do,  do  not 
let  us  wilfully  increase  their  number.  By  opening  trades  to  wom- 
en, by  making  them  printers,  watchmakers,  accountants,  or  what 
not,  wo  shall  not  simply  relievo  those  who  must  now  earn  their 
bread  by  some  such  work  or  else  starve.  It  will  not  be  within 
our  power  to  stop  ourselves  exactly  at  a  certain  point ;  to  arrange 
that  those  women  who  under  existing  circumstances  may  now  bo 
in  want,  shall  be  thus  placed  beyond  want,  but  that  no  others 
shall  be  affected.  Men,  I  fear,  will  be  too  willing  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  some  portion  of  their  present  l}urden,  should  the  world's 
altered  ways  enable  them  to  do  so.  At  present  a  lawyer's  clerk 
may  earn  perhaps  his  two  guineas  a  week,  and  he  with  his  wife 
lives  on  that  in  fair  comfort.  But  if  his  wife,  as  well  as  he,  has 
been  brought  up  as  a  lawyer's  clerk,  he  will  look  to  her  also  for 
some  amount  of  wages.  I  doubt  whether  the  two  guineas  would 
be  much  increased,  but  I  do  not  doubt  at  all  that  the  woman's  po- 
sition would  be  injured. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  discussing  this  subject,  pliilanthropists 
fail  to  take  hold  of  the  right  end  of  the  argument.  Money  returns 
from  work  are  very  good,  and  work  itself  is  good,  as  bringing  such 
returns  and  occupying  both  body  and  mind ;  but  the  world's  work 
is  very  hard,  and  workmen  are  too  often  overdriven.  The  ques- 
tion seems  to  me  to  be  this, — of  all  this  work  have  the  men  got  on 
their  own  backs  too  heavy  a  share  for  them  to  bear,  and  should 
they  seek  relief  by  throwing  more  of  it  upon  women  1  It  is  the 
rights  of  man  that  we  are  in  fact  debating.  These  watches  are 
weary  to  make,  and  this  type  is  troublesome  to  set.  We  have 
battles  to  fight  and  speeches  to  make,  and  our  hands  altogether 
are  too  full.  The  women  are  idle, — many  of  them.  They  shall 
make  the  watches  for  us  and  set  the  type ;  and  when  they  have 
done  that,  why  should  they  not  make  nails  as  they  do  sometimes 
in  Worcestershire,  or  clean  horses,  or  drive  the  cabs  ?  They  have 
had  an  easy  time  of  it  for  these  years  past,  but  we'll  change  that. 
And  then  it  would  come  to  pass  that  with  ropes  round  their  necks 
the  women  would  be  drawing  harrows  across  the  fields. 


TIIK   KinilTS   OF   WOMEN. 


250 


I  don't  think  this  will  coino  to  pa«i<i.  Tlio  women  generally  do 
know  when  they  arc  well  otK,  and  arc  not  particularly  anxiuun  to 
accept  the  philanthropy  prottercd  to  thorn ; — as  Mrs.  Dall  xayH, 
they  do  not  wish  to  bind  thomselvcs  as  apprentices  to  independent 
money-making.  This  cry  has  been  louder  in  America  than  with 
lis,  but  oven  in  Amoriai  it  has  not  been  efilcacious  for  much. 
Tiierc  is  in  the  States,  no  doubt,  a  sort  of  hankering  after  increased 
influence,  a  desire  for  that  prominence  of  position  which  men  at- 
tain by  loud  voices  and  brazen  foreheads,  a  desire  in  the  femulo 
heart  to  bo  up  and  doing  something,  if  the  female  heart  only  knew 
what;  but  even  in  the  States  it  has  hardly  advanced  beyond  a  few 
feminine  lectures.  In  many  branches  of  work  women  are  less  em- 
ployed than  in  England.  They  are  not  so  frequent  behind  the 
counters  in  the  shops,  and  arc  rarely  seen  as  servants  in  hotels. 
Tho  llres  in  such  houses  arc  lighted  and  the  rooms  swept  by  men. 
But  the  American  girls  may  say  they  do  not  desire  to  light  fires 
and  sweep  rooms.  They  are  ambitious  of  the  higher  classes  of 
work.  But  those  higher  branches  of  work  require  study,  appren- 
ticeship, a  devotion  of  youth  ;  and  that  they  will  not  give.  It  is 
very  well  for  a  young  man  to  bind  himself  for  four  years,  and  to 
tliink  of  marrying  four  years  after  that  apprenticeship  is  over. 
]Jut  such  a  prospectus  will  not  do  for  a  girl.  While  the  sun  shines 
the  hay  must  bo  made,  and  her  sun  shines  earlier  in  the  day  than 
that  of  him  who  is  to  bo  her  husband.  Let  him  go  through  the 
apprenticeship  and  the  work,  and  she  will  have  sufficient  on  her 
hands  if  she  looks  well  after  his  household.  Under  nature's  teach- 
ing she  is  aware  of  this,  and  will  not  bind  herself  to  any  other  ap- 
prenticeship, let  Mrs.  Dall  preach  as  she  may. 

I  remember  seeing,  either  at  New  York  or  Boston,  a  wooden 
figure  of  a  neat  young  woman,  as  large  as  life,  standing  at  a  desk 
with  a  ledger  before  her,  and  looking  as  though  the  beau  ideal  of 
human  bliss  were  realized  in  her  employment.  Under  the  figure 
there  was  some  notice  respecting  female  accountants.  Nothing 
could  be  nicer  than  the  lady's  figure,  more  flowing  than  the  broad 
lines  of  her  drapery,  or  more  attractive  than  her  auburn  ringlets. 
There  she  stood  at  work,  earning  her  bread  without  any  impedi- 
ment to  the  natural  operation  of  her  female  charms,  and  adjusting 
the  accounts  of  some  great  firm  with  as  much  facility  as  grace.  I 
wonder  whether  he  who  designed  that  figure  had  ever  sat  or  stood 
at  a  desk  for  six  hours, — whether  he  knew  the  dull  hum  of  the 
brain  which  comes  from  long  attention  to  another  man's  figures ; 
whether  he  had  ever  soiled  his  own  fingers  with  the  everlasting 
work  of  office  hours,  or  worn  his  sleeves  threadbare  as  he  leaned 


\ 


I"! 

4 


! 


ill). 


'.'  vf ' 


m 


260 


KORTH   AMERICA. 


weary  in  body  and  mind  upon  his  desk  ?  Work  is  a  grand  thing, 
— the  grandest  thing  v»  e  have ;  but  work  is  not  picturesque,  grace- 
ful, and  in  itself  alluring.  It  sucks  the  sap  out  of  men's  bone?, 
and  bends  their  backs,  and  sometimes  breaks  their  hearts ;  but 
though  it  be  so,  I  for  one  w^uld  not  wish  to  throw  any  heavier 
share  of  it  on  to  a  woman's  shoulders.  It  was  pretty  to  see  those 
young  women  with  spectacles  at  the  Boston  library,  but  when  I 
heard  that  they  were  there  from  eight  in  the  morning  till  nine  at 
night,  I  pitied  them  their  loss  of  all  the  softness  of  home,  and  felt 
that  they  would  not  willingly  be  there  if  necessity  were  less  stern. 

Say  that  by  advocating  the  rights  of  women,  philanthropists 
succeed  in  apportioning  more  work  to  their  share,  will  they  eat 
more,  wear  better  clothes,  lie  softer,  and  have  altogether  more  of 
the  fruits  of  work  than  they  do  now '?  That  some  would  do  so 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  as  little  that  some  would  have  less.  If 
on  the  whole  they  would  not  have  more,  for  what  good  result  is 
the  movement  made?  The  first  question  is,  whether  at  the  pres- 
ent time  they  have  less  than  their  proper  share.  There  are,  un- 
questionably, terrible  cases  of  female  want,  and  so  there  are  also 
of  want  among  men.  Alas !  do  we  not  all  feel  that  it  must  be 
so,  let  the  philanthropists  be  ever  so  energetic  ?  And  if  a  woman 
be  left  destitute,  without  the  assistance  of  father,  brother,  or  hus- 
band, it  would  be  hard  if  no  means  of  earning  subsistence  were 
open  to  her.  But  the  object  now  sought  is  not  that  of  relieving 
such  distress.  It  has  a  much  wider  tendency,  or  at  any  rate  a 
wider  desire.  The  idea  is  that  women  will  ennoble  themselves  by 
making  themselves  independent,  by  working  for  their  own  bread 
instead  of  eating  bread  earned  by  men.  It  is  in  th?t  that  these 
new  philosophers  seem  to  me  to  err  so  greatly.  Humanity  and 
chivalry  have  succeeded  after  a  long  struggle  in  teaching  the  man 
to  work  for  the  woman ;  and  now  the  woman  rebels  against  such 
teaching, — not  because  she  likes  the  work,  but  because  she  desires 
the  influence  which  attends  it.  But  in  this  I  wrong  the  woman, 
— even  the  American  woman.  It  is  not  she  who  desires  it,  but 
her  philanthropical  philosophical  friends  who  desire  it  for  her. 

If  work  were  more  equally  divided  between  the  sexes  some  wom- 
en would,  of  couree,  receive  more  of  the  good  things  of  the  world. 
But  women  generally  vould  not  do  so.  The  tendency  then  would 
be  to  force  young  women  out  upon  their  own  exertions.  Fathers 
would  soon  learn  to  think  that  their  daughters  should  be  no  more 
dependent  on  them  than  their  sons ;  men  would  expect  their  wives 
to  work  at  their  own  trades ;  brothers  would  be  taught  to  think 
it  hard  that  their  sisters  should  lean  on  them ;  and  thus  women, 


I    r 


THE   RIGHTS   OF   WOMEN. 


261 


driven  upon  their  own  resources,  \  ould  hardly  fare  better  than 
they  do  at  present. 

After  all  it  is  a  question  of  money,  and  a  contest  for  that  power 
and  influence  which  money  gives.  At  present  men  have  the  po- 
sition of  the  Lower  House  of  Parliament.  They  have  to  do  the 
harder  work,  but  they  hold  the  purse.  Even  in  England  there 
has  grown  up  a  feeling  that  the  old  law  of  the  land  gives  a  mar- 
ried man  too  much  power  over  the  joint  pecuniary  resources  of 
hira  and  his  wife,  and  in  America  this  feeling  is  much  stronger, 
and  the  old  law  has  been  modified.  Why  should  a  married  wom- 
an be  able  to  possess  nothing  ?  And  if  such  be  the  law  of  the 
land,  is  it  worth  a  woman's  while  to  marry  and  put  herself  in  such 
a  position  ?  Those  are  the  questions  asked  by  the  friends  of  the 
rights  of  women.  But  the  youn^  women  do  marry,  and  the  men 
pour  their  earnings  into  their  wives'  laps. 

If  little  has  as  yet  been  done  iu  extending  the  rights  of  women 
by  giving  them  a  greater  j'  are  of  the  work  of  the  world,  still 
less  has  been  done  towards  giving  them  their  portion  of  political 
influence.  In  the  States  there  are  many  men  of  mark,  and  women 
of  mark  also,  who  think  that  women  should  have  votes  for  public 
elections.  Mr.  Wendell  Phillips,  the  Boston  lecturer  who  advo- 
cates abolition,  is  an  apostle  in  this  cause  also ;  and  while  I  was 
at  Boston  I  read  the  provisions  of  a  will  lately  left  by  a  million- 
aire, in  which  he  bequeathed  s».  me  very  large  sums  of  money  to  be 
expended  in  .^.gitation  on  this  subject.  A  woman  is  subject  to  the 
law ;  why  then  should  she  not  help  to  make  the  law  ?  A  child 
is  subject  to  the  law,  and  does  not  help  to  make  it ;  but  the  child 
lacks  that  discretion  which  the  woman  enjoys  equally  with  the 
man.  That  T  take  it  is  the  amount  of  the  argument  in  favour  of 
the  political  rights  of  women.  The  logic  of  this  is  so  conclusive, 
that  I  am  prepared  to  acknowledge  that  it  admits  of  no  answer. 
I  will  only  say  that  the  mutual  good  relations  between  men  and 
women,  which  are  so  indispensable  to  our  happiness,  require  that 
men  and  women  should  not  take  to  voting  at  the  same  time  and 
on  the  same  result.  If  it  be  decided  that  women  shall  h^^  /e  po- 
litical power,  let  them  have  it  all  to  themselves  for  a  season.  If 
that  be  ^o  resolved,  I  think  we  may  safely  leave  it  to  them  to  name 
the  time  at  which  they  will  begin. 

I  confess  that  in  the  States  I  have  sometimes  been  driven  to 
think  that  chivalry  has  been  carried  too  far; — that  there  is  an 
attempt  to  make  women  think  more  of  the  rights  of  their  woman- 
hood than  i.",  needful.  There  are  ladies'  doors  at  hotels,  and  la- 
dies' drawing-rooms,  ladies'  sides  on  the  ferry-boats,  ladies'  win- 


*i 


■I- 


■'i 


I 


i  !^l 


^i 


ih 


'^  i 


262 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


>iil 


If 


! 

i 


(l     ii 


dows  at  the  post  office  for  the  delivery  of  letters ; — which,  by-the- 
by,  is  an  atrocious  institution,  as  anybody  may  learn  who  will  look 
at  the  advertisements  called  personal  in  some  of  the  New  York 
papers.  Why  should  not  young  ladies  have  their  letters  sent  to 
their  houses,  instead  of  getting  them  at  a  private  window  ?  The 
post-office  clerks  can  tell  stories  about  those  ladies'  windows.  But 
at  every  turn  it  is  necessary  to  make  separate  provision  for  ladies. 
From  all  this  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  baker's  daughter  looks  down 
from  a  great  height  on  her  papa,  and  by  no  means  thinks  her  broth- 
er good  enough  for  her  associate.  Nature,  the  great  restorer,  comes 
in  and  teaches  her  to  fall  in  love  with  the  butcher's  son.  Thus 
the  evil  is  mitigated ;  but  I  cannot  but  wish  that  the  young  wo- 
man should  not  see  herself  denominated  a  lady  so  often,  and  should 
receive  fewer  lessons  as  to  the  extent  of  her  privileges.  I  would 
save  her  if  I  could  from  working  at  the^ven  ;  I  would  give  to  her 
bread  and  meat  earned  by  her  father's  care  and  her  brother's 
sweat ;  but  when  she  has  received  these  good  things,  I  would  have 
her  proud  of  the  one  and  by  no  means  ashamed  of  the  other. 

Let  women  say  what  they  will  of  their  rights,  or  men  who  think 
themselves  jjenei*ous  say  what  they  will  for  them,  the  question  has 
all  been  settled  both  for  them  and  for  us  men  by  a  higher  power. 
They  are  the  nursing  mothers  of  mankind,  and  in  that  law  their 
fate  is  written  with  all  its  joys  and  all  its  privileges.  It  is  for 
men  to  make  those  joys  as  lasting  and  those  privileges  as  perfect 
as  may  be.  That  women  should  have  their  rights  no  man  will 
deny.  To  my  thinking  neither  increase  of  work  nor  increase  of 
political  influence  are  among  them.  The  best  right  a  woman  has 
is  the  right  to  a  husband,  and  that  is  the  right  to  which  I  would 
recommend  every  young  woman  here  and  in  the  States  to  turn 
her  best  attention.  On  the  whole,  I  think  that  my  doctrine  will 
be  more  acceptable  than  that  of  Mrs.  Dall  or  Mr.  Wendell  Phillips. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

EDUCATION   AND   RELIGION. 

The  one  matter  in  which,  as  far  as  my  judgment  goes,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  have  excelled  us  Englishmen,  so  as  to 
justify  them  in  taking  to  themselves  praise  which  we  cannot  take 
to  ourselves  or  refuse  to  them,  is  the  matter  of  Education.  In 
saying  this  I  do  not  think  that  I  am  proclaiming  anything  dis- 
graceful to  England,  though  I  am  proclaiming  much  that  is  cred- 
ita,ble  to  America.     To  the  Americans  of  the  States  was  given 


T^, 


EDUCATION   AND   REUGION. 


263 


the  good  fortune  of  beginning  at  the  beginning.  The  French  at 
the  time  of  their  revolution  endeavoured  to  reorganize  everything, 
and  to  begin  the  world  again  with  new  habits  and  grand  theories ; 
but  the  French  as  a  people  were  too  old  for  such  a  change,  and 
the  theories  fell  to  the  ground.  But  in  ^he  States,  after  their  rev- 
olution, an  Anglo-Saxon  people  had  an  opportunity  of  making  a 
new  State,  with  all  the  experience  of  the  world  before  them ;  and 
to  this  matter  of  education  they  were  from  the  first  aware  that  they 
must  look  for  their  success.  They  did  so ;  and  unrivalled  popu- 
lation, wealth,  and  intelligence  have  been  the  results ;  and  with 
these,  looking  at  the  whole  masses  of  the  people, — I  think  I  am 
justified  in  saying, — unrivalled  comfort  and  happiness.  It  is  not 
that  you,  my  reader,  to  whom  in  this  matter  of  education  fortune 
and  your  parents  have  probably  been  bountiful,  would  have  been 
more  happy  in  New  York  than  in  London.  It  is  not  that  I,  who, 
at  any  rate,  can  read  and  write,  have  cause  to  wish  that  I  had 
been  an  American.  But  it  is  this ; — if  you  and  I  can  count  up 
in  a  day  all  those  on  whom  our  eyes  may  rest,  and  learn  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  lives,  we  shall  be  driven  to  conclude  that  nine- 
tenths  of  that  number  would  have  had  «  better  life  as  Americans 
than  they  can  have  in  their  spheres  as  Englishmen.  The  States 
are  at  a  discount  with  us  now,  in  the  beginning  of  this  year  of 
grace  1862 ;  and  Englishmen  were  not  very  willing  to  admit  the 
above  statement,  even  when  the  States  were  not  at  a  discount. 
Bub  I  do  not  think  that  a  man  can  travel  through  the  States  with 
his  eyes  open  and  not  admit  the  fact.  Many  things  will  conspire 
to  induce  him  to  shut  his  eyes  and  admit  no  conclusion  favourable 
to  the  Americans.  Men  and  women  will  sometimes  be  impudent 
to  him ; — the  better  his  coat,  the  greater  the  impudence.  He  will 
be  pelted  with  the  braggadocio  of  equality.  The  corns  of  his  Old- 
World  conservatism  will  be  trampled  on  hourly  by  the  purposely 
vicious  herd  of  uncouth  democracy.  The  fact  that  he  is  paymas- 
ter will  go  for  nothing,  and  will  fail  to  insure  civility.  I  shall 
never  forget  my  agony  as  I  saw  and  heard  my  desk  fall  from  a 
porter's  hand  on  a  railway  station,  as  he  tossed  it  from  him  seven 
yards  off  on  to  the  hard  pavement.  I  heard  its  poor  weak  intes- 
tines rattle  in  their  death-struggle,  and  knowing  that  it  was  smash- 
ed I  forgot  my  position  on  American  soil  and  remonstrated.  "  It's 
my  desk,  and  you've  utterly  destroyed  it,"  I  said.  "  Ha!  ha!  ha !" 
laughed  the  porter.  "  You've  destroyed  my  property,"  I  rejoined, 
"and  it's  no  laughing  matter."  And  then  all  the  crowd  laughed. 
"Guess  you'd  better  get  it  glued,"  said  one.  So  I  gr^thered  up 
the  broken  article  and  retired  mournfully  and  crestfallen  into  a 


■ 'I 


':H 


ill 


il. 


264 


NOKTH    AMERICA. 


coach.  This  was  very  sad,  and  for  the  moment  I  deplored  tlio 
ill-luck  which  had  brought  me  to  so  savage  a  country.  Such  and 
such  like  are  the  incidents  which  make  an  Englishman  in  the 
States  unhappy,  and  rouse  his  gall  against  the  institutions  of  the 
country ; — these  things  and  the  continued  appliance  of  the  irri- 
tating ointment  of  American  braggadocio  with  which  his  sores 
are  kept  open.  But  though  I  was  badly  off  on  that  railway  plat- 
form,— worse  off  than  I  should  have  been  in  England, — all  that 
crowd  of  porters  round  me  were  better  off  than  our  English  por- 
ters. They  had  a  "good  time"  of  it.  And  this,  O  my  English 
brother  who  hast  travelled  through  the  States  and  returned  dis- 
gusted, is  the*  fact  throughout.  Those  men  whose  familiarity  was 
80  disgusting  to  you  are  having  a  good  time  of  it.  "  They  might 
be  a  little  more  civil,"  you  say,  "and  yet  read  and  write  just  as 
well.'*  True ;  but  they  are  arguing  in  their  minds  that  civility 
to  you  will  be  taken  by  you  for  subservience,  or  for  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  superiority ;  and  looking  at  your  habits  of  life, — ^yours 
and  mine  together, — I  am  not  quite  sure  that  they  are  altogether 
wrong.  Have  you  ever  realized  to  yourself  as  a  fact  that  the 
porter  who  carries  your  bix  has  not  made  himself  inferior  to  you 
by  the  very  act  of  carrying  that  box?  If  not,  that  is  the  very 
lesson  which  the  man  wishes  to  teach  you. 

If  a  man  can  forget  his  own  miseries  in  his  journeyings,  and 
think  of  the  people  he  comes  to  see  rather  than  of  himself,  I  think 
he  will  find  himself  driven  to  admit  that  education  has  made  life 
for  the  million  in  the  Northern  States  better  than  life  for  the  mil- 
lion is  with  us.  They  have  begun  at  the  beginning,  and  have  so 
managed  that  every  one  may  learn  to  read  and  write, — have  so 
managed  that  almost  every  one  does  learn  to  read  and  write. 
With  us  this  cannot  now  be  done.  Population  had  come  upon  us 
in  masses  too  thick  for  management  before  we  had  as  yet  acknowl- 
edged that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  that  these  masses  should  be 
educated.  Prejudices,  too,  had  sprung  up>  and  habits,  and  strong 
sectional  feelings,  all  antagonistic  to  a  great  national  system  of  edu- 
cation. We  are,  I  suppose,  now  doing  all  that  we  can  do ;  but 
comparatively  it  is  little.  I  think  I  saw  some  time  since  that  the 
cost  for  gratuitous  education, or  education  in  part  gratuitous,  which 
had  fallen  upon  the  nation  had  already  amounted  to  the  sum  of 
800,000/. ;  and  I  think  also  that  I  read  in  the  document  which 
revealed  to  me  this  fact,  a  very  strong  opinion  that  Government 
could  not  at  present  go  much  further.  But  if  this 'matter  were 
regarded  in  England  as  it  is  regarded  in  Massachusetts, — or  rath- 
er, had  it  from  some  prosperous  beginnir.^  been  put  upon  a  similar 


^  IWJf* 


WT 


EDUCA'HON   AND   KELIGION. 


2C5 


footing,  800,000/.  would  not  havo  been  esteemed  a  great  expendi- 
ture for  free  education  simply  in  the  city  of  London.  In  1857 
the  public  schools  of  lioston  cost  70,000/.,  and  these  schools  were 
devoted  to  a  population  of  about  180,000  souls.  Taking  the  pop- 
ulation of  London  at  two-and-a-half  millions,  the  whole  sum  now 
devoted  to  England  would,  if  expended  in  the  metropolis,  make 
education  there  even  cheaper  than  it  is  in  Boston.  In  Boston  dur- 
in''  1857  there  were  above  24,000  pupils  at  these  public  schools, 
giving  more  than  one-eighth  of  the  whole  population.  But  I  fear 
it  would  not  be  practicable  for  us  to  spend  800,000/.  on  the  gra- 
tuitous education  of  London.  Kich  as  we  are,  we  should  not  know 
wiiere  to  raise  the  money.  In  Boston  it  is  raised  by  a  separate 
tax.  It  is  a  thing  understood,  acknowledged,  and  made  easy  by 
being  habitual, — as  is  our  national  debt.  I  do  not  know  that 
Boston  is  peculiarly  blessed,  but  I  quote  the  instance  as  I  have  a 
record  of  its  schools  before  mc.  At  the  three  high  schools  in  Bos- 
ton at  which  the  average  of  pupils  is  526,  about  13/.  per  head  is 
paid  for  free  education.  The  average  price  per  annum  of  a  child's 
schooling  throughout  these  schools  in  Boston  is  about  3/.  per  an- 
num. To  the  higher  schools  any  boy  or  girl  may  attain  without 
any  expense,  and  the  education  is  probably  as  good  as  can  be 
given,  and  as  far  advanced.  The  only  question  is,  whether  it  is 
not  advanced  further  than  may  be  necessary.  Here,  as  at  New 
York,  I  was  almost,  startled  by  the  amount  of  knowledge  around 
me,  and  listened,  as  I  might  have  done,  to  an  examination  in  the- 
ology among  young  Brahmins.  When  a  young  lad  explained  in 
my  hearing  all  the  properties  of  the  dilFerent  levers  as  exemplified 
by  the  bones  of  the  human  body,  I  bowed  my  head  before  him  in 
unaffected  humility.  We,  at  our  English  schools,  never  got  be- 
yond the  use  of  those  bones  which  he  described  with  such  accu- 
rate scientific  knowledge.  In  one  of  the  girls'  schools  they  were 
reading  Milton,  and  when  wc  entered  were  discussing  the  nature 
of  the  pool  in  which  the  Devil  is  described  as  wallowing.  The 
question  had  been  raised  by  one  of  the  girls.  A  pool,  so  called, 
was  supposed  to  contain  but  a  small  amount  of  water,  and  how 
could  the  Devil,  being  so  large,  get  into  it?  Then  came  the  origin 
of  the  word  pool, — from  "  palus,"  a  marsh,  as  we  were  told,  some 
dictionary  attesting  to  the  fact, — and  such  a  marsh  might  cover  a 
large  expanse.  The  *  Palus  Maeotis'  was  then  quoted.  And  so 
we  went  on  till  Satan's  theory  of  political  liberty, 

"  Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven," 
was  thoroughly  discussed  and  understood.     These  girls  of  sixteen 
and  seventeen  got  up  one  after  another  and  cave  their  opinions  on 

M 


I'i' 


'  i 

t                                 ' 

1 

i 

'Ml 


i!  W 


266 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


r'     1 
I 


i! 


>  1- 


the  subject, — how  far  tho  Devil  was  right  and  how  far  ho  was 
manifestly  wrong.  I  was  attended  by  one  of  the  directors  or 
guardians  of  the  schools,  and  tho  teacher,  I  thought,  was  a  little 
embarrassed  by  her  position.  But  the  girls  themselves  were  as 
easy  in  their  demeanour  as  though  they  were  stitching  handker> 
chiefs  at  homo. 

It  is  impossible  to  refrain  from  telling  all  this,  and  from  making 
a  little  innocent  fun  out  of  the  superexcellencies  of  these  schools ; 
but  the  total  result  on  my  mind  was  very  greatly  in  their  favour. 
And  indeed  the  testimony  came  in  both  ways.  Not  only  was  I 
called  on  to  form  an  opinion  of  what  the  men  and  women  would 
become  from  the  education  which  was  given  to  the  boys  and  girls, 
but  also  to  say  what  must  have  been  the  education  of  the  boys  and 
girls  from  what  I  saw  of  the  men  and  women.  Of  course  it  will 
be  understood  that  I  am  not  here  speaking  of  those  I  met  in  socie- 
ty, or  of  their  children,  but  of  the  working  people, — of  that  class 
who  find  that  a  gratuitous  education  for  their  children  is  needful, 
if  any  considerable  amount  of  education  is  to  be  given.  The  re- 
sult is  to  be  seen  daily  in  the  whole  intercourse  of  life.  Tho  coach- 
man who  drives  you,  the  man  who  mends  your  window,  the  boy 
who  brings  home  your  purchases,  the  girl  who  stitches  your  wife's 
dress, — they  all  carry  with  them  sure  signs  of  education,  and  show 
it  in  every  word  they  utter. 

It  will  of  course  be  understood  that  this  is,  in  the  separate 
States,  a  matter  of  State  law ;  indeed  I  may  go  further  and  say 
that  it  is  in  most  of  the  States  a  matter  of  State  constitution.  It 
is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  Federal  constitution.  The  United 
States  as  a  nation  takes  no  heed  of  the  education  of  its  people. 
All  that  is  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  separate  States.  In  most 
of  the  thirteen  original  States  provision  is  made  in  the  written 
constitution  for  the  general  education  of  the  people ;  but  this  is 
not  done  in  all.  I  find  that  it  was  more  frequently  done  in  the 
Northern  or  Freesoil  States  than  in  those  which  admitted  slave- 
ry,— as  might  have  been  expected.  In  the  constitutions  of  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  I  find  no  allusion  to  the  public  provision 
for  education,  but  in  those  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  it  is  en- 
joined. The  forty-first  section  of  the  constitution  for  North  Car- 
olina enjoins  that  "  schools  shall  be  established  by  the  legislature 
for  the  convenient  instruction  of  youth  with  such  salaries,  to  the 
masters,  paid  by  the  public,  as  may  enable  them  to  instruct  at  low 
prices;"  showing  that  the  intention  here  was  to  assist  education, 
and  not  provide  it  altogether  gratuitously.  I  think  that  provision 
for  public  education  is  enjoined  in  the  constitutions  of  all  the  States 


># 


EDUCATION    AND    RELIGION. 


267 


admitted  into  the  Ufiion  since  the  first  federal  knot  was  tied,  ex- 
cept in  that  of  Illinois.  Vermont  was  the  first  so  admitted,  in 
1791,  and  Vermont  declares  that  "a  competent  number  of  schools 
ought  to  be  maintained  in  each  town  for  the  convenient  instruc- 
tion of  youth."  Ohio  was  the  second,  in  1802,  and  Ohio  enjoins 
that  "  the  general  assembly  shall  make  such  provisions  by  taxation 
or  otherwise  as,  with  the  income  arising  from  the  school  trust  fund, 
will  secure  a  thorough  and  efficient  system  of  common  schools 
throughout  the  State;  but  no  religious  or  other  sect  or  sects  shall 
ever  have  any  exclusive  right  or  control  of  any  part  of  the  school 
funds  of  this  State."  In  Indiana,  admitted  in  1816,  it  is  required 
that  "  the  general  assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  a  general  and 
uniform  system  of  common  schools."  Illinois  was  admitted  next, 
in  1818;  but  the  constitution  of  Illinois  is  silent  on  the  subject 
of  education.  It  enjoins,  however,  in  lieu  of  this,  that  no  person 
sliail  fight  a  duel  or  send  a  challenge !  If  he  do  he  is  not  only  to 
be  punished,  but  to  be  deprived  for  ever  of  the  power  of  holding 
any  oflice  of  honour  or  profit  in  the  State.  I  have  no  reason, 
however,  for  supposing  that  education  is  neglected  in  Illinois,  or 
that  duelling  has  been  abolished.  In  Maine  it  is  demanded  that 
the  towns — the  whole  country  is  divided  into  what  are  called  towns 
— shall  make  suitable  provision  at  their  own  expense  for  the  sup- 
port and  maintenance  of  public  schools. 

Some  of  these  constitutional  enactments  are  most  magniloquent- 
ly  worded,  but  not  always  with  precise  grammatical  correctness. 
That  for  the  famous  Bay  State  of  Massachusetts  runs  as  follows : — 
"Wisdom  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  virtue,  diffused  generally 
among  the  body  of  the  people,  being  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  as  these  depend  on  spreading  the 
opportunities  and  advantages  of  education  in  the  various  parts  of 
the  country,  and  i^mong  the  different  orders  of  the  people,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  legislatures  and  magistrates,  in  all  future  periods 
of  this  commonwealth,  to  cherish  the  interest  of  literature  and  the 
sciences,  and  of  all  seminaries  of  them,  especially  the  University  at 
Cambridge,  public  schools,  and  grammar  schools  in  the  towns ;  to 
encourage  private  societies  and  public  institutions,  by  rewards  and 
immunities  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  arts,  sciences,  com- 
merce, trades,  manufactures,  and  a  natural  history  of  the  country ; 
to  countenance  and  inculcate  the  principles  of  humanity  and  gen- 
eral benevolence,  public  and  private  charity,  industry  and  frugality, 
honesty  and  punctuality  in  all  their  dealings ;  sincerity,  good  hu- 
mour, and  all  social  affections  and  generous  sentiments  among  tho 
people."     I  must  confess,  that  had  the  words  of  that  little  consti- 


V'»..-J 


''\ 


■l- 


'h      ' 


' 


208 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


1    'i 


tutional  enactment  been  made  known  to  mo  before  I  had  seen  its 
practical  results,  I  should  not  have  put  much  faith  in  it.  Of  all 
the  public  schools  I  have  ever  seen, — by  public  schools  I  mean 
schools  for  the  people  at  large  maintained  at  public  cost, — those 
of  Massachusetts  are,  I  think,  the  best.  But  of  all  the  educational 
enactments  which  1  ever  read,  that  of  the  same  State  is,  I  should 
say,  the  worst.  In  Texas  now,  of  which  as  a  State  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  do  not  think  much,  they  have  done  it  better.  "A 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge  being  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
legislature  of  this  State  to  make  suitable  provision  for  the  support 
and  maintenance  of  public  schools."  So  say  the  Texians ;  but 
then  the  Texians  had  the  advantage  of  a  later  experience  than  any 
which  fell  in  the  way  of  the  constitution-makers  of  Massachusetts. 

There  is  something  of  the  magniloquence  of  the  French  style, — 
of  the  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  mode  of  eloquence  in  the 
preambles  of  most  of  these  constitutions,  which,  but  for  their  suc- 
cess, would  have  seemed  to  have  prophesied  loudly  of  failure. 
Those  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  the  least  so,  and  that 
of  Massachusetts  by  far  the  most  violently  magniloquent.  They 
generally  commence  by  thanking  God  for  the  present  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty  of  the  people,  and  by  declaring  that  all  men  are  born 
free  and  equal.  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  however,  refrain 
from  any  such  very  general  remarks. 

I  am  well  aware  that  all  these  constitutional  enactments  are 
not  likely  to  obtain  much  credit  in  England.  It  is  not  only  that 
grand  phrases  fail  to  convince  us,  but  that  they  carry  to  our  senses 
almost  an  assurance  of  their  own  inefficiency.  When  we  hear  that 
a  people  have  declared  their  intention  of  being  henceforward  bet- 
ter than  their  neighbours,  and  going  upon  a  new  theory  that  shall 
lead  them  direct  to  a  terrestrial  paradise,  we  button  up  our  pockets 
and  lock  up  our  spoons.  And  that  is  what  we  have  done  very 
much  as  regards  the  Americans.  We  have  walked  with  them 
and  talked  with  them,  and  bought  with  them  and  sold  with  them ; 
but  we  have  mistrusted  them  as  to  theii*  internal  habits  and  modes 
of  life,  thinking  that  their  philanthropy  was  pretentious  and  that 
their  theories  were  vague.  Many  cities  in  the  States  are  but  skel- 
etons of  towns,  the  streets  being  there,  and  the  houses  numbered, — 
but  not  one  house  built  out  of  ten  that  have  been  so  counted  up. 
We  have  regards  d  their  institutions  as  we  regard  those  cities,  and 
have  been  specially  willing  so  to  consider  them  because  of  the  fine 
language  in  which  they  have  been  paraded  before  us.  They  have 
been  regarded  as  the  skeletons  of  philanthropical  systems,  to  which 


EDUCATION   AND    KFXIGION. 


2G9 


blood  and  flesh  and  muscle,  and  even  skin  are  wanting.  But  it  is 
lit  least  but  fair  to  inquire  how  fur  the  promise  made  lias  been  car- 
ried out.  The  elaborate  wordings  of  the  constitutions  made  by 
the  French  politicians  in  the  days  of  their  great  revolution  have 
always  been  to  us  no  more  than  so  many  written  grimaces;  but 
wo  should  not  have  continued  so  to  regard  them  had  the  political 
liberty  which  they  promised  followed  upon  the  promises  so  inag- 
niloquently  made.  As  regards  education  in  the  States, — at  any 
rate  in  the  northern  and  western  States, — I  think  that  the  assur- 
ances put  forth  in  the  various  written  constitutions  have  been 
kept.  If  this  be  so,  an  American  citizen,  let  him  be  ever  so  arro- 
gant, ever  so  impudent  if  you  will,  is  at  any  rate  a  civilized  being 
and  on  the  road  to  that  cultivation  which  will  sooner  or  later  di- 
vest him  of  his  arrogance.  Emollit  mores.  We  quote  here  our  old 
fi'iend  the  colonel  again.  If  a  gentleman  be  compelled  to  confine 
his  classical  allusions  to  one  quotation,  he  cannot  do  better  than 
hang  by  that. 

But  has  education  been  so  general,  and  has  it  had  the  desired 
result  ?  In  the  city  of  Boston,  as  I  have  said,  I  found  that  in  1857 
about  one-eighth  of  tlie  whole  population  were  then  on  the  books 
of  tlie  free  public  schools  as  pupils,  and  that  about  one-ninth  of 
the  population  formed  the  average  daily  attendance.  To  these 
numbers  of  course  must  be  added  all  pupils  of  the  richer  classes, — 
those  for  whose  education  their  parents  chose  to  pay.  As  nearly 
as  I  can  learn,  the  average  duration  of  each  pupil's  schooling  is 
six  years,  and  if  this  be  figured  out  statistically,  I  think  it  will 
show  that  education  in  Boston  reaches  a  very  large  majority — ^I 
must  almost  say  the  whole — of  the  population.  That  the  educa- 
tion given  in  other  towns  of  Massachusetts  is  not  so  good  as  that 
given  in  Boston  I  do  not  doubt,  but  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
it  is  quite  as  general. 

I  hove  spoken  of  one  of  the  schools  of  New  York.  In  that  city 
the  public  schools  are  apportioned  to  the  wards,  and  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  in  each  ward  of  the  city  there  are  public  schools  of 
different  standing  for  the  gratuitous  use  of  the  children.  The 
population  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  1857  was  about  650,000, 
and  in  that  year  it  is  stated  that  there  were  135,000  pupils  in  the 
schools.  By  this  it  would  appear  that  one  person  in  five  through- 
out the  city  was  then  under  process  of  education, — which  state- 
ment, however,  I  cannot  receive  with  implicit  credence.  It  is,  how- 
ever, also  stated  that  the  daily  attendances  averaged  something  less 
than  50,000  a  day — and  this  latter  statement  probably  implies 
some  mistake  in  the  former  one.     Taking  the  two  together  for 


/■ 


I 


••\ 


^ 


if 


'  \ 


■i  • 

I 

I. " 


270 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


I  I    1  '.' 


H 


n 


,i; 


what  they  arc  worth,  thoy  show,  I  think,  that  school  teaching  is 
not  only  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  population  generally,  but 
is  used  by  almost  all  classes.  At  New  York  there  arc  separate 
free  schools  for  coloured  children.  At  Philadelphia  I  did  not  see 
the  schools,  but  I  was  assured  that  the  arrangements  there  were 
equal  to  those  at  New  York  and  Boston.  Indeed  I  was  told  that 
they  were  infinitely  better;  —  but  then  I  was  so  told  by  a  IMiila- 
dolpliian.  In  the  State  of  Connecticut  the  public  schools  are  cer- 
tainly equal  to  those  in  any  part  of  the  Union.  As  far  as  I  could 
learn,  education  —  what  we  should  call  advanced  education  —  is 
brought  within  the  reach  of  all  classes  in  the  northern  and  west- 
ern States  of  AmerJca, — and,  I  would  wish  to  add  here,  to  those 
of  the  Canadas  also. 

So  much  for  the  schools,  and  now  for  the  results.  I  do  not 
know  that  anything  impresses  a  visitor  more  strongly  with  the 
amount  of  books  sold  in  the  States,  than  the  practice  of  selling 
them  as  it  has  been  adopted  in  the  railway  cars.  Personally  the 
traveller  will  find  the  system  very  disagreeable, — as  is  everything 
connected  with  these  cars.  A  young  man  enters  during  the  jour- 
ney,— for  the  trade  is  carried  out  while  the  cars  are  travelling,  as 
is  also  a  very  brisk  trade  in  lollipops,  sugar-candy,  apples,  and  ham 
sandwiches, — the  young  tradesman  enters  the  car  firstly  with  a 
pile  of  magazines  or  of  novels  bound  like  magazines.  These  arc 
chiefly  the  *  Atlantic,'  published  at  Boston,  *  Harper's  Magazine,* 
published  at  New  York,  and  a  cheap  series  of  novels  published  at 
Philadelphia.  As  he  walks  along  he  flings  one  at  every  passen- 
ger. An  Englisliman,  when  he  is  first  introduced  to  this  manner 
of  trade,  becomes  much  astonished.  He  is  probably  reading,  and 
on  a  sudden  he  finds  a  fat,  fluffy  magazine,  very  unattractive  in  its 
exterior,  dropped  on  to  the  page  he  is  perusing.  I  thought  at  first 
that  it  was  a  present  from  some  crazed  philanthropist,  who  was 
thus  endeavouring  to  disseminate  literature.  But  I  was  soon  un- 
deceived. The  bookseller,  having  gone  down  the  whole  car  and 
the  next,  returned,  and  beginning  again  where  he  had  begun  be- 
fore, picked  up  either  his  magazine  or  else  the  price  of  it.  Then, 
in  some  half-hour,  he  came  again,  with  an  armful  or  basket  of 
books,  and  distributed  them  in  the  same  way.  They  were  gener- 
ally novels,  but  not  always.  I  do  not  think  that  any  endeavour  is 
made  to  assimilate  the  book  to  the  expected  customer.  The  ob- 
ject is  to  bring  the  book  and  the  man  together,  and  in  this  way  a 
very  large  sale  is  effected.  The  same  thing  is  done  with  illustra- 
ted newspapers.  The  sale  of  political  newspapers  goes  on  so 
quickly  in  these  cars  that  no  such  enforced  distribution  is  neces- 


EDUCATION    AND    KKLIOION. 


271 


Pftry.  I  should  sny  tliut  tlie  avcrago  conHutnption  of  newspapers 
by  an  American  must  amount  to  about  tlireo  a  day.  At  Wanlj- 
iiif'toii  I  iM'jrj^cd  the  keeper  of  my  lodgings  to  let  mo  have  u  paper 
regularly, — one  Ameriean  newspaper  being  mueli  the  name  to  mo 
nn  another, — and  my  ho.st  supplied  me  daily  with  four. 

Hut  the  numbers  of  the  popular  books  of  the  day,  printed  and 
sold,  afford  the  most  conelusive  proof  of  the  extent  to  which  edu- 
cation is  carried  in  the  States.  The  readers  of  Tennyson,  Thack- 
eray, Dickens,  Hulwer,  Collins,  Hughes,  and — Martin  Tupper,  are 
to  be  coimted  by  tens  of  thousand  in  the  States,  to  the  thousands 
hy  which  they  may  be  counted  in  our  own  islands.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  I  had  fully  fifteen  copies  of  the  '  Silver  Cord'  thrown 
at  my  head  in  different  railway  cars  on  the  continent  of  America. 
Nor  is  the  taste  by  any  means  confined  to  the  literature  of  England. 
Longfellow,  Curtis,  Holmes,  Hawthorne,  Lowell,  Emerson,  and 
Mrs.  Stowe,  are  almost  as  popular  as  their  English  rivjds.  I  do 
not  say  whether  or  no  the  literature  is  well  chosen,  but  there  it  is. 
It  is  printed,  sold,  and  read.  The  disposal  of  ten  thousand  copies 
of  a  work  is  no  largo  sale  in  America  of  a  book  published  at  a  dol- 
lar ;  but  in  England  it  is  a  large  sale  of  a  book  brought  out  at  five 
shillings. 

I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  examined  the  rooms  of  an  Amer- 
ican without  finding  books  or  magazines  in  them.  I  do  not  speak 
here  of  the  houses  of  my  friends,  as  of  course  the  same  remark 
would  apply  as  strongly  in  England,  but  of  the  houses  of  persons 
presumed  to  earn  their  bread  by  the  labour  of  their  hands.  The 
opportunity  for  such  examination  does  not  come  daily ;  but  when 
it  has  been  in  my  power  I  have  made  it,  and  have  always  found 
signs  of  education.  Men  and  women  of  the  classes  to  which  I  al- 
lude talk  of  reading  and  writing  as  of  arts  belonging  to  them  as  a 
matter  of  course,  quite  as  much  as  are  the  arts  of  eating  and  drink- 
ing. A  porter  or  a  farmer's  servant  in  the  States  is  not  proud  of 
reading  and  writing.  It  is  to  him  quite  a  matter  of  course.  The 
coachmen  on  their  boxes  and  the  boots  as  they  sit  in  the  halls  of 
the  hotels,  have  newspapers  constantly  in  their  hands.  The  young 
women  have  them  also,  and  the  children.  The  fact  comes  home 
to  one  at  every  turn,  and  at  every  hour,  that  the  people  arc  an  edu- 
cated people.  The  whole  of  this  question  between  North  and 
South  is  as  well  understood  by  the  servants  as  by  their  masters, 
is  discussed  as  vehemently  by  the  pnvate  soldiers  as  by  the  officers. 
The  politics  of  the  country  and  the  nature  of  its  constitution  are 
familiar  to  every  labourer.  The  very  wording  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  is  in  the  memory  of  every  lad  of  sixteen.     Hoys 


k 


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IMAGE  EVALUATSON 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Photog).phic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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iv 


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272 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


»    '. 


and  girls  of  a  younger  ago  than  that  know  why  Slidell  and  Mason 
were  arrested,  and  will  tell  you  why  they  should  have  been  given 
up,  or  why  they  should  have  been  held  in  durance.  The  question 
of  the  war  with  England  is  debated  by  every  native  paviour  and 
hodman  of  New  York. 

I  know  what  Englishmen  will  say  in  answer  to  this.  They 
will  declare  that  they  do  not  want  their  paviours  and  hodmen  to 
talk  politics ;  that  they  are  as  well  pleased  that  their  coachmen 
and  cooks  should  not  always  have  a  newspaper  in  their  hands ; 
that  private  soldiers  will  fight  as  well,  and  obey  better,  if  they  arp 
not  trained  to  di'-cuss  the  causes  which  have  brought  them  into  the 
field.  An  English  gentleman  will  think  that  his  gardener  will  be  a 
better  gardener  without  than  with  any  excessive  political  ardour ; 
and  the  English  lady  will  prefer  that  her  housemaid  shall  not  have 
a  very  pronounced  opinion  of  her  own  as  to  the  capabilities  of  the 
cabinet  ministers.  But  I  would  submit  to  all  Englishmen  and  En- 
glishwomen who  may  look  at  these  pages  whether  such  an  opinion 
or  feeling  on  their  part  bears  much,  or  even  at  all,  upon  the  sub- 
ject. I  am  not  saying  that  the  man  who  is  driven  in  the  coach 
is  better  off  because  his  coachman  reads  the  paper,  but  that  the 
coachman  himself  who  reads  the  paper  is  better  off  than  the  coach- 
man who  does  not  and  cannot.  I  think  that  we  are  too  f>]^t,  in 
considering  the  ways  and  habits  of  any  people,  to  judge  of  them 
by  the  effect  of  those  ways  and  habits  on  us,  rather  than  by  their 
effects  on  the  owners  of  them.  When  we  go  among  garlic-eaters, 
we  condemn  them  because  they  are  offensive  to  us ;  but  to  judge 
of  them  properly  we  should  ascertain  whether  or  no  the  garlic  be 
offensive  to  them.  If  we  could  imagine  a  nation  of  vegetarians 
hearing  for  the  first  time  of  our  habits  as  flesh-eaters,  we  should 
feel  sure  that  they  would  be  struck  with  horror  at  our  blood- 
stained banquets ;  but  when  they  came  to  argue  with  us,  we 
should  bid  them  inquire  whether  we  flesh-eaters  did  not  live  lon- 
ger and  do  more  than  the  vegetarians.  When  we  express  a  dis- 
like to  the  shoeboy  reading  his  newspaper,  I  fear  we  do  so  because 
we  fear  that  the  shoeboy  is  coming  near  our  own  heels.  I  know 
there  is  among  us  a  strong  feeling  that  the  lower  classes  are  better 
without  politics,  as  there  is  also  that  they  are  better  without  crin- 
oline and  artificial  flowers ;  but  if  politics  and  crinoline  and  arti- 
ficial flowers  are  good  at  all,  they  are  good  for  all  who  can  honest- 
ly come  by  them  and  honestly  use  them.  The  political  coachman 
is  perhaps  less  valuable  to  his  master  as  a  coachman  than  he  would 
be  without  his  politics,  but  he  with  his  politics  is  more  valuable  to 
himself.     For  myself,  I  do  not  like  the  Americans  of  the  lower 


EDUCATION   AND    REUGION. 


273 


orders.  I  am  not  comfortable  among  them.  They  tread  on  my 
corns  and  offend  me.  They  make  my  daily  life  unpleasant.  But 
I  do  respect  them.  I  acknowledge  their  intelligence  and  personal 
dignity.  I  know  that  they  are  men  and  women  worthy  to  be  so 
called ;  I  see  that  they  are  living  as  human  beings  in  possession  of 
reasoning  faculties ;  and  I  perceive  that  they  owe  this  to  the 
progress  that  education  has  made  among  them. 

After  all,  what  is  wanted  in  this  world  1  Is  it  not  that  men 
should  eat  and  drink,  and  read  and  write,  and  say  their  prayers  1 
Does  not  that  include  everything,  providing  that  they  eat  and 
drink  enough,  read  and  write  without  restraint,  and  say  their 
prayers  without  hypocrisy '?  When  we  talk  of  the  advances  of 
civilization,  do  we  mean  anything  but  this,  that  men  who  now  eat 
and  drink  badly  shall  eat  and  drink  well,  and  that  those  who  can- 
not read  and  write  now  shall  learn  to  do  so, — the  prayers  follow- 
ing, as  prayers  will  follow  upon  such  learning  ?  Civilization  does 
not  consist  in  the  eschewing  of  garlic  or  the  keeping  clean  of  a 
man's  finger-nails.  It  may  lead  to  such  delicacies,  and  probably 
will  do  so.  But  the  man  who  thinks  that  civilization  cannot  ex- 
ist without  them  imagines  that  the  church  cannot  stand  without 
the  spire.  In  the  States  of  America  men  do  eat  and  drink,  and 
do  read  and  write. 

But  as  to  saying  their  prayers  ?  That,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  has 
come  also,  though  perhaps  not  in  a  manner  altogether  satisfactory, 
or  to  a  degree  which  should  be  held  to  be  sufficient.  English- 
men of  strong  religious  feeling  will  often  be  startled  in  America 
by  the  freedom  with  which  religious  subjects  are  discussed,  and 
the  ease  with  which  the  matter  is  treated ;  but  he  will  very  rarely 
be  shocked  by  that  utter  absence  of  all  knowledge  on  the  subject, 
— that  total  darkness,  which  is  still  so  common  among  the  lower 
orders  in  our  own  country.  It  is  not  a  common  thing  to  meet  an 
American  who  belongs  to  no  denomination  of  Christian  worship, 
and  who  cannot  tell  you  why  he  belongs  to  that  which  he  has 
chosen. 

"  But,"  it  will  be  said,  "  all  the  intelligence  and  education  of 
this  people  have  not  saved  them  from  falling  out  among  themselves 
and  their  friends,  and  running  into  troubles  by  which  they  will  be 
ruined.  Their  political  arrangements  have  been  so  bad,  that  in 
spite  of  all  their  reading  and  writing  they  must  go  to  the  wall." 
I  venture  to  express  an  opinion  that  they  will  by  no  means  go  to 
the  wall,  and  that  they  will  be  saved  from  such  a  destiny,  if  in  no 
other  way,  then  by  their  education.  Of  their  political  arrange- 
ments, as  I  mean  before  long  to  rush  into  that  perilous  subject,  I 

M2 


1, 


I: 


;i  ' 


274 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'  i   'j 


■^l 


i\i 


will  say  nothing  here.  But  no  political  convulsions,  should  such 
arise, — no  revolution  in  the  constitution,  should  such  be  necessary, 
— will  have  any  wide  effect  on  the  social  position  of  the  people  to 
their  serious  detriment.  They  have  the  great  qualifies  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race, — industry,  intelligence,  and  self-conlii  nee ;  and 
if  these  qualities  will  no  longer  suffice  to  keep  such  a  people  on 
their  legs,  the  world  must  be  coming  to  an  end. 

I  have  said  that  it  is  not  a  common  thing  to  meet  an  American 
who  belongs  to  no  denomination  of  Christian  worship.  This  I 
think  is  so:  but  I  would  not  wish  to  be  taken  as  saying  that  relig- 
ion on  that  account  stands  on  a  satisfactory  footing  in  the  States. 
Of  all  subjects  of  discussion,  this  is  the  most  difficult.  It  is  one 
as  to  which  most  of  us  feel  that  to  some  extent  we  must  trust  to 
our  prejudices  rather  than  our  judgments.  It  is  a  matter  on  which 
we  do  not  dare  to  rely  implicitly  on  our  own  reasoning  faculties, 
and  therefore  throw  ourselves  on  the  opinions  of  those  whom  we 
believe  to  have  been  better  men  and  deeper  thinkers  than  our- 
selves. For  myself,  I  love  the  name  of  State  and  Church,  and  be- 
lieve that  much  of  our  English  well-being  has  depended  on  it.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  think  that  union  good,  and  not  to  be 
turned  away  from  that  conviction.  Nevertheless  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  argue  the  matter.  One  does  not  always  carry  one's  proofs 
at  one's  finger-ends. 

But  I  feel  very  strongly  that  much  of  that  which  is  evil  in  the 
structure  of  American  politics  is  owing  to  the  absence  of  any  na- 
tional religion,  and  that  something  also  of  social  evil  has  sprung 
from  the  same  cause.  It  is  not  that  men  do  not  say  their  prayers. 
For  aught  I  know,  they  may  do  so  as  frequently  and  as  fervently, 
or  more  frequently  and  more  fervently,  than  we  do ;  but  there  is 
a  rowdiness,ifI  maybe  allowed  to  use  such  a  word, in  their  man- 
ner of  doing  so  which  robs  religion  of  that  reverence  which  is,  if 
not  its  essence,  at  any  rate  its  chief  protection.  It  is  a  part  of 
their  system  that  religion  shall  be  perfectly  free,  and  that  no  man 
shall  be  in  any  way  constrained  in  that  matter.  Consequently, 
the  question  of  a  man's  religion  is  regarded  in  a  free-and-easy  way. 
It  is  well,  for  instance,  that  a  young  lad  should  go  somewhere  on 
a  Sunday;  but  a  sermon  is  a  sermon,  and  it  does  not  much  con- 
cern the  lad's  father  whether  his  son  hear  the  discourse  of  a  free- 
thinker in  the  music-hall,  or  the  eloquent  but  lengthy  outpouring 
of  a  preacher  in  a  Methodist  chapel.  Everybody  is  bound  to  have 
a  religion,  but  it  does  not  much  matter  what  it  is. 

The  difficulty  in  which  the  first  fathers  of  the  Revolution  found 
themselves  on  this  question,  is  shown  by  the  constitutions  of  the 


EDUCATION    AND    RELIGION. 


275 


different  States.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  inhabitants  of 
tlie  New  England  States  were,  as  things  went,  a  strictly  religious 
community.  They  had  no  idea  of  throwing  over  the  worship  of 
God,  as  the  French  had  attempted  to  do  at  their  Revolution. 
They  intended  that  the  new  nation  should  be  pre-eminently  com- 
posed of  a  God-fearing  people ;  but  they  intended  also  that  they 
should  be  a  people  free  in  everything, — free  to  choose  their  own 
forms  of  worship.  They  intended  that  the  nation  should  be  a 
Protestant  people;  but  they  intended  also  that  no  man's  con- 
science should  be  coerced  in  the  matter  of  his  own  religion.  It 
was  hard  to  reconcile  these  two  things,  and  to  explain  to  the  citi- 
zens that  it  behoved  them  to  worship  God, — even  under  penalties 
for  omission ;  but  that  it  was  at  the  same  time  open  to  them  to 
select  any  form  of  worship  that  they  pleased,  however  that  form 
might  differ  from  the  practices  of  the  majority.  In  Connecticut  it 
is  declared  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to  worship  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  universe,  but  that  it  is 
their  right  to  render  that  worship  in  the  mode  most  consistent 
with  the  dictates  of  their  consciences.  And  then  a  few  lines  fur- 
ther down  the  article  skips  the  great  difficulty  in  a  manner  some- 
what disingenuous,  and  declares  that  each  and  every  society  of 
Christians  in  the  State  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  same  and  equal 
privileges.  But  it  does  not  say  whether  a  Jew  shall  be  divested 
of  those  privileges,  or,  if  he  be  divested,  how  that  treatment  of  him 
is  to  be  reconciled  with  the  assurance  that  it  is  every  man's  right 
to  worship  the  Supreme  Being  in  tiie  mode  most  consistent  with 
the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience. 

In  Rhode  Island  they  were  more  honest.  It  is  there  declared 
that  every  man  shall  be  free  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  own  conscience,  and  to  prbfess  and  by  argument  to 
maintain  his  opinion  in  matters  of  religion ;  and  that  the  same 
shall  in  nowise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  his  civil  capacity.  Here 
it  is  simply  presumed  that  every  man  will  worship  a  God,  and  no 
allusion  is  made  even  to  Christianity. 

In  Massachusetts  they  are  agaiii  hardly  honest.  "  It  is  the 
right,"  says  the  constitution,  "  as  well  as  the  duty  of  all  men  in 
society  publicly  and  at  stated  seasons  to  worship  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing, the  great  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  universe."  And  then 
it  goes  on  to  say  that  every  man  may  do  so  in  what  form  he 
pleases;  but  further  down  it  declares  that  "every  denomination 
of  Christians,  demeaning  themselves  peaceably  and  as  good  sub- 
jects of  the  commonwealth,  shall  be  equally  under  the  protection 
of  the  law."     But  what  about  those  who  are  not  Christians  ?     In 


)  \ 


\ 


Ii1 ' 


276 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


.M^-^ 


|.] 


I- 
I' 
(■ 


New  Hampshire  it  is  exactly  tlic  same.  It  is  enacted  that — "  Ev- 
ery individual  has  a  natural  and  unalienable  ri«;ht  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience  and  reason."  And 
that — "Every  denomination  of  Christians,  demeaning  themselves 
quietly  and  as  good  citizens  of  the  State,  shall  be  equally  under 
the  protection  of  the  law."  From  all  which  it  is,  1  think,  mani- 
fest that  the  men  who  framed  these  documents,  desirous  above  all 
things  of  cutting  themselves  and  their  people  loose  from  every  kind 
of  trammel,  still  felt  the  necessity  of  enforcing  religion, — of  mak- 
ing it  to  a  certain  extent  a  matter  of  State  duty.  In  the  first  con- 
stitution of  North  Carolina  it  is  enjoined, — "That  no  person  who 
shall  deny  the  being  of  God,  or  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  relig- 
ion, shall  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  or  place  of  trust  or  prof- 
it." But  this  was  altered  in  the  year  183G,  and  the  words  "  Chris- 
tian religion"  were  substituted  for  "  Protestant  religion." 

In  New  England  the  Congregationalists  are,  I  think,  the  domi- 
nant sect.  In  Massachusetts,  and  I  believe  in  the  other  New  En- 
gland States,  a  man  is  presumed  to  be  a  Congregationalist  if  he  do 
not  declare  himself  to  be  anything  else ;  so  with  us  the  Church  of 
England  counts  all  who  do  not  specially  have  themselves  counted 
elsewhere.  The  Congregationalist,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  is  very 
near  to  a  Presbyterian.  In  New  England  I  think  the  Unitarians 
would  rank  next  in  number ;  but  a  Unitarian  in  America  is  not 
the  same  as  a  Unitarian  with  us.  .  Here,  if  I  understand  the  na- 
ture of  his  creed,  a  Unitarian  does  not  recognize  the  divinity  of 
our  Saviour.  In  America  he  does  do  so,  but  throws  over  the  doc- 
rine  of  the  Trinity.  The  Prptestant  Episcopalians  muster  strong 
in  all  the  great  cities,  and  I  fancy  that  they  would  be  regarded  as 
taking  the  lead  of  the  other  religious  denominations  in  New  York. 
Their  tendency  is  to  high-church  doctrines.  I  wish  they  had  not 
found  it  necessary  to  alter  the  forms  of  our  prayer-book  in  so  many 
little  matters,  as  to  which  there  was  no  national  expediency  for 
such  changes.  But  it  was  probably  thought  necessary  that  a  new 
people  should  show  their  independence  in  all  things.  The  Roman 
Catholics  have  a  very  strong  party — as  a  matter  of  course — seeing 
how  great  has  been  the  immigration  from  Ireland ;  but  here,  as  in 
Ireland — and  as  indeed  is  the  case  all  the  world  over — the  Roman 
Catholics  are  the  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  The 
Germans,  who  have  latterly  flocked  into  the  States  in  such  swarms 
that  they  have  almost  Germanized  certain  States,  have  of  course 
their  own  churches.  In  every  town  there  are  places  of  worship 
for  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Anabaptists,  and  every  de- 
nomination of  Christianity  ;  and  the  meeting-houses  prepared  for 


EDUCATION    AND   REUGION. 


277 


tlicsG  sects  arc  not,  as  with  us,  hideous  buildings  contrived  to  in- 
spire disgust  by  the  enormity  of  their  ugHness,  nor  are  they  called 
Sulcm,  Ebenezer,  and  Sion,  nor  do  the  ministers  within  them  look 
in  any  way  like  the  Deputy-Shepherd.  The  churches  belonging 
to  those  sects  are  often  handsome.  This  is  especially  the  case  in 
J^ew  York ;  and  the  pastors  are  not  unfrequently  among  the  best 
educated  and  most  agi'ceable  men  whom  tlio  traveller  will  meet. 
Tlicy  are  for  the  most  part  well  paid ;  and  are  enabled  by  their 
outward  position  to  hold  that  place  in  the  world's  ranks  which 
should  always  belong  to  a  clergyman.  I  have  not  been  able  to  ob- 
tain information  from  which  I  can  state  with  anything  like  cor- 
rectness what  may  be  the  average  income  of  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel in  the  northern  States,  but  that  it  is  much  higher  than  the  av- 
erage income  of  our  parish  clergymen,  admits,  I  think,  of  no  doubt. 
The  stipends  of  clergymen  in  the  American  towns  are  higher  than 
those  paid  in  the  country.  The  opposite  to  this,  I  think  as  a  rule, 
is  the  case  with  us. 

I  have  said  that  religion  in  the  States  is  rowdy.  By  that  I 
mean  to  imply  that  it  seems  to  me  to  be  divested  of  that  reveren- 
tial order  and  strictness  of  rule  which,  according  to  our  ideas, 
should  be  attached  to  matters  of  religion.  One  hardly  knows 
where  the  affairs  of  this  world  end,  or  where  those  of  the  next  be- 
gin. When  the  holy  men  were  had  in  at  the  lecture,  were  they 
doing  stage-work  or  church-work?  On  hearing  sermons,  one  is 
often  driven  to  ask  oneself  whether  the  discourse  from  the  pulpit 
be  in  its  nature  political  or  religious.  I  heard  an  Episcopalian 
Protestant  clergyman  talk  of  the  scoffing  nations  of  Europe — be- 
cause at  that  moment  he  was  angry  with  England  and  France 
about  Slidell  and  Mason.  I  have  heard  a  chapter  of  the  Bible 
read  in  Congress  at  the  desire  of  a  member,  and  very  badly  read. 
After  which  the  chapter  itself  and  the  reading  of  it  became  the 
subject  of  a  debate,  partly  jocose  and  partly  acrimonious.  It  is  a 
common  thing  for  a  clergyman  to  change  his  profession  and  follow 
any  other  pursuit.  I  know  two  or  three  gentlemen  who  were 
once  in  that  line  of  life,  but  have  since  gone  into  other  trades. 
There  is,  I  think,  an  unexpressed  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
people  to  abandon  all  reverence,  and  to  regard  religion  from  an  al- 
together worldly  point  of  view.  They  are  willing  to  have  relig- 
ion, as  they  are  willing  to  have  laws ;  but  they  choose  to  make  it 
for  themselves.  They  do  not  object  to  pay  for  it,  but  they  like  to 
have  the  handling  of  the  article  for  which  they  pay.  As  the  de- 
scendants of  Puritans  and  other  godly  Protestants,  they  will  sub- 
mit to  religious  teaching,  but  as  Republicans  they  will  have  no 


If 


:  \t 


V. 


.  Ji 


!'■    '. 


li. 


I    li 


278 


NOUTII    AMERICA. 


1-4 


>    •-< 


priestcraft.  The  French  at  their  Revolution  had  the  latter  feel- 
ing without  the  former,  and  were  tliereforo  consistent  with  them- 
selves in  abolishing  all  worship.  The  Americans  desire  to  do  tlie 
same  thing  politically,  but  infidelity  has  had  no  charms  for  them. 
They  say  their  prayers,  and  then  seem  to  apologize  for  doing  so,  as 
though  it  were  hardly  the  act  of  a  free  and  enlightened  citizen, 
justified  in  ruling  himself  as  he  pleases.  All  this  to  me  is  rowdy. 
I  know  no  other  word  by  which  I  can  so  well  describe  it. 

Nevertheless  the  nation  is  religious  in  its  tendencies,  and  prone 
to  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  God  in  all  things.  A  man  there 
is  expected  to  belong  to  some  church,  and  is  not,  I  think,  well 
looked  on  if  he  profess  that  he  belongs  to  none.  He  may  be  a 
Swedenborgian,  a  Quaker,  a  Muggletonian  ; — anything  will  do. 
But  it  is  expected  of  him  that  he  shall  place  himself  under  some 
flag,  and  do  his  share  in  supporting  the  flag  to  which  he  belongs. 
This  duty  is,  I  think,  generally  fulfilled. 


T|  :!' 


CHAPTER  XX. 

FROM  BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 

From  Boston,  on  the  27th  of  November,  my  wife  returned 
to  England,  leaving  me  to  prosecute  my  journey  southward  to 
Washington  by  myself.  I  shall  never  forget  the  political  feel- 
ing which  prevailed  in  Boston  at  that  time,  or  the  discussions 
on  the  subject  of  Slidell  and  Mason,  in  which  I  felt  myself 
bound  to  take  a  part.  Up  to  that  period  I  confess  that  my 
sympathies  had  been  strongly  with  the  northern  side  in  the 
general  question ;  and  so  they  were  still,  as  far  as  I  could  divest 
the  matter  of  its  English  bearings.  I  had  always  thought,  and 
do  think,  that  a  war  for  the  suppression  of  the  southern  rebel- 
lion could  not  have  been  avoided  l)y  the  North  without  an  ab- 
solute loss  of  its  political  prestige.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1860,  and  any 
steps  taken  by  him  or  his  party  towards  a  peaceable  solution 
of  the  difficulties  which  broke  out  immediately  on  his  election, 
must  have  been  taken  before  he  entered  upon  his  office.  South 
Carolina  threatened  secession  as  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln's  election 
was  known,  while  yet  there  were  four  months  left  of  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan's Government.  That  Mr.  Buchanan  might,  during  those 
four  months,  have  prevented  secession,  few  men,  I  think,  will 
doubt  when  the  history  of  the  time  shall  be  written.  But  in- 
stead of  doing  so  he  consummated  secession.  Mr.  Buchanan  is 
a  northern  man,  a  Pennsylvanian ;  but  he  was  opposed  to  the 


PROM    BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 


279 


party  whicli  h«id  brought  in  Mr.  Lincoln,  li.iving  thriven  as  a, 
politician  by  his  adherence  to  southern  principles.  Now,  when 
the  struggle  came,  ho  could  not  forget  his  party  in  liis  duty  as 
President.  General  Jackson's  position  was  much  the  same 
when  Mr.  Calhoun,  on  the  question  of  the  tariff,  endeavoured 
to  produce  secession  in  South  Carolina  thirty  years  ago,  in  1832 
— excepting  in  this,  that  Jackson  was  himself  a  soutliern  man. 
But  Jackson  had  a  strong  conception  of  the  position  which  he 
held  as  President  of  the  United  States.  Ho  put  his  foot  on  se- 
cession and  crushed  it,  forcing  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  senator  from 
South  Carolina,  to  vote  for  that  compromise  as  to  the  tariff 
which  the  Government  of  the  day  proposed.  South  Carolina 
was  as  eager  in  1832  for  secession  as  she  was  in  1 859-1 8C0 ;  but 
the  Government  was  in  the  hands  of  a  strong  man  and  an  hon- 
est one.  Mr.  Calhoun  would  have  been  hung  had  ho  carried 
out  his  throats.  But  Mr.  Buchanan  had  neither  the  power  nor 
the  honesty  of  General  Jackson,  and  thus  secession  was  in  fact 
consummated  during  his  Presidency. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln's  party,  it  is  said — and  I  believe  truly  said — 
might  have  prevented  secession  by  making  overtures  to  the 
South,  or  accepting  overtures  from  the  South,  before  Mr.  Lin- 
coln himself  had  been  inaugurated.  That  is  to  say, — if  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  the  band  of  politicians  who  with  him  had  pushed 
their  way  to  the  top  of  their  party,  and  were  about  to  fill  the 
ofHces  of  State,  chose  to  throw  overboard  the  political  convifllt 
tions  which  had  bound  them  together  and  insured  their  suc- 
cess,— if  they  could  bring  themselves  to  adopt  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  the  ideas  of  their  opponents, — then  the  war  might 
have  been  avoided,  and  secession  also  avoided.  I  do  believe 
that  had  Mr.  Lincoln  at  that  time  submitted  himself  to  a  com- 
promise in  favour  of  the  Democrats,  promising  the  support  of 
the  Government  to  certain  acts  which  would  in  fact  have  been 
in  favour  of  slavery.  South  Carolina  would  again  have  been 
foiled  for  the  time.  For  it  must  be  understood,  that  though 
South  Carolina  and  the  Gulf  States  might  have  accepted  cer- 
tain compromises,  they  would  not  have  been  satisfied  in  so  ac- 
cepting them.  They  desired  secession,  and  nothing  short  of 
secession  would,  in  truth,  have  been  acceptable  to  them.  But 
in  doing  so  Mr.  Lincoln  would  have  been  the  most  dishonest 
politician  even  in  America.  The  North  would  have  been  in 
arras  against  him ;  and  any  true  spirit  of  agreement  between 
the  cotton-growing  slave  States  and  the  manufacturing  States 
of  the  North,  or  the  agricultural  States  of  the  West,  would 
have  been  as  far  off  and  as  improbable  as  it  is  now.  Mr.  Crit- 
tenden, who  proffered  his  compromise  to  the  Senate  in  Decem- 


\  ft 


I 

T 


i!3 


V 


r 


'  »  "i 


i  . 
i 

1: 

1  ; : 

:  i 

L;^ 

280 


NOKTII    AMERICA. 


bcr,  1800,  was  at  that  time  ono  of  the  two  senators  from  Ken- 
tucky, a  slave  State.  He  now  sits  in  the  Lower  IIouso  of  Con- 
gress as  a  member  from  the  same  State.  Kentucky  is  one  of 
those  border  States  which  has  found  it  impossible  to  secede, 
and  almost  equally  impossible  to  remain  in  the  Union.  It  is 
one  of  the  States  into  which  it  was  most  probable  that  the  war 
would  bo  carried ; — Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  being  the 
three  States  whicli  have  sulfered  the  most  in  this  way.  Of  Mr. 
Crittenden*8  own  family,  some  have  gone  with  secession  and 
some  with  the  Union.  His  name  had  been  honourably  con- 
nected with  American  politics  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  ho  should  have  desired  a  compromise.  His 
terms  were  in  fact  these, — a  return  to  the  Missouri  compromise, 
under  which  the  Union  pledged  itself  that  no  slavery  should 
exist  north  of  30.30  N.  lat.  unless  where  it  had  so  existed  prior 
to  the  date  of  that  compromise ;  a  pledge  that  Congress  would 
not  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  individual  States, — which  un- 
der the  constitution  it  cannot  do ;  and  a  pledge  that  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law  should  be  carried  out  by  the  northern  States. 
Such  a  compromise  might  seem  to  make  a  very  small  demand 
on  the  forbearance  of  the  Republican  party,  which  was  now 
dominant.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  had  been 
to  them  a  loss,  and  it  might  be  said  that  its  re-enactment  would 
bo  a  gain.  But  since  that  compromise  had  been  repealed,  vast 
iterritories  south  of  the  line  in  question,  had  been  added  to  the 
Union,  and  the  re-enactment  of  that  compromise  would  hand 
those  vast  regions  over  to  absolute  slavery,  as  had  been  done 
with  Texas.  This  might  be  all  very  well  for  Mr.  Crittenden  in 
the  slave  State  of  Kentucky — for  Mr.  Crittenden,  although  a 
slave-owner,  desired  to  perpetuate  the  Union ;  but  it  would 
not  have  been  well  for  New  England  or  for  the  "West.  As  for 
the  second  proposition,  it  is  well  understood  that  under  the 
constitutiou  Congress  cannot  interfere  in  any  way  in  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  individual  States.  Congress  has  no  more 
constitutional  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  Maryland  than  she 
has  to  introduce  it  into  Massachusetts.  No  such  pledge,  there- 
fore, was  necessary  on  either  side.  But  such  a  pledge  given 
by  the  North  and  West  would,  have  acted  as  an  additional  tie 
upon  them,  binding  them  to  the  finality  of  a  constitutional  en- 
actment to  which,  as  was  of  course  well  known,  they  strongly 
object.  There  was  no  question  of  Congress  interfering  with 
slavery,  with  the  purport  of  extending  its  area  by  special  en- 
actment, and  therefore  by  such  a  pledge  the  North  and  West 
could  gain  nothing;  but  the  South  would  in  prestige  have 
gained  much. 


FROM    llOSTON   TO    WASniNGTON. 


281 


But  that  third  proposition  as  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and 
the  fiiitliful  execution  of  that  huv  by  the  northern  atul  west- 
ern States  woukl,  if  acceded  to  by  Mr.  liineohi's  party,  hiive 
amounted  to  an  unconditional  surrender  of  everything.  What ! 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  carry  out  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law !  Ohio  carry  out  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  after  the  *  ])red 
Scot'  decision  and  all  its  consequences !  Mr.  Crittenden  might 
as  well  have  asked  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  Ohio  to 
introduce  slavery  within  their  own  lands.  The  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  the  law  of  the  land ;  it  was  the  law 
of  the  United  States  as  voted  by  Congress  and  passed  by  the 
President,  and  acted  on  by  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  United 
States'  Court.  But  it  was  a  law  to  which  no  free  State  had 
submitted  itself,  or  would  submit  itself.  "  What  I"  the  English 
reader  will  say, — *'  sundry  States  in  the  Union  refuse  to  obey 
the  laws  of  the  Union, — refuse  to  submit  to  the  constitutional 
action  of  their  own  Congress!"  Yes.  Such  has  been  the  po- 
sition of  this  country  I  To  such  a  dead  lock  has  it  been  brought 
by  the  attempted  but  impossible  amalgamation  of  North  and 
South.  Mr.  Crittenden's  compromise  was  moonshine.  It  was 
utterly  out  of  the  question  that  the  free  States  should  bind 
themselves  to  the  rendition  of  escaped  slaves, — or  that  Mr. 
Lincoln,  who  had  just  been  brought  m  by  their  voices,  should 
agree  to  any  compromise  which  should  attempt  so  to  bind  them. 
Lord  Talmerston  might  as  well  attempt  to  re-enact  the  Corn 
Laws. 

Then  comes  the  question  whether  Mr.  Lincoln  or  his  Govern- 
ment could  have  prevented  the  war  after  he  had  entered  upon 
liis  office  in  March,  1861  ?  I  do  not  suppose  that  any  one  thinks 
that  he  could  have  avoided  secession  and  avoided  the  war  also ; 
— that  by  any  ordinary  effort  of  Government  he  could  have  se- 
cured the  adhesion  of  the  Gulf  States  to  the  Union  after  the  first 
shot  had  been  fired  at  Fort  Sumter.  The  general  opinion  in 
England  is,  I  take  it,  this, — that  secession  then  was  manifestly 
necessary,  and  that  all  the  bloodshed  and  money-shed,  and  all 
this  destruction  of  commerce  and  of  agriculture  might  have 
been  prevented  by  a  graceful  adhesion  to  an  indisputable  fact. 
But  there  are  some  facts,  even  some  indisputable  facts,  to  which 
a  graceful  adherence  is  not  possible.  Could  King  Bomba  have 
welcomed  Garibaldi  to  Naples?  Can  the  Pope  shake  hands 
with  Victor  Emmanuel  ?  Could  the  English  have  surrendered 
to  their  rebel  colonists  peaceable  possession  of  the  colonies  ? 
The  indisputability  of  a  fact  is  not  very  easily  settled  while  the 
circumstances  are  in  course  of  action  by  which  the  fact  is  to  bo 


.i! 


V 


!l 


i;i 


282 


NORTH    AMUUICA. 


m 


(lociflcd.  Tho  men  of  iho  northern  States  Imvo  not  believed  in 
the  necessity  of  Hccession,  but  have  boHeved  it  to  be  their  duty 
to  enforce  tlie  adherence  of  these  States  to  the  Union.  Tin; 
American  Governments  luive  been  much  given  to  compromises, 
but  liad  Mr.  Lincohi  attempted  any  compromise  by  wiiit;h  any 
one  southern  State  coidd  have  been  let  out  of  the  Union,  lie 
would  have  been  ini])eachcd.  In  all  probability  tho  whole  coii- 
ptitution  would  have  gone  to  ruin,  and  tho  presidency  would 
have  been  at  an  end.  At  any  rate,  Ids  presidency  would  have 
been  at  an  end.  When  secession,  or  in  other  words,  rebellion 
was  once  commenced,  he  had  no  alternative  but  tho  use  of  co- 
ercive measures  for  putting  it  down  ; — that  is,  he  had  no  alter- 
native but  war.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he  or  Ids  minis- 
try contemplated  such  a  war  as  has  existed, — with  600,000  men 
in  arms  on  one  side,  each  man  with  his  whole  belongings  main- 
tained at  a  cost  of  150^.  per  annum,  or  ninety  millions  sterling 
per  annum  for  tho  army.  Nor  did  we,  when  wo  resolved  to 
J)ut  down  the  French  revolution,  think  of  such  a  national  debt 
as  wo  now  owe.  These  things  grow  by  degrees,  and  tho  mind 
also  grows  in  becoming  used  to  them ;  but  I  cannot  see  that 
there  was  any  moment  at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  could  have  stayed 
his  hand  and  cried  Peace  I  It  is  easy  to  say  now  that  acquies- 
cence in  secession  would  have  been  better  than  war,  but  there 
has  been  no  moment  when  he  could  have  said  so  with  any  avail. 
It  was  incumbent  on  him  to  put  down  rebellion,  or  to  be  put 
down  by  it.    So  it  was  with  us  in  America  in  1770. 

I  do  not  think  that  we  in  England  have  quite  sufficiently 
taken  all  this  into  consideration.  We  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  exclaiming  very  loudly  against  the  war,  execrating  its  cru- 
elty and  anathematizing  its  results,  as  though  the  cruelty  were 
all  superfluous  and  the  results  unnecessary.  But  I  do  not  re- 
member to  have  seen  any  statement  as  to  what  the  northern 
States  should  have  done, — what  they  should  have  done,  that  is, 
as  regards  tho  South,  or  when  they  should  have  done  it.  It 
seems  to  me  that  we  have  decided  as  regards  them  that  civil 
war  is  a  very  bad  thing,  and  that  therefore  civil  war  should  be 
avoided.  But  bad  things  cannot  always  be  avoided.  It  is  this 
feeling  on  our  part  that  has  produced  so  much  irritation  in  them 
against  us, — reproducing,  of  course,  irritation  on  our  part  against 
them.  They  cannot  understand  that  we  should  not  wish  them 
to  be  successful  in  putting  down  a  rebellion ;  nor  can  we  un- 
derstand why  they  should  be  outrageous  against  us  for  stand- 
ing aloof,  and  keeping  our  hands,  if  it  be  only  possible,  out  of 
the  fire. 


FROM    BOSTON  TO    WASIIINCJTON. 


283 


When  Slidoll  and  Mason  were  arrcRtcd,  my  opinions  were 
not  cliancjotl,  but  my  t'colings  wore  altorocl.  I  soeincd  to  mc- 
ktiowlc'dge  to  myself  that  tin;  treatment  to  wliieh  Knnrland  had 
l)een  subjected,  and  tlie  manner  in  whieli  tliat  treatment  was 
(liscusse<i,  made  it  necessary  tliat  I  siiould  regard  the  (piestion 
as  it  existed  between  England  and  the  States,  rather  than  in  its 
reterencc  to  tlie  North  and  Soutli.  I  had  always  felt  that  as 
regarded  the  action  of  our  Government  we  had  been  sans  rc- 
proche ;  that  in  arranging  our  conduct  we  had  thought  neither 
of  money  or  political  inrtucnce,  but  simply  of  the  justice  of  the 
case, — promising  to  abstain  from  all  interference  and  keei>ing 
that  promise  faithfully.  It  had  been  quite  clear  to  me  that  the 
men  of  the  North,  and  the  women  also,  had  failed  to  appreciate 
this,  looking,  as  men  in  a  quarrel  always  do  look,  for  special  fa- 
vour on  their  side.-  Everything  that  England  did  was  wrong. 
If  a  private  merchant,  at  liis  own  risk,  took  a  cargo  of  rifles  to 
sonic  southern  port,  that  act  to  northern  eyes  was  an  act  of 
English  interference, — of  favour  shown  to  the  South  by  En- 
gland as  a  nation  ;  but  twenty  shiploads  of  rifles  sent  from 
England  to  the  North  mere  signified  a  brisk  trade  and  a  desire 
for  profit.  The  'James  Adger,'  a  northern  man-of-war,  was  re- 
fitted at  Southampton  as  a  matter  of  course.  There  was  no 
blame  to  England  for  that.  But  the  *  Nashville,'  belonging  to 
the  Confederates,  sliould  not  have  been  allowed  into  English 
waters !  It  was  useless  to  speak  of  neutrality.  No  Northerner 
would  understand  that  a  rebel  could  have  any  mutual  right. 
The  South  had  no  claim  in  his  eyes  as  a  belligerent,  though  the 
North  claimed  all  those  rights  which  he  could  only  enjoy  by 
the  fact  of  there  being  a  recognized  war  between  him  and  liis 
enemy  the  South.  The  North  was  learning  to  hate  England, 
and  day  by  day  the  feeling  grew  upon  me  that,  much  as  I 
wished  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  North,  I  should  have  to  es- 
pouse the  cause  of  my  own  country.  Then  Slidell  and  Mason 
were  arrested,  and  I  began  to  calculate  how  long  I  might  re- 
main in  the  country.  "There  is  no  danger.  We  are  quite 
right,"  the  lawyers  said.  " There  are  Vattel  and  Puflendorft* and 
Stowell  and.  Phillimore  and  Wheaton,"  said  the  ladies.  "Am- 
bassadors are  contraband  all  the  world  over, — more  so  than 
gunpowder ;  and  if  taken  in  a  neutral  bottom,  &c."  I  wonder 
why  ships  are  always  called  bottoms  when  spoken  of  with  legal 
technicality?  But  neither  the  lawyers  nor  the  ladies  convinced 
me.  I  know  that  there  are  matters  which  will  be  read  not  in 
accordance  with  any  written  law,  but  in  accordance  with  the 
bias  of  the  reader's  mind.     Such  laws  are  made  to  be  strained 


\ 


•;!   ■ 


284 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


t    '( 


?              i 

1 

1. 
1 

1,  1 

iLi. 

mBMmm^ 

any  way.  I  knew  how  it  would  be.  All  the  legal  acumen  of 
New  England  declared  the  seizure  of  Slidell  and  Mason  to  be 
right.  The  legal  acumen  of  Old  England  has  declared  it  to  he 
wrong ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  ladies  of  Old  England  can 
prove  it  to  be  wrong  out  of  Vattel,Puftendorff,  Stowell,  Philli- 
more,  and  Wheaton. 

"  But  there's  Grotius,"  I  said,  to  an  elderly  female  at  New 
York,  who  had  quoted  to  me  some  half-dozen  writers  on  inter- 
national law,  thinking  thereby  that  I  should  trump  her  last  card. 
"  I've  looked  into  Grotius  too,"  said  she,  "  and  as  far  as  I  can 
see,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  So  I  had  to  fall  back  again  on  the  convic- 
tions  to  which  instinct  and  common  sense  had  brought  me.  I 
never  doubted  for  a  moment  that  those  convictions  would  be 
supported  by  English  lawyers. 

I  left  Boston  with  a  sad  feeling  at  my  heart  that  a  quarrel 
was  imminent  between  England  and  the  States,  and  that  any 
such  quarrel  must  be  destructive  to  the  cause  of  the  North.  I 
had  never  believed  that  the  States  of  New  England  and  the 
Gulf  States  would  again  become  parts  of  one  nation,  but  I  had 
thought  that  the  terms  of  separation  would  be  dictated  by  the 
North,  and  not  by  the  South.  I  had  felt  assured  that  South 
Carolina  and  the  Gulf  States,  across  from  the  Atlantic  to  Tex- 
as, would  succeed  in  forming  themselves  into  a  separate  con- 
federation ;  but  I  had  still  hoped  that  Maryland, Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Missouri  might  be  saved  to  the  grander  empire  of 
the  North,  and  that  thus  a  great  blow  to  slavery  might  be  the 
consequence  of  this  civil  war.  But  such  ascendancy  could  only 
fall  to  the  North  by  reason  of  their  command  of  the  sea.  The 
northern  ports  were  all  open,  and  the  southern  ports  were  all 
closed.  But  if  this  should  be  reversed.  If  by  England's  ac- 
tion the  southern  porta  should  be  opened,  and  the  northern 
ports  closed,  the  North  could  have  no  fair  expectation  of  suc- 
cess. The  ascendancy  in  that  case  would  all  be  with  the  South. 
Up  to  that  moment, — the  Christmas  of  1861, — Maryland  was 
kept  in  subjection  by  the  guns  which  General  Dix  had  planted 
over  the  city  of  Isaitimore.  Two-thirds  of  Virginia  were  in 
active  rebellion,  coerced  originally  into  that  position  by  her  de- 
pendence for  the  sale  of  her  slaves  on  the  cotton  States.  Ken- 
tucky was  doubtful,  and  divided.  When  the  federal  troops  pre- 
vailed, Kentucky  was  loyal ;  when  the  Confederate  troops  pre- 
vailed, Kentucky  was  rebellious.  The  condition  in  Missouri 
was  much  the  same.  Those  four  States,  by  two  of  which  the 
capital,  with  its  district  of  Columbia,  is  surrounded,  might  be 
gained,  or  might  be  lost.    And  these  four  States  are  susceptible 


FROM   BOSTON   TO   WASHINGTON. 


285 


of  white  labonr, — as  much  so  as  Ohio  and  Illinois, — arc  rich  in 
fertility,  and  rich  also  in  all  associations  which  must  bo  dear  to 
Americans.  Without  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Kentucky,  with- 
out the  Potomac,  the  Chesapeake,  and  Mount  Vernon,  the  North 
would  indeed  be  shorn  of  its  glory  I  But  it  seemed  to  be  in  the 
power  of  the  North  to  say  under  what  terms  secession  should 
take  place,  and  where  should  be  the  line.  A  souator  from 
South  Carolina  could  never  again  sit  in  the  same  chamber  with 
one  from  Massachusetts ;  but  there  need  be  no  such  bar  against 
the  border  States.  So  much  might  at  any  rate  be  gained,  and 
might  stand  hereafter  as  the  product  of  all  that  money  spent  on 
600,000  soldiers.  But  if  the  Northerners  should  now  elect  to 
throw  themselves  into  a  quarrel  with  England,  if  in  the  gratifi- 
cation of  a  shameless  braggadocio  they  should  insist  on  doing 
what  they  liked,  not  only  with  their  own,  but  with  the  proper- 
ty of  all  others  also,  it  certainly  did  seem  as  though  utter  ruin 
must  await  their  cause.  With  England,  or  one  might  say  with 
Europe,  against  them,  secession  must  be  accomplished,  not  on 
northern  terms,  but  on  terms  dictated  by  the  South.  The 
choice  was  then  for  them  to  make ;  and  just  at  that  time  it 
seemed  as  though  they  were  resolved  to  throw  away  every 
good  card  out  of  their  hand.  Such  had  been  the  ministerial 
wisdom  of  Mr.  Seward.  I  remember  hearing  the  matter  dis- 
cussed in  easy  terms  by  one  of  the  United  States  senators. 
"  Remember,  Mr.  Trollope,"  he  said  to  me,  "  we  don't  want  a 
war  with  England.  If  the  choice  is  given  to  us,  w^e  had  rather 
not  fight  England.  Fighting  is  a  bad  thing.  But  remember 
this  also,  Mr.  Trollope-  —that  if  the  matter  is  pressed  on  us,  we 
have  no  great  objection.  We  had  rather  not,  but  we  don't 
care  much  one  way  or  the  other."  What  one  individual  may 
say  to  another  is  not  of  much  moment,  but  this  senator  Was  ex- 
pressing the  feelings  of  his  constituents,  who  were  the  legisla- 
ture of  the  State  from  whence  he  came.  He  was  expressing 
tlie  general  idea  on  the  subject  of  a  large  body  of  Americans. 
It  was  net  that  he  and  his  State  had  really  no  objection  to  the 
war.  Such  a  war  loomed  terribly  large  before  the  minds  of 
them  all.  They  knew  it  to  be  fraught  with  the  saddest  conse- 
quences. It  was  so  regarded  in  the  mind  of  that  senator.  But 
the  braggadocio  eould  not  be  omitted.  Had  he  omitted  it,  he 
would  have  been  untrue  to  his  constituency. 

When  I  left  Boston  for  Washington  nothing  was  as  yet 
known  of  what  the  English  Government  or  the  English  law- 
yers might  say.    This  was  in  the  first  week  in  December,  and 

)m  Ensfland  could  not  be  hoard  till  the 


cpected 


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286 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


end  of  the  second  week.  It  was  a  period  of  great  suspense, 
and  of  great  sorrow  also  to  the  more  sober-minded  Americans. 
To  me  the  idea  of  such  a  war  was  terrible.  It  seemed  that  in 
these  days  all  the  hopes  of  our  youth  were  being  shattered. 
That  poetic  turning  of  the  sword  into  a  sickle,  which  gladden- 
ed our  hearts  ten  or  twelve  years  since,  had  been  clean  banish- 
ed from  men's  minds.  To  belong  to  a  peace-party  was  to  be 
either  a  fanatic,  an  idiot,  or  a  driveller.  The  arts  of  war  bad 
become  everything.  Armstrong  guns,  themselves  indestructi- 
ble, but  capable  of  destroying  everything  within  sight,  and  most 
things  out  of  sight,  were  the  only  recognized  results  of  man's 
inventive  faculties.  To  build  bigger,  stronger,  and  more  ships 
than  the  French  was  England's  glory.  To  hit  a  speck  with  a 
rifle  bullet  at  800  yards'  distance  was  an  Englishman's  first 
duty.  The  proper  use  for  a  young  man's  leisure  hours  was  the 
practice  of  drilling.  All  this  had  come  upon  us  with  very  quick 
steps,  since  the  beginning  of  the  Russian  war.  But  if  fighting 
must  needs  be  done,  one  did  not  feel  special  grief  at  fighting  a 
Russian.  That  the  Indian  mutiny  should  be  put  down  was  a 
matter  of  course.  That  those  Chinese  rascals  should  be  forced 
into  the  harness  of  civilization  was  a  good  thing.  That  Eng- 
land should  be  as  strong  as  France, — or,  perhaps,  if  possible,  a 
little  stronger, — recommended  itself  to  an  Englishman's  mind 
as  a  State  ne:3essity.  But  a  war  with  the  States  of  America! 
In  thinking  of  it  I  began  to  believe  that  the  world  was  going 
backwards.  Over  sixty  millions  sterling  of  stock  —  railway 
stock  and  such  like — are  held  in  America  by  Englishmen,  and 
the  chances  would  be  that  before  such  a  war  could  be  finished 
the  whole  of  that  would  be  confiscated.  Family  connections 
between  the  States  and  the  British  isles  are  almost  as  close  as 
between  one  of  those  islands  and  another.  The  commercial  in- 
tercourse between  the  two  countries  has  given  bread  to  mil- 
lions of  Englishmen,  and  a  break  in  it  would  rob  millions  of 
their  bread.  These  people  speak  our  language,  use  our  pray- 
ers, read  our  books,  are  ruled  by  our  laws,  dress  themselves  in 
our  image,  are  warm  with  our  blood.  They  have  all  our  vir- 
tues ;  and  their  vices  are  our  own  too,  loudly  as  we  call  out 
against  them.  They  are  our  sons  and  our  daughters,  the  source 
of  our  greatest  pride,  and  as  we  grow  old  they  should  be  the 
staff  of  our  age.  Such  a  war  as  we  should  now  wage  with  the 
States  would  be  an  unlooaing  of  hell  upon  all  that  is  best  upon 
the  world's  surface.  If  in  such  a  war  we  beat  the  Americans, 
they  with  their  proud  stomachs  would  never  forgive  us.  If 
they  should  be  victors,  we  should  never  forgive  ourselves.    I 


FBOM   BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 


287 


certainly  could  not  bring  myself  to  speak  of  it  with  the  equa- 
nimity of  my  friend  the  senator. 

I  went  through  New  York  to  Philadelphia  and  made  a  short 
visit  to  the  latter  town.  Philadelphia  seems  to  me  to  have 
tlirown  off  its  Quaker  garb,  and  to  present  itself  to  the  world 
in  the  garments  ordinarily  assumed  by  large  cities ;  by  which 
I  intend  to  express  my  opinion  that  the  Philadelphians  are  not 
in  these  latter  days  any  better  than  their  neighbours.  I  am 
not  sure  whether  in  some  respects  they  may  not  perhaps  be 
worse.  Quakers, — Quakers  absolutely  m  the  very  flesh  of  close 
bonnets  and  brown  knee-breeches, — are  still  to  be  seen  there ; 
but  they  are  not  numerous,  and  would  not  strike  the  eye  if  one 
did  not  specially  look  for  a  Quaker  at  Philadelphia.  It  is  a 
large  town  with  a  very  large  hotel, — there  are  no  doubt  half- 
a-dozen  large  hotels,  but  one  of  them  is  specially  great, — with 
long  straight  streets,  good  shops  and  markets,  and  decent  com- 
fortable-looking houses.  The  houses  of  Philadelphia  generally 
are  not  so  large  as  those  of  other  great  cities  in  the  States. 
They  are  more  modest  than  those  of  New  York,  and  less  com- 
modious than  those  of  Boston.  Their  most  striking  append- 
age is  the  marble  steps  at  the  front  doors.  Two  doors  as  a 
rule  enjoy  one  set  of  steps,  on  the  outer  edges  of  which  there 
is  generally  no  parapet  or  raised  curb-stone.  This,  to  my  eye, 
gave  the  houses  an  unfinished  appearance, — as  though  the  mar- 
ble ran  short,  and  no  fui  ther  expenditure  could  be  made.  The 
frost  came  when  I  was  there,  and  then  all  these  steps  were 
covered  up  in  wooden  cases. 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  lies  between  the  two  rivers,  the 
Delaware  and  the  Schuylkill.  Eight  chief  streets  run  from 
river  to  river,  and  twenty-four  cross-streets  bisect  the  eight  at 
right  angles.  The  long  streets  are,  with  the  exception  of  Mar- 
ket Street,  called  by  the  names  of  trees, — chesnut,  walnut,  pine, 
spruce,  mulberry,  vine,  and  so  on.  The  cross-streets  are  all 
called  by  their  numbers.  In  the  long  streets  the  numbers  of 
the  houses  are  not  consecutive,  but  follow  the  numbers  of  the 
cross  streets ;  so  that  a  person  living  in  Chesnut  Street  between 
Tenth  Street  and  Eleventh  Street,  and  ten  doors  from  Tenth 
Street,  would  live  at  No.  1010.  The  opposite  house  would  be 
No.  1011.  It  thus  follows  that  the  number  of  the  house  indicates 
the  exact  block  of  houses  in  which  it  is  situated.  I  do  not 
like  the  right-angled  building  of  these  towns,  nor  do  I  like  the 
sound  of  Twentieth  Street  and  Thirtieth  Street ;  but  I  must  ac- 
knowledge that  the  arrangement  in  Philadelphia  has  its  con- 
venience. In  New  York  I  found  it  by  no  means  an  easy  thing 
to  arrive  at  the  desired  locality. 


^ 


,\ 


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F 


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i 


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288 


NOKTII   AMKKICA. 


They  boast  in  Philadelpliia  that  they  have  half  a  million  in- 
habitants. If  this  be  taken  as  a  true  calculation,  Philadelpliiu 
is  in  size  the  fourth  city  in  the  world, — putting  out  of  tlic 
question  the  cities  of  China,  as  to  which  we  have  heard  so 
much  and  believe  so  little.  But  in  making  this  calculation  the 
citizens  include  the  population  of  a  district  on  some  sides  ten 
miles  distant  from  Philadelphia.  It  takes  in  other  towns  con- 
nected with  it  by  railway,  but  separated  by  large  spaces  of 
open  country.  American  cities  arc  very  proud  of  their  popu- 
lation, but  if  they  all  coimted  in  this  way,  there  would  soon  bo 
no  rural  population  left  at  all.  There  is  a  very  fine  bank  at 
Philadelphia, — and  Philadelphia  is  a  town  somewhat  celebrated 
in  its  banking  history.  My  remarks  here,  however,  apply  sim- 
ply to  the  external  building,  and  not  to  its  internal  honesty  and 
wisdom,  or  to  its  commercial  credit. 

In  Philadelphia  also  stands  the  old  house  of  Congress, — the 
house  in  which  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  held  pre- 
vious to  1800,  when  the  Government,  and  the  Congress  with 
it,  were  moved  to  the  new  city  of  Washington.  I  believe, 
however,  that  the  first  Congress,  properly  so  called,  was  assem- 
bled at  New  York  in  1789,  the  date  of  the  inauguration  of  the 
first  President.  It  was,  however,  here,  in  this  building  at  Phil- 
adelphia, that  the  independence  of  the  Union  was  declared  in 
1776,  and  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
framed. 

Pennsylvania,  with  Philadelphia  for  its  capital,  was  once  the 
leading  State  of  the  Union, — leading  by  a  long  distance.  At 
the  end  of  the  last  century  it  beat  all  the  other  States  in  popu- 
lation, but  has  since  been  surpassed  by  New  York  in  all  re- 
spects,— in  population,  commerce,  wealth,  and  general  activity. 
Of  course  it  is  known  that  Pennsylvania  was  granted  to  Will- 
iam Penn,  the  Quaker,  by  Charles  II.  I  cannot  completely  un- 
derstand what  was  the  meaning  of  such  grants, — how  far  they 
implied  absolute  possession  in  the  territory,  or  how  fai*  they 
confirmed  simply  the  power  of  settling  and  governing  a  colony. 
In  this  case  a  very  considerable  property  was  confirmed,  as  the 
claim  made  by  Penn*s  children  after  Penn's  death  were  bought 
up  by  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  for  130,000^. ;  which 
in  those  days  was  a  large  price  for  almost  any  landed  estate  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Pennsylvania  lies  directly  on  the  borders  of  slave  land,  being 
immediately  north  of  Maryland.  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  of 
which  we  hear  so  often,  and  which  was  first  established  as  the 
division  between  slave  soil  and  free  soil,  runs  between  Pennsyl- 


FEOM   BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 


289 


vania  and  Maryland.  The  little  State  of  Delaware,  which  lies 
between  Maryland  and  the  Atlantic,  is  also  tainted  with  slavery ; 
but  the  stain  ia  not  heavy  nor  indelible.  In  a  population  of  a 
hundred  and  twelve  thousand  there  are  not  two  thousand 
slaves,  and  of  these  the  owners  generally  would  willingly  rid 
themselves  if  they  could.  It  is,  however,  a  point  of  honour 
with  these  owners,  as  it  is  also  in  Maryland,  not  to  sell  their 
slaves ;  and  a  man  who  cannot  sell  his  slaves  must  keep  them. 
Were  he  to  enfranchise  them  and  send  them  about  their  busi- 
ness, they  would  come  back  upon  liis  hands.  Were  he  to  en- 
franchise them  and  pay  them  wages  for  work,  they  would  get 
the  wages  but  he  would  not  get  the  work.  They  would  get 
the  wages,  but  at  the  end  of  three  months  they  would  still  fall 
back  upon  his  hands  in  debt  and  distress,  looking  to  him  for 
aid  and  comfort  as  a  child  looks  for  it.  It  is  not  easy  to  get 
rid  of  a  slave  in  a  slave  State.  That  question  of  enfranchising 
olaves  is  not  one  to  be  very  readily  solved. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  right  of  voting  is  confined  to  free  white 
men.  In  New  York  the  coloured  free  men  have  the  right  to 
vote,  providing  they  have  a  certain  small  property  qualification, 
and  have  been  citizens  for  three  years  in  the  State ; — whereas 
a  white  man  need  have  been  a  citizen  but  for  ten  days,  and 
need  have  no  property  qualification ;  from  which  it  is  seen  that 
the  position  of  the  negro  becomes  worse,  or  less  like  that  of  a 
white  man,  as  the  border  of  slave  land  is  more  nearly  reached. 
But  in  the  teeth  of  this  embargo  on  coloured  men,  the  consti- 
tution of  Pennsylvania  asserts  broadly  that  all  men  are  born 
equally  free  and  independent.  One  cannot  conceive  how  two 
clauses  can  have  found  their  way  into  the  same  document  so 
absolutely  contradictory  to  each  other.  The  first  clause  says 
that  white  men  shall  vote,  and  that  black  men  shall  not,  which 
means  that  all  political  action  shall  be  confined  to  white  men. 
The  second  clause  says  that  all  men  are  born  equally  free  and 
independent ! 

In  Philadelphia  I  for  the  first  time  came  across  live  seces- 
sionists,— secessionists  who  pronounced  themselves  to  be  such. 
I  will  not  say  that  I  had  met  in  other  cities  men  who  falsely 
declared  themselves  true  to  the  Union ;  but  I  had  fancied,  in 
regard  to  some,  that  their  words  were  a  little  stronger  than 
their  feelings.  When  a  man's  bread, — and  much  more,  when 
the  bread  of  his  wife  and  children — depends  on  his  professing 
a  certain  line  of  political  conviction,  it  is  very  hard  for  him  to 
deny  his  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  argument.  One  feels  that 
a  man  under  such  circumstances  is  bound  to  be  convinced,  un- 

N 


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290 


NOBTH   AMEBICA. 


less  ho  be  in  a  position  which  may  make  a  stanch  adherence  to 
opposite  politics  a  matter  of  grave  public  importance.  In  tlio 
North  I  had  fancied  that  I  could  sometimes  read  a  secessionist 
tendency  under  a  cloud  of  unionist  protestations.  But  in  Phil. 
adelphia  men  did  not  seem  to  think  it  necessary  to  have  re- 
course to  such  a  cloud.  I  generally  found  in  mixed  society, 
even  there,  that  the  discussion  of  secession  was  not  permitted ; 
but  in  society  that  was  not  mixed,  I  heard  very  strong  opin. 
ions  expressed  on  each  side.  With  the  unionists  nothing  was 
so  strong  as  tlie  necessity  of  keeping  Slidell  and  Mason.  When 
I  suggested  that  the  English  Government  would  probably  re- 
quire  their  surrender,  I  was  talked  down  and  ridiculed.  "  Nev- 
er that ;  come  what  may."  Then,  within  half  an  hour,  I  would 
be  told  by  a  secessionist  that  England  must  demand  reparation 
if  she  meant  to  retain  any  place  among  the  great  nations  of  the 
world ;  but  he  also  would  declare  that  the  men  would  not  bo 
surrendered.  "  She  must  make  the  demand,"  the  secessionist 
would  say, "  and  then  there  will  be  war ;  and  after  that  >vo 
shall  see  whose  ports  will  be  blockaded!"  The  Southerner 
has  ever  looked  to  England  for  some  breach  of  the  blockade, 
quite  as  strongly  as  the  North  has  looked  to  England  for  sym- 
pathy  and  aid  in  keeping  it. 

The  railway  from  Philadelphia  to  Baltimore  passes  along 
the  top  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  across  the  Susquehanna  river; 
at  least  the  railway  cars  do  so.  On  one  side  of  that  river  they 
are  run  on  to  a  huge  ferryboat,  and  are  again  run  off  at  the 
other  side.  Such  an  operation  would  seem  to  be  one  of  diffi- 
culty to  us  under  any  circumstances ;  but  as  the  Susquehanna 
is  a  tidal  river,  rising  and  falling  a  considerable  number  of  feet, 
the  natural  impediment  in  the  way  of  such  an  enterprise  would, 
I  think,  have  staggered  us.  We  should  have  built  a  bridge 
costing  two  or  three  millions  sterling,  on  which  no  conceivable 
amount  of  traffic  would  pay  a  fair  dividend.  Here,  in  cross- 
ing the  Susquehanna,  the  boat  is  so  constructed  that  its  deck 
shall  be  level  with  the  line  of  the  railway  at  half  tide,  so  that 
the  inclined  plane  from  the  shore  down  to  the  boat,  or  from 
the  shore  up  to  the  boat,  shall  never  exceed  half  the  amount  of 
the  rise  or  fall.  One  would  suppose  that  the  most  intricate 
machinery  would  have  been  necessary  for  such  an  arrangement; 
but  it  was  all  rough  and  simple,  and  apparently  managed  by 
two  negroc.  We  should  employ  a  small  corps  of  engineers  to 
conduct  such  an  operation,  and  men  and  women  would  be  de- 
tained in  their  carriages  under  all  manner  of  threats  as  to  the 
peril  of  life  and  limb;  but  here  everybody  was  expected  to 


FROM   BOSTON   TO   WASHINGTON. 


291 


look  out  for  himself.  The  cars  were  dragged  up  the  inclined 
plane  by  a  hawser  attached  to  an  engine,  which  hawser,  hr.d  the 
stress  broken  it,  as  I  could  not  but  fancy  probable,  would  have 
flown  back  and  cut  to  pieces  a  lot  of  us  Avho  were  standing  in 
front  of  the  car.  But  I  do  not  think  that  any  such  accident 
would  have  caused  very  much  attention.  Life  and  limbs  are 
not  lield  to  be  so  precious  here  as  they  are  in  England.  It  may 
be  a  question  whether  with  us  they  are  not  almost  too  precious. 
Regarding  railways  in  America  generally,  as  to  the  relative 
safety  of  which,  when  compared  with  our  own,  we  have  not  in 
England  a  high  opinion,  I  must  say  that  I  never  saw  any  acci- 
dent or  in  any  way  became  conversant  with  one.  It  is  said 
that  large  numbers  of  men  and  women  arc  slaughtered  from 
time  to  time  on  diflferent  lines ;  but  if  it  bo  so,  the  newspapers 
make  very  light  of  such  cases.  I  myself  have  seen  no  such 
slaughter,  nor  have  I  even  found  myself  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
broken  bone.  Beyond  the  Susquehanna  we  passed  over  a 
creek  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  on  a  long  bridge.  The  wholo 
scenery  here  is  very  pretty,  and  the  view  up  the  Susquehanna 
is  fine.  This  is  the  bay  which  divides  the  State  of  Maryland 
into  two  parts,  and  which  is  blessed  beyond  all  other  bays  by 
the  possession  of  canvas-back  ducks.  Nature  has  done  a  great 
deal  for  the  State  of  Maryland,  but  in  nothing  more  than  in 
sending  thither  these  web-footed  birds  of  Paradise. 

Nature  has  done  a  great  deal  for  Maryland ;  and  Fortune 
also  has  done  much  for  it  in  these  latter  days  in  directing  the 
war  from  its  territory.  But  for  the  peculiar  position  of  Wash- 
ington as  the  capital,  all  that  is  now  being  done  in  Virginia 
would  have  been  done  in  Maryland,  and  I  must  say  that  the 
Marylanders  did  their  best  to  bring  about  such  a  result.  Had 
the  presence  of  the  war  been  regarded  by  the  men  of  Balti- 
more as  an  unalloyed  benefit,  they  could  not  have  made  a  great- 
er struggle  to  brmg  it  close  to  them.  Nevertheless  fete  has  so 
far  spared  them. 

As  the  position  of  Maryland  and  the  course  of  events  as  they 
took  place  in  Baltimore  on  the  commencement  of  secession 
had  considerable  influence  both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South, 
I  will  endeavour  to  explain  how  that  State  was  affected,  and 
how  the  question  was  affected  by  that  State.  Maryland,  as  I 
have  said  before,  is  a  slave  State  lying  immediately  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Small  portions  both  of  Virginia  and 
of  Delaware  do  run  north  of  Maryland,  but  practically  Mary- 
land is  the  frontier  State  of  the  slave  States.  It  was  therefore 
of  much  importance  to  know  which  way  Maryland  would  go 


1 

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292 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


i 


in  the  event  of  Recession  among  the  slave  States  becoming  gen- 
eral; and  of  much  also  to  ascertain  whether  it  could  secede  if 
desirous  of  doing  so.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  as  a  State  it 
was  desirous  of  following  Virginia,  though  there  arc  many  in 
Maryland  who  deny  this  very  stoutly.  But  it  was  at  once  ev- 
ident that  if  loyalty  to  the  North  could  not  be  had  in  Mary- 
land of  its  own  free  will,  adherence  to  the  North  must  be  en- 
forced upon  Maryland.  Otherwise  the  city  of  Washington 
fcould  not  be  maintained  as  the  existing  capital  of  the  nation. 

The  question  of  the  fidelity  of  the  State  to  the  Union  Mas 
first  tried  by  the  arrival  at  Baltimore  of  a  certain  Commission- 
er from  the  State  of  Mississippi,  who  visited  that  city  with  the 
object  of  inducing  secession.  It  must  be  understood  that  Bal- 
timore is  the  commercial  capital  of  Maryland,  whereas  Annap- 
olis is  the  seat  of  Government  and  the  legislature — or  is,  in  oth- 
er terms,  the  political  capital.  Baltimore  is  a  city  containing 
230,000  inhabitants,  and  is  considered  to  have  as  strong  and 
perhaps  as  violent  a  mob  as  any  city  in  the  Union.  Of  the 
above  number  30,000  are  negroes  and  2,000  are  slaves.  The 
Commissioner  made  his  appeal,  telling  his  tale  of  southern 
grievances,  declaring,  among  other  things,  that  secession  was 
not  intended  to  break  up  the  Government  but  to  perpetuate  it, 
and  asked  for  the  assistance  and  sympathy  of  Maryland.  This 
was  in  December,  18C0.  The  Commissioner  was  answered  by 
Governor  Hicks,  who  was  placed  in  a  somewhat  difficult  posi- 
tion. The  existing  legislature  of  the  State  was  presumed  to  be 
secessionist,  but  the  legislature  was  not  sitting,  nor  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  things  would  that  legislature  have  been  called 
on  to  sit  again.  The  legislature  of  Maryland  is  elected  every 
other  year,  and  in  the  ordinary  course  sits  only  once  in  the  two 
years.  That  session  had  been  held,  and  the  existing  legislature 
was  therefore  exempt  from  further  work — unless  specially  sum- 
moned for  an  extraordinary  session.  To  do  this  is  within  the 
power  of  the  Governor,  but  Governor  Hicks,  who  seems  to 
have  been  mainly  anxious  to  keep  things  quiet,  and  whose  in- 
dividual politics  did  not  come  out  strongly,  was  not  inclined  to 
issue  the  summons.  "  Let  us  show  moderation  as  well  ae  firm- 
ness," he  said ;  and  that  was  about  all  ho  did  say  to  the  Com- 
missioner from  Mississippi.  The  Governor  after  that  was  di- 
rectly called  on  to  convene  the  legislature ;  but  this  he  refused 
to  do,  alleging  that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  trust  the  discussion 
of  such  a  subject  as  secession  to—"  excited  politicians,  many 
of  whom  having  nothing  to  lose  from  the  destruction  of  the 
Government,  may  hope  to  derive  some  gain  from  the  ruin  of 


'«      t 


PROM   BOSTON  TO    WASHINGTON. 


293 


tliG  State !"  I  quoto  tlieso  words,  coming  from  tho  head  of  the 
executive  of  the  State  and  spoken  with  reference  to  tlie  legis- 
lature of  tho  State,  with  the  object  of  showing  in  what  light 
tlic  political  leaders  of  a  State  may  be  held  in  that  very  State 
to  which  they  belong !  If  we  are  to  judge  of  these  legislators 
from  the  opinion  expressed  by  Governor  Hicks,  they  could 
hardly  have  been  fit  for  their  places.  That  plan  of  governing 
by  the  little  men  has  certainly  not  answered.  It  need  hardly 
be  said  that  Governor  Hicks  having  expressed  such  an  opinion 
of  his  State's  legislature,  refused  to  call  them  to  an  extraordi- 
nary session. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  1860,  Governor  Hicks  issued  a  procla- 
mation to  the  people  of  Maryland,  begging  them  to  be  quiet, 
the  chief  object  of  which,  however,  was  that  of  promising  that 
no  troops  should  be  sent  out  from  their  State,  unless  with  tho 
object  of  guarding  the  neighbouring  city  of  Washington, — a 
promise  which  he  had  no  means  of  fulfilling,  seeing  that  tho 
President  of  the  United  States  is  the  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  army  of  the  nation  and  can  summon  the  militia  of  the  sev- 
eral States.  This  proclamation  by  the  Governor  to  the  Stato 
was  immediately  backed  up  by  one  from  the  Mayor  of  Balti- 
more to  the  city,  in  which  he  congratulates  the  citizens  on  tho 
Governor's  promise  that  none  of  their  troops  are  to  be  sent  to 
another  State ;  and  then  he  tells  them  that  they  shall  be  pre- 
served from  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 

Bui  on  the  very  next  day  the  horrors  of  civil  war  began  in 
Baltimore.  By  this  time  President  Lincoln  was  collecting 
troops  at  Washington  for  the  protection  of  the  capital ;  and 
that  army  of  the  Potomac,  which  has  ever  since  occupied  tho 
Virginian  side  of  the  river,  was  in  course  of  construction.  To 
join  this,  certain  troops  from  Massachusetts  were  sent  down 
by  the  usual  route,  vid  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore ; 
but  on  their  reaching  Baltimore  by  railway,  the  mob  of  that 
town  refused  to  allow  them  to  pass  through, — and  a  fight  be- 
gan. Nine  citizens  were  killed  and  two  soldiers,  and  as  many 
more  were  wounded.  Tliis,  I  think,  was  the  first  blood  spilt  in 
the  civil  war ;  and  the  attack  was  first  made  by  the  mob  of  the 
first  slave  city  reached  by  the  northern  soldiers.  This  goes  far 
to  show,  not  that  the  border  States  desired  secession,  but  that, 
when  compelled  to  choose  between  secession  and  union — when 
not  allowed  by  circumstances  to  remain  neutral — their  sympa- 
thies were  with  their  sister  slave  States  rather  than  with  the 
North. 

Then  there  was  a  great  running  about  of  oflicial  men  between 


i       I: 


\ 


5  •?»; 


204 


NORTH    AMKBICA. 


n 


Baltimore  and  Washington,  and  tho  President  was  besieged 
with  entreaties  that  no  troops  should  be  sent  through  lialti- 
niore.  Now  this  was  hard  enough  upon  President  Lincoln, 
seeing  that  he  was  bound  to  defend  his  capital,  that  ho  could 
get  no  troops  from  the  South,  and  that  IJaltimoro  is  on  tho 
high  road  from  Washington,  both  to  the  West  and  lo  tho 
North ;  but,  nevertheless,  ho  gave  way.  Had  ho  not  done  so, 
all  Baltimore  would  have  been  in  a  blaze  of  rebellion,  and  tho 
scene  of  the  coming  contest  must  have  boon  removed  from 
Virginia  to  Maryland,  and  Congress  and  tho  Government  must 
have  travelled  from  Washington  north  to  Philadelphia.  "They 
shall  not  come  through  Baltimore,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln.  "  But 
they  shall  come  through  tho  State  of  Maryland.  They  shall  bo 
passed  over  Chesapeake  Bay  by  water  to  Annapolis,  and  shall 
come  up  by  rail  from  thence."  This  arrangement  was  as  dis- 
tasteful to  the  State  of  Maryland  as  tho  other ;  but  Annapolis 
is  a  small  town  without  a  mob,  and  tho  Marylanders  had  no 
means  of  preventing  the  passage  of  tho  troops.  Attempts  were 
made  to  refuse  the  use  of  the  Annapolis  branch  railway,  but 
General  Butler  had  the  arranging  of  that.  General  Butler  was 
a  lawyer  from  Boston,  and  by  no  means  inclined  to  indulge  tho 
scruples  of  the  Marylanders  who  had  so  roughly  treated  his 
fellow-citizens  from  Massachusetts.  The  troops  did  therefore 
pass  through  Annapolis,  much  to  the  disgust  of  the  State.  On 
the  2Vth  of  April  Governor  Hicks,  having  now  had  a  sufficiency 
of  individual  responsibility,  summoned  the  legislature  of  which 
he  had  expressed  so  bad  an  opinion ;  but  on  this  occasion  ho 
omitted  to  repeat  that  opinion,  and  submitted  his  views  in  very 
proper  terms  to  the  wisdom  of  the  senators  and  representatives. 
He  entertained,  as  he  said,  an  honest  conviction  that  the  safety 
of  Maryland  lay  in  preserving  a  neutral  position  between  tho 
North  and  the  South.  Certainly,  Governor  Hicks,  if  it  were 
only  possible !  Tho  legislature  again  went  to  work  to  prevent, 
if  it  might  be  prevented,  the  passage  of  troops  through  their 
State  ;  but  luckily  for  them,  they  failed.  Th(  I'resident  was 
bound  to  defend  Washington,  and  the  Marylanders  were  denied 
their  wish  of  having  their  own  fields  made  the  fighting  ground 
of  the  civil  war. 

That  which  appears  to  me  to  be  the  most  remarkable  feature 
in  all  this  is  the  antagonism  between  United  States  law  and 
individual  State  feeling.  Through  the  whole  proceeding  the 
Governor  and  the  Siate  of  Maryland  seemed  to  have  considered 
it  legal  and  reasonable  to  oppose  the  constitutional  power  of 
the  President  and  his  Government.    It  is  argued  in  all  the 


FROM   BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 


205 


speeches  and  written  documents  that  were  produced  in  Mary- 
land at  the  time,  that  Maryhind  was  true  to  the  Union ;  and 
yet  slio  put  herself  in  opposition  to  the  constitutioiuil  military 
power  of  the  President!  Certain  commissioners  went  from 
the  State  legislature  to  Washington,  in  May,  and  from  tlieir  re- 
port, it  appears  that  the  President  had  expressed  liimsclf  of 
opinion  that  Maryland  might  do  this  or  that,  as  long  "  as  she 
had  not  taken  and  was  not  about  to  tako  a  hostile  attitude  to 
the  Federal  Government !"  From  which  wo  are  to  gatlicr  that 
ft  denial  of  that  military  power  given  to  the  President  by  the 
constitution  was  not  considered  as  an  attitude  hostile  to  the 
Federal  Government.  At  any  rate,  it  was  direct  disobedience 
of  federal  law.  I  cannot  but  revert  from  this  to  the  condition 
of  the  fugitive  slave  law.  Federal  law,  and  indeed  the  original 
constitution,  plainly  declare  that  fugitive  slaves  shall  be  given 
up  by  the  free-soil  States.  Massachusetts  proclaims  herself  to 
bo  specially  a  federal,  law-loving  State.  But  every  man  in 
Massachusetts  knows  that  no  judge,  no  shcrift*  no  magistrate, 
110  policeman  in  that  State  would  at  this  time,  or  then,  when 
that  civil  war  was  beginning,  have  lent  a  hand  in  any  way  to 
the  rendition  of  a  fugitive  slave.  The  Federal  law  requires  the 
State  to  give  up  the  fugitive,  but  the  State  law  does  not  require 
judge,  sheriff,  magistrate,  or  policeman  to  engage  in  such  work, 
and  no  judge,  sheriff,  or  magistrate  will  do  so ;  consequently 
that  Federal  law  is  dead  in  Massachusetts,  as  it  is  also  in  every 
free-soil  State, — dead,  except  inasmuch  as  there  was  life  in  it 
to  create  ill-blood  as  long  as  the  North  and  South  remained  to- 
gether, and  would  be  life  in  it  for  the  same  effect  if  they  should 
again  be  brought  under  the  same  flag. 

On  the  10th  May  the  Maryland  legislature,  having  received 
the  report  of  their  Commissioners  above-mentioned,  passed  the 
following  resolution : — 

"  Whereas  the  war  against  the  Confederate  States  is  uncon- 
stitutional and  repugnant  to  civilization,  and  will  result  in  a 
bloody  and  shameful  overthrow  of  our  constitution,  and  whilst 
recognizing  the  obligations  of  Maryland  to  the  Union,  we  sym- 
pathize with  the  South  in  the  struggle  for  their  rights ;  for  the 
sake  of  humanity,  we  are  for  peace  and  reconciliation,  and  sol- 
emnly protest  against  this  war,  and  will  take  no  part  in  it. 

"iiesolved, — ^That  Maryland  implores  the  President,  in  the 
name  of  God,  to  cease  this  unholy  war,  at  least  until  Congress 
assembles" — a  period  of  above  six  months.  "  That  Maryland 
desires  and  consents  to  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of 
the  Confederate  States.    The  military  occupation  of  Maryland 


\ 


> 


4 


! 


(     • 


1 


V. 


11 


f 


iii' 


¥ 


200 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


!• 


ia  unconstitutionnl  and  she  protests  against  it,  thongli  tlio  violent 
intcrrurunco  with  the  transit  of  the  Federal  troops  is  discoun- 
tenanced. That  tlio  vindication  of  her  rights  bo  left  to  time 
and  reason,  and  that  a  couvention  under  cxistiug  circumstances 
is  inexpedient." 

From  which  it  is  plain  that  Maryland  would  have  seceded 
ns  effectually  as  Georgia  seceded,  had  she  not  been  prevented 
by  the  interposition  6f  Washington  between  her  and  the  Con- 
federate States, — the  happy  intervention,  seeing  that  she  has 
thus  been  saved  from  becoming  the  battle-ground  of  the  con- 
test.  But  the  legislature  hud  to  pay  for  its  rashness.  On  tlic 
13th  of  September  thirteen  of  its  members  were  arrested,  as 
were  also  two  editors  of  newspapers  presumed  to  bo  secession- 
ists. A  member  of  Congrecs  was  also  arrested  at  the  same 
time,  and  a  candidate  for  Governor  Ilicks's  place,  who  belonged 
to  the  secessionist  party.  Previously,  in  the  last  days  of  June 
and  beginning  of  July,  the  chief  of  the  police  at  Baltimore  and 
the  member  of  the  Board  of  Police  had  been  arrested  by  Gen- 
eral Banks,  who  then  held  Baltimore  in  his  power. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  bo  construed  as  saying  that  republican 
institutions,  or  what  may  more  properly  be  called  democratic 
institutions,  have  been  broken  down  in  the  States  of  America. 
I  am  far  from  thinking  that  tliey  have  broken  down.  Taking 
them  and  their  work  as  a  whole,  I  think  tbat  they  have  shown, 
and  still  show,  vitality  of  the  best  order.  But  the  written  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  as  bear- 
ing upon  each  other,  are  not  equal  to  the  requirements  made 
upon  them.  That,  I  think,  is  the  conclusion  to  which  a  specta- 
tor should  come.  It  is  in  that  doctrine  of  finality  that  our 
friends  have  broken  down, — a  doctrine  not  expressed  in  their 
constitutions,  and  indeed  expressly  denied  in  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  which  provides  the  mode  in  which  amend- 
ments shall  be  made — but  appearing  plainly  enough  in  every 
word  of  self-gratulation  which  comes  from  them.  Political 
finality  has  ever  proved  a  delusion, — as  has  the  idea  of  finality 
in  all  human  institutions.  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  the  repub- 
lican form  of  government  will  remain  and  make  progress  in 
North  America;  but  such  prolonged  existence  and  progress 
must  be  based  on  an  acknowledgment  of  the  necessity  for 
change,  and  must  in  part  depend  on  the  facilities  for  change 
which  shall  be  afforded. 

I  have  described  the  condition  of  Baltimore  as  it  was  early 
in  May,  1861.  I  reached  that  city  just  seven  months  later,  and 
its  condition  was  considerably  altered.    There  was  no  question 


■^F"i«Bi 


FROM   BOSTON  TO   ■NVASIIINOTON. 


207 


then  whether  troops  sliouUl  pass  through  iJaltimoro,  or  l)y  an 
awkward  round  througli  Annapolis,  or  not  pass  at  all  througli 
Maryland,  (leneral  Dix,  who  had  succeeded  General  IJanks, 
was  holding  the  city  in  his  grip,  and  martial  law  prevailed.  In 
such  times  as  those,  it  was  bootless  to  incjuire  as  to  that  prom- 
ise that  no  troops  should  pass  southward  through  Baltimore. 
What  have  such  assurances  ever  been  worth  in  such  daysl 
IJaltimoro  was  now  a  military  depCt  in  the  hands  of  the  north- 
ern army,  and  General  Dix  was  not  a  man  to  stand  any  trifling, 
lie  did  mc  the  honour  to  take  mo  to  the  top  of  Federal  Hill,  a 
suburb  of  the  city,  on  which  lie  had  raised  great  earthworks 
and  planted  mighty  cannons,  and  built  tents  and  barracks  for 
his  soldiery,  and  to  show  mo  how  instantaneously  he  could  de- 
stroy the  town  from  liis  exalted  position.  "This  hill  was  mado 
for  the  very  purpose,"  said  General  Dix ;  and  no  doubt  ho 
thought  80.  Generals  when  they  have  fine  positions  and  big 
guns  and  prostrate  people  lying  under  their  thumbs,  are  in- 
clined to  think  that  God's  providence  has  specially  ordained 
tliem  and  their  points  of  vantage.  It  is  a  good  thing  in  the 
mind  of  a  general  so  circumstanced  that  200,000  men  should  bo 
made  subject  to  a  dozen  big  guny.  I  confess  that  to  mc,  hav- 
ing had  no  military  education,  the  matter  appeared  in  a  differ- 
ent light,  and  I  could  not  work  up  my  enthusiaism  to  a  pitch 
which  would  have  been  suitable  to  the  General's  courtesy. 
That  hill,  on  which  many  of  the  poor  of  Baltimore  had  lived, 
was  desecrated  in  my  eyes  by  those  columbiads.  The  neat 
earthworks  were  ugly,  as  looked  upon  by  me ;  and  though  I 
regarded  General  Dix  as  energetic,  and  no  doubt  skilful  in  the 
worl;  assigned  to  him,  I  could  not  sympathize  with  his  exulta- 
tion. 

Previously  to  the  days  of  secession  Baltimore  had  been 
guarded  by  Fort  Mac  Henry,  which  lies  on  a  spit  of  land  run- 
ning out  into  the  bay  just  below  the  town.  Hither  I  went 
with  General  Dix,  and  he  explained  to  mc  how  the  cannon  had 
heretofore  been  pointed  solely  toward  the  sea ;  that,  however, 
now  was  all  changed,  and  the  mouths  of  his  bombs  and  great 
artillery  were  turned  all  the  other  way.  The  commandant  of 
the  fort  was  with  us,  and  other  officers,  and  they  all  spoke  of 
this  martial  tenure  as  a  great  blessing.  Hearing  them,  one 
could  hardly  fail  to  suppose  that  they  had  lived  their  forty, 
fifty,  or  sixty  years  of  life,  in  full  reliance  on  the  powers  of  a 
military  despotism.  But  not  the  less  were  they  American  re- 
publicans, who,  twelve  months  since,  would  have  dilated  on  tho 
all-suflSciency  of  their  republican  institutions,  and  on  the  ab- 

N2 


'^\ 


\ 


7 


■ 

■    \ 

' 

A 

t 

L 

;     1 

'1 

'  '■ ' ' 

^ 

t 


1i;l 


' 


208 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I; 


ill 


sence  of  any  military  restraint  in  their  country,  with  that  pe- 
culiar pride  which  characterizes  the  citizens  of  the  States. 
There  are,  however,  some  lessons  which  may  bo  learned  with 
singular  rapidity  I 

Such  was  the  state  of  Baltimore  when  I  visited  that  city.  I 
found,  nevertheless,  that  cakes  and  ale  still  prevailed  there.  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  cakes  and  ale  prevail  most  freely  in 
times  that  are  perilous,  and  when  sources  of  sorrow  abound. 
I  have  seen  more  reckless  joviality  in  a  town  stricken  by  pesti- 
lence than  I  ever  encountered  elsewhere.  There  was  General 
Dix  seated  on  Federal  Hill  with  his  cannon ;  and  there,  be- 
neath his  artillery,  were  gentlemen  hotly  professing  themselves 
to  be  secessionists,  men  whose  sons  and  brothers  were  in  the 
southern  army,  and  women — al&s !  whose  brothers  would  be  in 
one  army,  and  their  sons  in  another.  Thjat  was  the  part  of  it 
which  was  most  heart-rending  in  this  border  land.  In  New 
England  and  New  York  men's  minds  at  any  rate  were  bent  all 
in  the  same  direction,- -as  doubtless  they  were  also  in  Georgia 
and  Alabama.  But  he.^e  fathers  were  divided  from  sons,  and 
mothers  from  daughters.  Terrible  tales  were  told  of  threats 
uttered  by  one  member  of  a  family  against  another.  Old  ties 
of  friendship  were  broken  up.  Society  had  so  divided  itself, 
that  one  side  could  hold  no  terms  of  courtesy  with  the  other. 
"  When  this  is  over,"  one  gentleman  said  to  me,  "  every  man 
in  Baltimore  will  have  a  quarrel  to  the  death  on  his  hands  with 
some  friend  whom  he  used  to  love."  The  complaints  made  on 
both  sides  were  eager  and  open-mouthed  against  the  other. 

Late  in  the  autumn  an  election  for  a  new  legislature  of  the 
State  had  taken  place,  and  the  members  returned  were  all  sup- 
posed to  be  unionist.  That  they  were  prepared  to  support  the 
Government  is  certain.  But  no  known  or  presumed  secession- 
ist was  allowed  to  vote  without  first  taking  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance. The  election,  therefore,  even  if  the  numbers  were  true, 
cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  free  election.  Voters  were  stop- 
ped at  the  poll  and  not  allowed  to  vote  unless  they  would  take 
an  oath  which  would,  on  their  parts,  undoubtedly  have  been 
false.  It  was  also  declared  in  Baltimore  that  men  engaged  to 
promote  the  northern  party  were  permitted  to  vote  five  or  six 
times  over,  and  the  enormous  number  of  votes  polled  on  the 
Government  side  gave  some  colouring  to  the  statement.  At 
any  rate  an  election  carried  under  General  Dix's  guns  cannot 
be  regarded  as  an  open  election.  It  was  out  of  the  question 
that  any  election  taken  under  such  circumstances  should  be 
worth  anything  as  expressing  the  minds  of  the  people.    Red 


PROM   BOSTON  TO   WASHINGTON. 


299 


and  white  had  been  declared  to  be  the  colours  of  the  Confed- 
erates, and  red  and  white  had  of  course  become  the  favourite 
colours  of  the  Baltimore  ladies.  Then  it  was  given  out  that 
red  and  white  would  not  be  allowed  in  the  streets.  Ladies 
wearing  red  and  white  were  requested  to  return  home.  Chil- 
dren decorated  with  red  and  white  ribbons  were  stripped  of 
their  bits  of  fineiy, — much  to  their  infantine  disgust  and  dis- 
may. Ladies  would  put  red  and  white  ornaments  in  their  win- 
dows, and  the  police  would  insist  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  col- 
ours. Such  was  th3  condition  of  Baltimore  during  the  past 
winter.  Nevertheless  cakes  and  ale  abounded ;  and  though 
there  was  deep  grief  in  the  city,  and  wailing  in  the  recesses  of 
many  houses,  and  a  feeling  that  the  good  times  were  gone, 
never  to  return  within  the  days  of  many  of  them,  still  there  ex- 
isted an  excitement  and  a  consciousness  of  the  importance  of 
the  crisis  which  was  not  altogether  unsatisfactory.  Men  and 
women  can  endure  to  be  ruined,  to  be  torn  from  their  friends, 
to  be  overwhelmed  with  avalanches  of  misfortune,  better  than 
they  can  endure  to  be  dull. 

Baltimore  is,  or  at  any  rate  was,  an  aspiring  city,  proud  of 
its  commerce  and  proud  of  its  society.  It  has  regarded  itself 
as  the  New  York  of  the  South,  and  to  some  extent  has  forced 
others  so  to  regard  it  also.  In  many  respects  it  is  more  like 
an  English  town  than  most  of  its  transatlantic  brethren,  and 
the  ways  of  its  inhabitants  are  English.  In  old  days  a  pack  of 
fox-hounds  was  kept  here, — or  indeed  in  days  that  are  not  yet 
very  old,  for  I  was  told  of  their  doings  by  a  gentleman  who 
had  long  been  a  member  of  the  hunt.  The  country  looks  as  a 
hunting  country  should  look,  whereas  no  man  that  ever  crossed 
a  field  after  a  pack  of  hounds  would  feel  the  slightest  wish  to 
attempt  that  process  in  New  England  or  New  York.  There 
is  in  Baltimore  an  old  inn  with  an  old  sign,  standing  at  the 
corner  of  Eutaw  and  Franklin  Streets,  just  such  as  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  towns  of  Somersetshire,  and  before  it  ai*e  to  be  seen 
old  wagons,  covered,  and  soiled,  and  battered,  about  to  return 
from  the  city  to  the  country,  just  as  the  wagons  do  in  our  own 
agricultural  counties.  I  have  found  nothing  so  thoroughly  En- 
glish in  any  other  part  of  the  Union. 

But  canvas-back  ducks  and  terrapins  are  the  great  glories 
of  Baltimore.  Of  the  nature  of  the  former  bird  I  believe  all 
the  world  knows  something.  It  is  a  wild  duck  which  obtains 
the  peculiarity  of  its  flavour  from  the  wild  celery  on  which  it 
feeds.  This  celery  grows  on  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  I  be- 
lieve on  the  Chesapeake  Bay  only.    At  any  rate  Baltimore  is 


'   '.  ,  ii 


H 


III 


# 


S    ! 


I'l 


i     '    \ 


X 


w  ■ 


I 


1  hi 


Bl 


;^ 


I 


300 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


tlic  head-quarters  of  the  canvas-backs,  and  it  is  on  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay  that  they  are  shot.  I  was  kindly  invited  to  go  down 
on  a  shooting-party ;  but  Avhen  I  learned  that  I  should  have  to 
ensconce  myself  alone  for  hours  in  a  wet  wooden  box  on  the 
water's  edge,  waiting  there  for  the  chance  of  a  duck  to  come 
to  me,  I  declined.  The  fact  of  my  never  having  as  yet  been 
successful  in  shooting  a  bird  of  any  kind  conduced  somewhat 
perhaps  to  my  decision.  I  must  acknowledge  that  the  canvas- 
back  duck  fully  deserves  all  the  reputation  it  has  acquired.  As 
to  the  terrapin,  I  have  not  so  much  to  say.  The  terrapin  is  a 
small  turtle,  found  on  the  shores  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  out 
of  which  a  very  rich  soup  is  made.  It  is  cooked  with  wines 
and  spices,  and  is  served  in  the  shape  of  a  hash,  with  heaps  of 
little  bones  mixed  through  it.  It  is  held  in  great  repute,  and 
the  guest  is  expected  as  a  matter  of  course  to  be  helped  twice. 
The  man  who  did  not  eat  twice  of  terrapin  would  be  held  in 
small  repute,  as  the  Londoner  is  held  who  at  a  city  banquet 
does  not  partake  of  both  thick  and  thin  turtle.  I  must,  how- 
ever, confess  that  the  terrapin  for  me  had  no  surpassing  charms. 
Maryland  was  so  called  from  Henrietta  Maria,  the  wife  of 
Charles  I.,  by  which  king  in  1632  the  territory  was  conceded 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Lord  Baltimore.  It  was  chiefly  peo- 
pled by  Roman  Catholics,  but  I  do  not  think  that  there  is  now 
any  such  speciality  attaching  to  the  State.  There  are  in  it  two 
or  three  old  Roman  Catholic  families,  but  the  people  have  come 
down  from  the  North,  and  have  no  peculiar  religious  tenden- 
cies. Some  of  Lord  Baltimore's  descendants  remained  in  the 
State  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  From  Baltimore  I 
went  on  to  Washington. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


WASHINGTON. 


The  site  of  the  present  city  of  Washington  was  chosen  with 
three  special  views ;  firstly,  that  being  on  the  Potomac  it  might 
have  the  full  advantage  of  water-carriage  and  a  sea-poi*t ;  sec- 
ondly, that  it  might  be  so  far  removed  from  the  seaboard  as 
to  be  safe  from  invasion ;  and,  thirdly,  that  it  might  be  central 
alike  to  all  the  States.  It  was  presumed  when  Washington 
was  founded  that  these  three  advantages  would  be  secured  by 
the  selected  position.  As  regards  the  first,  the  Potomac  affords 
to  the  city  but  few  of  the  advantages  of  a  sea-port.  Ships  can 
come  up,  but  not  ships  of  large  burthen.    The  river  seems  to 


WASHINGTON. 


301 


have  dwindled  since  the  site  was  chosen ;  and  at  present  it  is, 
I  think,  evident  that  Washington  can  never  be  great  in  its 
shipping.  Statio  henejida  carinis  can  never  be  its  motto.  As 
regards  the  second  point,  singularly  enough  Washington  is 
the  only  city  of  the  Union  that  has  been  in  an  enemy's  pos- 
session since  the  United  States  became  a  nation.  In  the  war 
of  1812  it  fell  into  our  hands,  and  we  burnt  it.  As  regards  the 
third  point,  Washington,  from  the  lie  of  the  land,  can  hardly 
have  been  said  to  be  centrical  at  any  time.  Owing  to  the  ir- 
regularities of  the  coast,  it  is  not  easy  of  access  by  railway  from 
different  sides.  Baltimore  would  have  been  far  better.  But 
as  far  as  we  can  now  see,  and  as  well  as  we  can  now  judge, 
Washington  will  soon  be  on  the  borders  of  the  nation  to  which 
it  belongs,  instead  of  at  its  centre.  I  fear,  therefore,  that  we 
must  acknowledge  that  the  site  chosen  for  his  country's  capital 
by  George  Washington  has  not  been  fortunate. 

I  have  a  strong  idea,  which  I  expressed  before  in  speaking 
of  the  capital  of  the  Canadas,  that  no  man  can  ordain  that  on 
such  a  spot  shall  be  built  a  great  and  thriving  city.  No  man 
can  so  ordain  even  though  he  leave  behind  him,  as  was  the 
case  with  Washington,  a  prestige  sufficient  to  bind  his  suc- 
cessors to  his  wishes.  The  political  leadei-s  of  the  country 
have  done  what  they  could  for  Washington.  The  pride  of  the 
nation  has  endeavoured  to  sustain  the  character  of  its  chosen 
metropolis.  There  has  been  no  rival,  soliciting  favour  on  the 
strength  ot  other  charms.  The  country  has  all  been  agreed 
on  the  point  since  the  father  of  the  country  first  commenced 
the  work.  Florence  and  Rome  in  Italy  have  each  their  pre- 
tensions ;  but  in  the  States  no  other  city  has  put  itself  forward 
for  the  honour  of  entertaining  Congress.  And  yet  Washing- 
ton has  been  a  failure.  It  is  commerce  that  makes  great  cities, 
and  commerce  has  refused  to  back  the  General's  choice.  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  without  any  political  power,  have  be- 
come great  among  the  cities  of  the  earth.  They  are  beaten  by 
none  except  by  London  and  Paris.  But  Washington  is  but  a 
ragged,  unfinished  collection  of  unbuilt  broad  streets,  as  to  the 
completion  of  which  there  can  now,  I  imagine,  be  but  little 
hope. 

Of  all  places  that  I  know  it  is  the  most  ungainly  and  most 
unsatisfactory ;— I  fear  I  must  also  say  the  most  presumptuous 
in  its  pretensions.  There  is  a  map  of  Washington  accurately 
laid  down ;  and  taking  that  map  with  him  in  his  journeyings 
a  man  may  lose  himself  in  the  streets,  not  as  one  loses  oneself 
in  London  between  Shoreditch  and  Russell  Square,  but  as  one 


v^ 


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T 


, 


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Ml  ^i■ 

ill- 


I' 


\  'i^ 


302 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


does  SO  in  the  deserts  of  the  Holy  Land,  between  Emmans  and 
Ariraathea.  In  the  first  place  no  one  knows  where  the  places 
are,  or  is  sure  of  their  existence,  and  then  between  their  pre- 
sumed localities  the  country  is  wild,  trackless,  unbridged,  un- 
inhabited, and  desolate.  Massachusetts  Avenue  runs  the  whole 
length  of  the  city,  and  is  inserted  on  the  maps  as  a  full-blown 
street,  about  four  miles  in  length.  Go  there,  and  you  will  find 
yourself  not  only  out  of  town,  away  among  the  fields,  but  you 
will  find  yourself  beyond  the  fields,  in  an  uncultivated,  un- 
drained  wilderness.  Tucking  your  trousers  up  to  your  knees, 
you  will  wade  through  the  bogs,  you  will  lose  yourself  among 
rude  Iiillocks,  you  will  be  out  of  the  reach  of  humanity.  The 
unfinished  dome  of  the  Capitol  will  loom  before  you  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  you  will  think  that  you  approach  the  ruins  of  some 
western  Palmyra.  If  you  are  a  sportsman,  you  will  desire  to 
shoot  snipe  within  sight  of  the  President's  house.  There  is 
much  unsettled  land  within  the  States  of  America,  but  I  think 
none  so  desolate  in  its  state  of  nature  as  three-fourths  of  the 
ground  on  which  is  supposed  to  stand  the  city  of  Washington. 

The  city  of  Washington  is  something  more  than  four  miles 
long,  and  is  something  more  than  two  miles  broad.  The  land 
apportioned  to  it  is  nearly  as  compact  as  may  be,  and  it  ex- 
ceeds in  area  the  size  of  a  parallelogram  four  miles  long  by  two 
broad.  These  dimensions  are  adequate  for  a  noble  city,  for  a 
city  to  contain  a  million  of  inhabitants.  It  is  impossible  to 
state  with  accuracy  the  actual  population  of  Washington,  for 
it  fluctuates  exceedingly.  The  place  is  very  full  during  Con- 
gress, and  very  empty  during  the  recess.  By  which  I  mean 
it  to  be  understood  that  those  streets,  which  are  blessed  with 
houses,  are  full  when  Congress  meets.  I  do  not  think  that 
Congress  makes  much  difference  to  Massachusetts  Avenue.  I 
believe  that  the  city  never  contains  as  many  as  eighty  thou- 
sand, and  that  its  permanent  residents  are  less  than  sixty 
thousand. 

But,  it  will  be  said, — was  it  not  well  to  prepare  for  a  grow- 
ing city  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  London  is  choked  by  its  own  fat- 
ness, not  having  been  endowed  at  its  birth  or  during  its  growth, 
with  proper  means  for  accommodating  its  own  increasing  pro- 
portions ?  Was  it  not  well  to  lay  down  fine  avenues  and  broad 
streets,  so  that  future  citizens  might  find  a  city  well  prepared 
to  their  hand  ? 

There  is  no  doubt  much  in  such  an  argument,  but  its  cor- 
rectness must  be  tested  by  its  success.  When  a  man  marries 
it  is  well  that  he  should  make  provision  for  a  coming  family. 


WASHINGTON. 


303 


But  a  Benedict,  who  early  in  his  career  shall  have  carried  his 
friends  with  considerable  self-applause  through  half-a-dozen 
nurseries,  and  at  the  end  of  twelve  years  shall  still  be  the  father 
of  one  ricketty  baby,  will  incur  a  certain  amount  of  ridicule. 
It  is  very  well  to  be  prepared  for  good  fortune,  but  one  should 
limit  one's  preparation  within  a  reasonable  scope.  Two  miles 
by  one  might  perhaps  liave  done  for  the  skeleton  sketch  of  a 
new  city.  Less  than  half  that  would  contain  much  more  than 
the  present  population  of  Washington ;  and  there  are,  I  fear, 
few  towns  in  the  Union  so  little  likely  to  enjoy  any  speedy 
increase. 

Three  avenues  sweep  the  whole  length  of  Washington ; — 
Virginia  Avenue,  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  Massachusetts 
Avenue.  But  Pennsylvania  Avenue  is  the  only  one  known  to 
ordinary  men,  and  the  half  of  that  only  is  so  known.  This  ave- 
nue is  the  backbone  of  the  city,  and  those  streets  which  are 
really  inhabited  cluster  round  that  half  of  it  which  runs  west- 
ward from  the  Capitol.  The  eastern  end,  running  from  the 
front  of  the  Capitol,  is  again  a  desert.  The  plan  of  the  city  is 
somewhat  complicated.  It  may  truly  be  called  "  a  mighty 
maze,  but  not  without  a  plan."  The  Capitol  was  intended  to 
be  the  centre  of  the  city.  It  faces  eastward,  away  from  the 
Potomac, — or  rathsr  from  the  main  branch  of  the  Potomac, 
and  also  unforti  nately  from  the  main  body  of  the  town.  It 
turns  its  back  u  pon  the  chief  thoroughfare,  upon  the  Treasury 
buildings,  and  upon  the  President's  house ;  and  indeed  upon 
the  whole  plac<i.  It  was,  I  suppose,  intended  that  the  streets 
to  the  eastwaT  d  should  be  noble  and  populous,  but  hitherto 
they  have  conie  to  nothing.  The  building  therefore  is  wrong 
side  foremost,  and  all  mankind  who  enter  it,  senators,  repre- 
sentatives, and  judges  included,  go  in  at  the  back-door.  Of 
course  it  is  generally  known  that  in  the  Capitol  is  the  Chamber 
of  the  Senate,  that  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  the  Union.  It  may  be  said  that 
there  are  two  centres  in  Washington,  this  being  one,  and  the 
President's  house  the  other.  At  these  centres  the  main  ave- 
nues are  supposed  to  cross  each  other,  which  avenues  are  called 
by  the  names  of  the  respective  States.  At  the  Capitol,  Penn- 
sylvania Avenue,  New  Jersey  Avenue,  Delaware  Avenue,  and 
Maryland  Avenue  converge.  They  come  from  one  extremity 
of  the  city  to  the  square  of  the  Capitol  on  one  side,  and  run 
out  from  the  other  side  of  it  to  the  other  extremity  of  the  city. 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  New  York  Avenue,  Vermont  Avenue, 
and  Connecticut  Avenue  do  the  same  at  what  is.  generally 


^. 


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1; 

li 

304 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


,y. 


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'U^ 


called  President's  Square.  In  theory,  or  on  paper,  this  seems 
to  be  a  clear  and  intelligible  arrangement;  but  it  does  not 
work  well.  These  centre  depots  are  largo  spaces,  and  conse- 
quently one  portion  of  a  street  is  removed  a  considerable  dia- 
tance  from  the  other.  It  is  as  though  the  same  name  should 
be  given  to  two  streets,  one  of  which  entered  St.  James's  Park 
at  Buckingham  Gate,  while  the  other  started  from  the  Park  at 
Marlborough  House.  To  inhabitants  the  matter  probably  is 
not  of  much  moment,  as  it  is  well  known  that  this  portion  of 
such  an  avenue  and  that  portion  of  such  another  avenue  are 
merely  myths, — imknown  lands  away  in  the  wilds.  But  a 
stranger  finds  himself  in  the  position  of  being  sent  across  the 
country  knee-deep  into  the  mud,  wading  through  snipe  grounds, 
looking  for  civilization  where  none  exists. 

All  these  avenues  have  a  slanting  direction.  They  are  so 
arranged  that  none  of  them  run  north  and  south  or  east  and 
west ;  but  the  streets,  so  called,  all  run  in  accordance  with  the 

Soints  of  the  compass.  Those  from  east  to  west,  are  A  Street, 
►  Street,  C  Street,  and  so  on, — counting  them  away  from  the 
Capitol  on  each  side,  so  that  there  are  two  A  Streets,  and  two 
B  Streets.  On  the  map  these  streets  run  up  to  V  Street,  both 
right  and  left, — V  Street  North  and  V  Street  South.  Those 
really  known  to  mankind  are,  E,  F,  6,  H,  I,  and  K  Streets 
North.  Then  those  streets  which  run  from  north  to  south  are 
numbered  First  Street,  Second  Street,  Third  Street,  and  so  on, 
on  each  front  of  the  Capitol,  running  to  Twenty-fourth  or 
Twenty-fifth  Street  on  each  side.  Not  very  many  of  these 
have  any  existence,  or  I  might  perhaps  more  properly  say,  any 
vitality  in  their  existence. 

Such  is  the  plan  of  the  city,  that  being  the  arrangement  and 
those  the  dimensions  intended  by  the  original  architects  and 
founders  of  Washington;  but  the  inhabitants  have  hitherto 
confined  themselves  to  Pennsylvania  Avenue  West,  and  to  the 
streets  abutting  from  it  or  near  to  it.  Whatever  address  a 
stranger  may  receive,  however  perplexing  it  may  seem  to  him, 
he  may  be  sure  that  the  house  indicated  is  near  Pennsylvania 
Avenue.  If  it  be  not,  I  should  recommend  him  to  pay  no  at- 
tention to  the  summons.  Even  in  those  streets  with  which  he 
will  become  best  acquainted,  the  houses  are  not  continuous. 
There  will  be  a  house,  and  then  a  blank ;  then  two  houses,  and 
then  a  double  blank.  After  that  a  hut  or  two,  and  then  prob- 
ably an  excellent,  roomy,  handsome  family  mansion.  Taken 
altogether,  Washington  as  a  city  is  most  unsatisfactory,  and 
falls  more  grievously  short  of  the  thing  attempted  than  any 


i    ^i' 


WASHINGTON. 


305 


other  of  the  great  undertakings  of  which  I  have  seen  anything 
in  the  States.  San  Jose,  the  capital  of  the  republic  of  Costa 
liica  in  Central  America,  has  been  prepared  and  arranged  as  a 
new  city  in  the  same  way.  But  oven  San  Jose  comes  nearer 
to  what  was  intended  than  does  Washington. 

For  myself,  I  do  not  believe  in  cities  made  after  this  fashion. 
Commerce,  I  think,  must  select  the  site  of  all  large  congrega- 
tions of  mankind.  In  some  mysterious  way  she  ascertains 
what  she  wants,  and  having  acquired  that,  draws  men  in  thou- 
sands round  her  properties.  Liverpool,  New  York,  Lyons, 
Glasgow,  Marseilles,  Hamburg,  Calcutta,  Chicago,  and  Leg- 
horn, have  all  become  populous,  and  are  or  have  been  great, 
because  trade  found  them  to  be  convenient  for  its  purposes. 
Trade  seems  to  have  ignored  Washington  altogether.  Such 
being  the  case,  the  Legislature  and  the  Executive  of  the  coun- 
try together  have  been  unable  to  make  of  Washington  anything 
better  than  a  straggling  congregation  of  buildings  in  a  wilder- 
ness. We  are  now  trying  the  same  experiment  at  Ottawa  in 
Canada,  having  turned  our  back  upon  Montreal  in  dudgeon. 
The  site  of  Ottawa  is  more  interesting  than  that  of  Washing- 
ton, but  I  doubt  whether  the  experiment  will  be  more  success- 
ful. A  new  town  for  art,  fashion,  and  politics  has  been  built 
at  Munich,  and  there  it  seems  to  answer  the  expectation  of  the 
builders ;  but  at  Munich  there  is  an  old  city  as  well,  and  com- 
merce had  already  got  some  considerable  hold  on  the  spot  be- 
fore the  new  town  was  added  to  it. 

The  streets  of  Washington,  such  as  exist,  are  all  broad. 
Throughout  the  town  there  are  open  spaces, — spaces,  I  mean, 
intended  to  be  open  by  the  plan  laid  down  for  the  city.  At 
the  present  moment  it  is  almost  all  open  space.  There  is  also 
a  certain  nobility  about  the  proposed  dimensions  of  the  ave- 
nues and  squares.  Desirous  of  praising  it  in  some  degree,  I  can 
say  that  the  design  is  grand.  The  thing  done,  however,  falls 
so  infinitely  short  of  that  design,  that  nothing  but  disappoint- 
ment is  felt.  And  I  fear  that  there  is  no  look-out  into  the  future 
which  can  justify  a  hope  that  the  design  will  be  fulfilled.  It  is 
therefore  a  melancholy  place.  The  society  into  which  one  falls 
there  consists  mostly  of  persons  who  are  not  permanently  resi- 
dent in  the  capital ;  but  of  those  who  were  permanent  residents 
I  found  none  who  spoke  of  their  city  with  affection.  The  men 
and  women  of  Boston  think  that  the  sun  shines  nowhere  else ; 
— and  Boston  Common  is  very  pleasant.  The  New  Yorkers 
believe  in  Fifth  Avenue  with  an  unswerving  faith ;  and  Fifth 
Avenue  is  calculated  to  inspire  a  faith.    Philadelphia  to  a  Phila- 


T 


i    i.it 


\ 


!i:i 


i  I 


!*i 


300 


NOBTII   AMSBICA. 


I 


Ji 


dclphian  is  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  the  progress  of  Phil- 
adelphia,  perhaps,  justifies  the  partiality.  The  same  thing  may 
be  said  of  Chicago,  of  Bufl:alo,  and  of  Baltimore.  But  tlio 
same  thing  cannot  be  said  in  any  degree  of  Washington.  They 
who  belong  to  it  turn  up  their  noses  at  it.  They  feel  that  they 
live  surrounded  by  a  failure.  Its  grand  names  are  as  yet  false, 
and  none  of  the  eflTorts  made  have  hitherto  been  successful. 
Even  in  winter,  when  Congress  is  sitting,  Washington  is  mel- 
ancholy ; — but  Washington  in  summer  must  surely  be  the  sad- 
dest spot  on  earth. 

There  are  six  principal  public  buildings  in  Washington,  as  to 
which  no  expense  seems  to  have  been  spared,  and  in  the  con- 
struction  of  which  a  certain  amount  of  success  has  been  ob- 
tained. In  most  of  these  this  success  has  been  more  or  less 
marred  by  an  independent  deviation  from  recognized  rules  of 
architectural  taste.  These  are  the  Capitol,  the  Post-office,  the 
Patent-office,  the  Treasury,  the  President's  house,  and  the 
Smithsonian  Institute.  The  five  first  are  Grecian,  and  the  last 
in  Washington  is  called — Romanesque.  Had  I  been  left  to 
classify  it  by  my  own  unaided  lights,  I  should  have  called  it 
bastard  Gothic. 

The  Capitol  is  by  far  the  most  imposing ;  and  though  there 
is  much  about  it  with  which  I  cannot  but  find  fault,  it  certainly 
is  imposing.  The  present  building  was,  I  think,  commenced 
in  1815,  the  former  Capitol  having  been  destroyed  by  the  En- 
glish in  the  war  of  1812-13.  It  was  then  finished  according 
to  the  original  plan,  with  a  fine  portico  and  well-proportioned 
pediment  above  it, — looking  to  the  east.  The  outer  flight  of 
steps,  leading  up  to  this  from  the  eastern  approach,  is  good  and 
in  excellent  taste.  The  expanse  of  the  building  to  the  right 
and  left,  as  then  arranged,  was  well  proportioned,  and,  as  far 
as  we  can  now  judge,  the  then  existing  dome  was  well  propor- 
tioned also.  As  seen  from  the  east  the  original  building  must 
have  been  in  itself  very  fine.  The  stone  is  beautiful,  being 
bright  almost  as  marble,  and  I  do  not  know  that  there  was  any 
great  architectural  defect  to  offend  the  eye.  The  figures  in  the 
pediment  are  mean.  There  is  now  in  the  Capitol  a  group  ap- 
parently prepared  for  a  pediment,  which  is  by  no  means  mean. 
I  was  informed  that  they  were  intended  for  this  position ;  but 
they,  on  the  other  hand,  are  too  good  for  such  a  place,  and  are 
also  too  numerous.  This  set  of  statues  is  by  Crawford.  Most 
of  them  are  well  known,  and  they  are  very  fine.  They  now 
stand  within  the  old  chamber  of  the  Representative  House, 
and  the  pity  is,  that  if  elevated  to  such  a  position  as  that  indi- 


'    •] 


'A  :    I   11 


WASHINGTON. 


307 


; 


cfited,  they  can  never  be  really  seen.  There  are  models  of  them 
at  West  Point,  and  some  of  them  I  have  seen  at  other  places 
in  marble.  The  Historical  Society  at  New  York  has  one  or 
two  of  them.  In  and  about  the  front  of  the  Capitol  there  are 
other  efforts  of  sculpture, — imposing  in  their  size,  and  assum- 
ini?,  if  not  affecting,  much  in  the  attitudes  chosen.  Statuary  at 
Washington  runs  too  much  on  two  subjects,  which  are  repeated 
perhaps  almost  ad  nauseam ;  one  is  that  of  a  stiff,  steady-look- 
ing, healthy,  but  ugly  individual,  with  a  square  jaw  and  big 
jowl,  which  represents  the  great  General ;  he  does  not  prepos- 
sess the  beholder,  because  he  appears  to  be  thoroughly  ill- 
natured.  And  the  other  represents  a  melancholy,  weak  figure 
without  any  hair,  but  often  covered  with  feathers,  and  is  in- 
tended to  typify  the  red  Indian.  The  red  Indian  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  receiving  comfort;  but  it  is  manifest  that  ho 
never  enjoys  the  comfort  ministered  to  him.  There  is  a  gigan- 
tic statue  of  Washington,  by  Greenough,  out  in  the  grounds 
in  front  of  the  building.  The  figure  is  seated  and  holding  up 
one  of  its  arms  towards  the  city.  There  is  about  it  a  kind  of 
weighty  magnificence ;  but  it  is  stiff,  ungainly,  and  altogether 
without  life. 

But  the  front  of  the  original  building  is  certainly  grand. 
The  architect  who  designed  it  must  have  had  skill,  taste,  and 
nobility  of  conception ;  but  even  this  was  spoilt,  or  rather 
wasted,  by  the  fact  that  the  front  is  made  to  look  upon  noth- 
ing, and  is  turned  from  the  city.  It  is  as  though  the  fai^ade  of 
the  London  Post-office  had  been  made  to  face  the  Goldsmiths' 
Hall.  The  Capitol  stands  upon  the  side  of  a  hill,  the  front  oc- 
cupying a  much  higher  position  than  the  back ;  consequently 
they  who  enter  it  from  the  back — and  everybody  does  so  enter 
it— are  first  called  on  to  rise  to  the  level  of  the  lower  floor  by 
a  stiff  ascent  of  exterior  steps,  which  are  in  no  way  grand  or 
imposing,  and  then,  having  entered  by  a  mean  back-door,  are 
instantly  obliged  to  ascend  again  by  another  flight, — by  stairs 
sufficiently  appropriate  to  a  back  entrance,  but  altogether  un- 
fitted for  the  chief  approach  to  such  a  building.  It  may,  of 
course,  be  said  that  persons  who  are  particular  in  such  matters, 
should  go  in  at  the  front  door  and  not  at  the  back ;  but  one 
must  take  these  things  as  one  finds  them.  The  entrance  by 
which  the  Capitol  is  approached  is  such  as  I  have  described. 
There  are  mean  little  brick  chimneys  at  the  left  hand  as  one 
walks  in,  attached  to  modern  bakeries  which  have  been  con- 
structed in  the  basement  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers ;  and  there 
is  on  the  other  hand  the  road  by  which  waggons  find  their  way 


M 


>'% 


'r 


\    ' 


,  r 


\ 


f 


«  i.; 


308 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


to  tho  iindergronnd  region  with  fuel,  stationery,  and  other  mat- 
ters desired  by  senators  and  representatives, — and  at  present 
by  bakers  also. 

In  speaking  of  tlio  front  I  have  spoken  of  it  as  it  was  origin- 
ally designed  and  built.  Since  that  period  very  heavy  wings 
have  been  added  to  tho  pile ;  wings  so  heavy  that  they  are  or 
seem  to  bo  much  larger  than  tho  original  structure  itselt.  This, 
to  my  thinking,  has  destroyed  tho  symmetry  of  the  whole.  The 
wings,  which  m  themselves  are  by  no  means  devoid  of  beauty, 
are  joined  to  tho  centre  by  passages  so  narrow  that  from  exte- 
rior points  of  view  tho  light  can  oe  seen  through  them.  This 
robs  the  mass  of  all  oneness,  of  all  entirety  as  a  whole,  and  gives 
a  scattered  straggling  appearance  where  there  should  be  a  look 
of  massiveness  and  integrity.  The  dome  also  has  been  raised, 
a  double  drum  having  been  given  to  it.  This  is  uniinished  and 
should  not  therefore  yet  be  judged ;  but  I  cannot  think  that 
the  increased  height  will  be  an  improvement.  This  again,  to 
my  eycs,  appears  to  be  straggling  rather  than  massive.  At  a 
distance  it  commands  attention,  and  to  one  journeying  through 
the  desert  places  of  the  city  gives  that  idea  of  Palmyra  which 
I  have  before  mentioned. 

Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  all  that  I  have  said,  I  have  had 
pleasure  in  walking  backwards  and  forwards,  and  through  the 
grounds  which  lie  before  the  eastern  front  of  the  Capitol.  The 
space  for  the  view  is  ample,  and  the  thing  to  be  seen  has  points 
which  are  very  grand.  If  the  Capitol  were  finished  and  all 
Washington  were  built  around  it,  no  man  would  say  that  the 
house  in  which  Congress  sat  disgraced  the  city. 

Going  west,  but  not  due  west,  from  the  Capitol,  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  stretches  in  a  right  line  to  the  Treasury  Chambers. 
The  distance  is  beyond  a  mile,  and  men  say,  scornfully,  that  the 
two  buildings  have  been  put  so  far  apart  in  order  to  save  the 
Secretaries  who  sit  in  the  bureaux  from  a  too  rapid  influx  of 
members  of  Congress.  This  statement  I  by  no  means  indorse ; 
It  is  undoubtedly  the  fact  that  both  senators  and  representa- 
tives are  very  diligent  in  their  calls  upon  gentlemen  high  in  of- 
fice. I  have  been  present  on  some  such  occasions,  and  it  has 
always  seemed  to  me  that  questions  of  patronage  have  been 
paramount.  This  reach  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue  is  the  quarter 
for  the  best  shops  of  Washington, — that  is  to  say,  the  frequent- 
ed side  of  it  is  so,  —  that  side  which  is  on  your  right  as  you 
leave  the  Capitol.  Of  the  other  side  the  world  knows  nothing. 
And  very  bad  shops  they  are.  I  doubt  whether  there  bo  any 
town  in  the  world  at  all  equal  in  importance  to  Washington, 


V        1 :  •■ 


WASHINGTON. 


300 


which  is  in  Buch  respects  so  ill  provided.  The  shops  arc  bad 
and  dear.  In  saying  this  I  am  guided  by  the  opinions  of  all 
whom  I  heard  speak  on  the  subject.  The  same  thing  was  told 
mo  of  the  hotels.  Hearing  that  the  city  was  very  lull  at  the 
time  of  my  visit — full  to  overflowing — 1  had  obtained  private 
rooms  through  a  friend  before  I  went  there.  Had  I  not  dono 
60, 1  might  liavo  Iain  in  the  streets,  or  have  made  one  with 
tJiree  or  four  others  in  a  small  room  at  some  third-rate  inn. 
There  had  icver  been  so  great  a  throng  in  the  town.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  my  friend  did  well  for  me.  I  found  myself 
put  up  at  the  house  of  one  Wormley,  a  coloured  man,  in  I 
vStreet,  to  whose  attention  I  can  recommend  any  Englisliman 
■\vlio  may  chance  to  want  quarters  in  Washington.  He  has  an 
hotel  on  one  side  of  the  street,  and  private  lodging-houses  on 
the  other  in  which  I  found  myself  located.  From  what  I  heard 
of  the  hotels  I  conceived  myself  to  bo  greatly  in  luck.  Wil- 
lard's  is  the  chief  of  these,  and  the  evcirlasting  crowd  and  throng 
of  men  with  which  the  halls  and  passages  of  the  liouse  were  al- 
ways full,  certainly  did  not  seem  to  promise  either  privacy  or 
comfort.  But  then  there  are  places  m  which  privacy  and  com- 
fort are  not  expected, — ave  hardly  even  desired, — and  Wash- 
ington is  one  of  them. 

Tiio  Post-office  and  the  Patent-office  lie  a  little  away  from 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  1^^  Street,  and  are  opposite  to  each  oth- 
The  Post-offico  is  certainly  a  very  graceful  building.    It  is 


er. 


square,  and  hardly  can  be  said  to  have  any  settled  front  or  any 
grand  entrance.  It  is  not  approached  by  steps,  but  stands  flusn 
on  the  ground,  alike  on  each  of  the  four  sides.  It  is  ornament- 
ed with  Corinthian  pilasters,  but  is  not  over  ornamented.  It  is 
certainly  a  structure  creditable  to  any  city.  The  streets  around 
it  are  all  unfinished,  and  it  is  approached  through  seas  of  mud 
and  sloughs  of  despond,  which  have  been  contrived,  as  I  imag- 
ine, to  lessen,  if  possible,  the  crowd  of  callers,  and  lighten  in 
this  way  the  overtasked  officials  within.  That  side  by  which 
the  public  in  general  were  supposed  to  approach  was,  during 
ray  sojourn,  always  guarded  by  vast  mountains  of  flour-barrels. 
Looking  up  at  the  windows  of  the  building  I  perceived  also 
that  barrels  were  piled  within,  and  then  I  knew  that  the  Post- 
office  had  become  a  provision  dep6t  for  the  army.  The  official 
arrangements  here  for  the  public  were  so  bad,  as  to  be  abso- 
lutely barbarous.  I  feel  some  remorse  in  saying  this,  for  I  was 
myself  treated  >vith  the  utmost  courtesy  by  gentlemen  holding 
high  positions  in  the  office, — to  which  I  was  specially  attracted 
by  ray  own  connection  "Wiih.  the  Post-office  in  England.    But  I 


■w 


■r 


■•* 

.  ! 

I' 


310 


MOBTII  AM££ICA. 


^    L 


'I 


do  not  think  that  such  courtesy  should  hinder  mo  from  tcllii)fr 
what  I  flaw  that  was  bad, — seeing  that  it  would  not  hinder  mu 
from  telling  what  I  Haw  that  was  good.  In  Washington  there 
is  but  one  Post-office.  There  are  no  iron  pillars  or  wayside  let- 
ter-boxes, as  are  to  bo  found  in  other  towns  of  the  Union  ; — no 
subsidiary  offices  at  which  stamps  can  be  bought  and  letters 
posted.  The  distances  of  the  city  are  very  great,  the  means 
of  transit  through  the  city  very  limited,  the  dirt  of  the  city 
ways  unrivalled  in  depth  and  tenacity ;  ond  yet  there  is  but 
one  Post-office.  Nor  is  there  any  established  system  of 
letter  carriers.  To  those  who  desire  it,  letters  are  brouglit 
out  and  delivered  by  carriers  who  charge  a  separate  por- 
terage for  that  service;  but  tho  rule  is  that  letters  shall  l>o 
delivered  from  tho  window.  For  strangers  this  is  of  course  a 
necessity  of  their  position  ;  and  I  found  that  when  once  I  had 
left  instructions  that  my  letters  should  be  delivered,  those  in- 
structions were  carefully  followed.  Indeed  nothing  could  ex- 
ceed the  civility  of  the  officials  within ; — but  so  also  nothing 
can  exceed  the  barbarity  of  the  arrangements  without.  The 
I)iirchase  of  stamps  I  found  to  be  utterly  impracticable.  They 
were  sold  at  a  wmdow  in  a  corner,  at  which  newspapers  were 
also  delivered,  to  which  there  was  no  regular  ingress,  and  from 
which  there  was  no  egress.  It  would  generally  be  deeply  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd  of  muddy  soldiers,  who  would  wait  there 
patiently  till  time  should  enable  them  to  approach  the  window. 
The  delivery  of  letters  was  almost  more  tedious,  though  in 
that  there  was  a  method.  The  aspirants  stood  in  a  long  hne, 
en  cucy  as  we  are  told  by  Carlyle  that  the  bread-seekers  used 
to  approach  the  bakers'  shops  at  Paris  during  the  Revolution. 
This  "  cue"  would  sometimes  project  out  into  the  street.  The 
work  inside  was  done  very  slowly.  The  clerk  had  no  facility, 
by  use  of  a  desk  or  otherwise,  for  running  through  the  letters 
under  the  initials  denominated,  but  turned  letter  by  letter 
through  his  hand.  To  one  questioner  out  of  ten  would  a  letter 
be  given.  It  no  doubt  may  be  said  in  excuse  for  this  that  the 
presence  of  the  army  round  Washington  caused  at  that  period 
special  inconvenience ;  and  that  plea  should  of  course  be  taken, 
were  it  not  that  a  very  trifling  alteration  in  the  management 
within  would  have  remedied  all  the  inconvenience.  As  a  build- 
ing the  Washington  Post-office  is  very  good ;  as  the  centre  of 
a  most  complicated  and  difficult  department,  I  believe  it  to  be 
well  managed :  but  as  regards  the  special  accommodation  given 
by  it  to  the  city  in  which  it  stands,  much  cannot,  I  think,  be 
said  in  its  favour. 


.   WASHINGTON. 


311 


Opposite  to  that  which  is,  I  prosiimo,  the  back  of  iho  Post- 
oftlcc,  Btandfl  the  Paten t-oftico.  Thifl  also  is  a  pnuul  hiiildinuf, 
with  a  fine  portico  of  Doric  pillars  at  each  of  its  three  fronts. 
These  are  approached  by  flights  of  steps,  more  gratifvinjj  to 
the  eye  than  to  the  legs.  The  whole  structuro  is  massive  and 
grand,  and,  if  the  streets  round  it  were  fmished,  would  bo 
nupoaing.  The  utilitarian  spirit  of  tlie  nation  has,  liowever, 
done  much  toward  marring  the  appearance  of  the  building,  by 
])iercing  it  with  windows  altogether  unsuited  to  it,  both  in 
number  and  size.  The  walls,  even  under  the  porticoes,  have 
been  so  pierced,  in  order  that  the  whole  space  might  be  util- 
ized without  loss  of  light ;  and  the  eftect  is  very  mean.  The 
windows  are  small  and  without  ornament, — something  like  a 
London  window  of  the  time  of  George  III.  The  effect  produced 
by  a  dozen  such  at  the  back  of  a  noble  Doric  porch,  looking 
down  among  the  pillars,  may  be  imagined. 

In  the  interior  of  this  building  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
holds  his  court,  and  of  coureo  also  the  Commissioners  of  Patents. 
Hero  is,  in  accordance  with  the  name  of  the  building,  a  museum 
of  models  of  all  patents  taken  out.  I  wan-  cd  through  it, 
pazing  with  listless  eye,  now  upon  this,  an*  nv  upon  that ; 
but  to  me,  in  my  ignorance,  it  was  no  better  than  a  largo  toy- 
shop. When  I  saw  an  ancient  dustv  white  hat,  with  some  pe- 
culiar appendage  to  it  which  was  unmtelligible,  it  was  no  more 
to  me  than  any  other  old  white  hat.  But  had  I  been  a  man  of 
science,  what  a  tale  it  might  have  told  I  Wandering  about 
through  the  Patent-office  I  also  found  a  hospital  for  soldiers. 
A  British  officer  was  with  me  who  pronounced  it  to  be,  in  its 
kind,  very  good.  At  any  rate  it  was  sweet,  airy,  and  larg;j. 
In  these  days  the  soldiers  had  got  hold  of  eveiy thing. 

The  Treasury  Chambers  is  as  yet  an  unfinished  b'ailding. 
The  front  to  the  south  has  been  completed ;  but  that  to  the 
north  has  not  been  built.  Here  at  the  north  stands  as  yet  the 
old  Secretary  of  Staters  office.  This  is  to  come  down,  and  the 
Secretary  ol  State  is  to  be  located  in  the  new  building,  which 
will  be  added  to  the  Treasury.  This  edifice  will  probably  strike 
strangers  more  forcibly  than  any  other  in  the  town,  both  from 
its  position  and  from  its  own  character.  It  stands  with  its  side 
to  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  but  the  avenue  here  has  turned  round, 
and  runs  due  north  and  south,  having  taken  a  twist,  so  as  to 
make  way  for  the  Treasury  and  for  the  President's  house, 
through  both  of  which  it  must  run  had  it  been  carried  straight 
on  throughout.  These  public  offices  stand  with  their  side  to 
the  street,  and  the  whole  length  is  ornamented  with  an  exterior 


■I 


■'% 


'    f 


S: 


I . 


312 


NOllTH    AMERICA. 


i  ' 


I.I 


row  of  Ionic  columns  raised  high  above  the  footway.  This  is 
perhaps  the  prettiest  thing  in  the  city,  and  when  the  front  to 
the  north  has  been  completed,  the  effect  will  be  still  better. 
The  granite  monoliths  which  have  been  used,  and  which  are  to 
be  used,  in  this  building  are  very  massive.  As  one  enters  by 
the  steps  to  the  south  there  are  two  flat  stones,  one  on  each 
side  o'^  the  ascent,  the  surface  of  each  of  which  is  about  20  feet 
by  18.  The  columns  are,  I  think,  all  monoliths.  O^ those  which 
are  still  to  be  erected,  and  which  now  lie  about  in  the  neigh- 
bouring streets,  I  measured  one  or  two — one  which  was  still  in 
the  rough  I  found  to  be  32  feet  long  by  5  feet  broad,  and  4-^  deep. 
These  granite  blocks  have  been  brought  to  Washington  from 
the  State  of  Maine.  The  finished  front  of  this  building,  looking 
down  to  the  Potomac,  is  very  good ;  but  to  my  eyes  this  also 
has  been  much  injured  by  the  rows  of  windows  which  look  out 
from  the  building  into  the  space  of  the  portico. 

The  President's  house — or  the  White  House  as  it  is  now 
called  all  the  world  over — is  a  handsome  mansion  fitted  fo^  the 
chief  officer  of  a  great  Republic,  and  nothing  more.  I  thmk  I 
may  say  that  we  have  private  houses  in  London  considerably 
larger.  It  is  neat  and  pretty,  and  wi.'i  all  its  immediate  out- 
side belongings  calls  down  no  adverse  criticism.  It  faces  on 
to  a  small  garden,  which  seems  to  be  always  accessible  to  the 
public,  and  opens  out  upon  that  everlasting  Pennsylvania  Ave- 
nue, which  has  now  made  aiiother  turn.  Here  in  front  of  ^he 
White  House  is  President's  Square,  as  it  is  generally  called. 
The  technical  name  is,  I  believe.  La  Fayette  Square.  The  houses 
round  it  are  few  in  number, — not  exceeding  three  or  four  on 
each  side,  but  they  are  among  the  best  in  Washington,  and  the 
whole  pljace  is  neat  and  well  kept.  President's  Square  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  attractive  part  of  the  city.  The  garden  of  the 
square  is  always  open,  and  does  not  seem  to  suffer  from  any 
public  ill-usage ;  by  which  circ/imstance  I  am  again  led  to  sug- 
gesc  that  the  gardens  of  our  London  squares  might  be  thrown 
open  in  the  same  way.  In  the  centre  of  this  one  at  Washing- 
ton, immediately  facing  the  President's  house,  is  an  equestrian 
statue  of  General  Jackson.  It  is  very  bad ;  but  that  it  is  not 
nearly  f.3  bad  as  it  might  be  is  proved  by  another  equestrian 
statue, — of  General  Washington, — erected  in  the  centre  of  a 
small  garden-plat  at  the  end  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  near  the 
bridge  leading  to  Georgetown.  Of  all  the  statues  on  horse- 
back which  I  ever  saw,  either  in  marble  or  bronze,  this  is  by 
far  the  worst  and  most  ridiculous.  The  horse  is  most  absurd, 
but  the  man  sitting  on  the  horse  is  manifestly  drunk.    I  should 


WASHINGTON. 


313 


think  the  time  must  come  when  this  figure  at  any  rate  will  be 
removed. 

I  did  not  go  inside  the  President's  house,  not  having  had 
while  at  Washington  an  opportunity  of  paying  my  personal  re- 
spects to  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  had  been  told  that  this  was  to  be  done 
without  trouble,  but  when  I  inquired  on  the  subject  I  found  that 
this  was  not  exactly  the  case.  I  believe  there  are  times  when 
anybody  may  walk  into  the  President's  house  without  an  intro- 
duction ;  but  that,  I  take  it,  is  not  considered  to  be  the  proper 
way  of  doing  the  work.  I  found  that  something  like  a  favour 
would  be  incurred,  or  that  some  disagreeable  trouble  would  bo 
given,  if  I  made  a  request  to  be  presented, — and  therefore  I  left 
Washington  without  seeing  the  great  man. 

The  President's  house  is  nice  to  look  at,  but  it  is  built  on 
marshy  ground,  not  much  above  the  level  of  the  Potomac,  and 
is  very  unhealthy.  I  was  told  that  all  who  live  there  become 
subject  to  fever  and  ague,  and  that  few  who  now  live  there 
have  escaped  it  altogether.  This  comes  of  choosing  the  site  of 
a  new  city,  and  decreeing  that  it  shall  be  built  on  this  or  on  that 
spot.  Lu'ge  cities,  especially  in  these  latter  days,  do  not  collect 
themselves  i "  unhealthy  places.  Men  desert  such  localities, — 
or  at  least  do  not  congregate  at  them  when  their  character  is 
once  known.  But  the  poor  President  cannot  desert  the  White 
House.  He  must  make  the  most  of  the  residence  which  the 
nation  has  prepared  for  him. 

Of  the  other  considerable  public  building  of  Washington, 
called  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  I  have  said  that  its  style  was 
hastard  Gothic ;  by  this,  I  mean  that  its  main  attributes  are 
Gothic,  but  that  liberties  have  been  taken  with  it,  which,  wheth- 
er they  may  injure  its  beauty  or  no,  certainly  are  subversive  of 
architectural  purity.  It  is  built  of  red  stone,  and  is  not  ugly 
in  itself.  There  is  a  very  nice  Norman  porch  to  it,  and  little 
bits  of  Lombard  Gothic  have  been  well  copied  from  Cologne. 
But  windows  have  been  fitted  in  with  stilted  arches,  of  which 
the  stilts  seem  to  crack  and  bend,  so  narrow  are  they  and  so 
high.  And  then  the  towers  with  high  pinnacled  roofs  are  a 
mistake. — unless  indeed  they  be  needed  to  give  to  the  whole 
structure  that  name  of  Romanesque  which  it  has  assumed. 
The  building  is  used  for  museums  and  lectures,  and  was  given 
to  the  city  by  one  James  Smithson,  an  Englishman.  I  cannot 
say  that  the  city  of  Washington  seems  to  be  grateful,  for  all  to 
whom  I  spoke  on  the  subject  hinted  that  the  Institution  was  a 
failure.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  nobody  in  Washington  is 
proud  of  Washington,  or  of  anything  in  it.    If  the  Smithsonian 


V: 


'•  \ 


li 


i . 


314 


NOBTH  AMEBICA. 


I- 


Institution  were  at  New  York  or  at  Boston,  one  would  have  a 
different  story  to  tell. 

There  has  been  an  attempt  made  to  raise  at  Washington  a 
vast  obelisk  to  the  memory  of  Washington, — the  first  in  war 
and  first  in  peace,  as  the  country  is  proud  to  call  him.  This 
obelisk  is  a  fair  type  of  the  city.  It  is  unfinished, — not  a  third 
of  it  having  as  yet  been  erected, — and  in  all  human  probability 
ever  will  remain  so.  If  finished  it  would  be  the  highest  monu- 
ment of  its  kind  standing  on  the  face  of  the  globe, — and  yet, 
after  all,  what  would  it  be  even  then  as  compared  with  one  of 
the  great  pyramids  ?  Modern  attempts  cannot  bear  compari- 
son  with  those  of  the  old  world  in  simple  vastness.  But  in 
lieu  of  simple  vastness,  the  modern  world  aims  to  achieve  either 
beauty  or  utility.  By  the  Washington  monument,  if  completed, 
neither  would  be  achieved.  An  obelisk  with  the  proportions 
of  a  needle  may  be  very  graceful ;  but  an  obelisk  which  re- 
quires an  expanse  of  flat-roofed,  sprawling  buildings  for  its  base, 
and  of  which  the  shaft  shall  be  as  big  as  a  cathedral  tower,  can- 
not be  graceful.  At  present  some  third  portion  of  the  shaft 
has  been  built,  and  there  it  stands.  No  one  has  a  word  to  say 
for  it.  No  one  thinks  that  money  will  ever  again  be  sub- 
scribed for  its  completion.  I  saw  somewhere  a  box  of  plate- 
glass  kept  for  contributions  for  this  purpose,  and  looking  in 
perceived  that  two  half-dollar  pieces  had  been  given; — but 
both  of  them  were  bad.  I  was  told  also  that  the  absolute 
foundation  of  the  edifice  is  bad ; — that  the  ground,  which  is 
near  the  river  and  swampy,  would  not  bear  the  weight  intend- 
ed to  be  imposed  on  it. 

A  sad  and  saddening  spot  was  that  marsh,  as  I  wandered 
down  on  it  all  alone  one  Sunday  afternoon.  The  ground  was 
frozen,  and  I  could  walk  dry-shod,  but  there  was  not  a  blade 
of  grass.  Around  me  on  all  sides  were  cattle  in  great  num- 
bers— steers  and  big  oxen — lowing  in  their  hunger  for  a  meal. 
They  were  beef  for  the  array,  and  never  again  I  suppose  would 
it  be  allowed  to  them  to  fill  their  big  maws  and  chew  the  pa- 
tient cud.  There,  on  the  brown,  ugly,  undrained  field,  within 
easy  sight  of  the  President's  house,  stood  the  useless,  shapeless, 
graceless  pile  of  stones.  It  was  as  though  I  were  looking  on 
the  genius  of  the  city.  It  was  vast,  pretentious,  bold,  boastful 
with  a  loud  voice,  a^'eady  taller  by  many  heads  than  other  ob- 
elisks, but  nevertheless  still  in  its  infancy, — ugly,  unpromising, 
and  false.  The  founder  of  the  monument  bad  said.  Here  shall 
be  the  obelisk  of  the  world !  and  the  founder  of  the  city  Lad 
thought  of  his  child  somewhat  in  the  same  strain.    It  is  still 


WASHINGTON. 


315 


possible  that  both  city  and  monument  shall  be  completed ;  but 
at  the  present  moment  nobody  seems  to  believe  in  the  one  or 
in  the  other.  For  myself  I  have  much  faith  in  the  American 
character,  but  I  cannot  believe  either  in  Washington  city  or  in 
the  "Washington  monument.  The  boast  made  has  been  too 
loud,  and  the  fulfilment  yet  accomplished  has  been  too  small ! 

Have  I  as  yet  said  that  Washington  was  dirty  in  that  win- 
ter of  1861-1862?  Or,  I  should  rather  ask,  have  I  made  it 
understood  that  in  walking  about  Washington  one  waded  as 
deep  in  mud  as  one  does  in  floundering  through  an  ordinary 
ploughed  field  in  November  ?  There  were  parts  of  Pennsylva- 
nia Avenue  which  would  have  been  considered  heavy  ground 
by  most  hunting-men,  and  through  some  of  the  remoter  streets 
none  but  light  weights  could  have  lived  long.  This  was  the 
e*nte  of  the  town  when  I  left  it  in  the  middle  of  January.  On 
my  arrival  in  the  middle  of  December,  everything  was  in  a 
cloud  of  dust.  One  walked  through  an  atmosphere  of  floating 
mud ;  for  the  dirt  was  ponderous  and  thick,  and  very  palpable 
in  its  atoms.  Then  came  a  severe  frost  and  a  little  snow ;  and 
if  one  did  not  fall  while  walking,  it  was  very  well.  After  that 
we  had  the  thaw ;  and  Washington  assumed  its  normal  win- 
ter condition.  I  must  say  that,  during  the  whole  of  this  time, 
the  atmosphere  v  as  to  me  exhilarating ;  but  I  was  hardly  out 
of  the  doctor's  hands  while  I  was  there,  and  he  did  not  support 
my  theory  as  to  the  goodness  of  the  air.  *'  It  is  poisoned  by 
the  soldiers,"  he  said,  "  and  everybody  is  ill."  But  t'^en  my 
doctor  was  perhaps  a  little  tinged  with  southern  proclivities. 

On  the  Virginian  side  of  the  Potomac  stands  a  country- 
house  called  Arlington  Heights,  from  which  there  is  a  fine  view 
down  upon  the  city.  Arlington  Heights  is  a  beautiful  spot, — 
having  all  the  attractions  of  a  fine  park  in  our  country.  It  is 
covered  with  grand  timber.  The  ground  is  varied  and  broken, 
and  the  private  roads  about  sweep  here  into  a  dell  and  then  up 
a  hrae-side,  as  roads  should  do  m  such  a  domain.  Below  it 
was  the  Potomac,  and  immediately  on  the  other  side  stands 
the  city  of  Washington.  Any  city  seen  thus  is  graceful;  and 
the  white  stones  of  the  big  buildings  when  the  sun  gleams  on 
them,  showing  the  distant  rows  of  columns,  seem  to  tell  some- 
thing of  great  endeavour  and  of  achieved  success.  It  is  the 
place  from  whence  Washington  should  be  seen  by  those  who 
wish  to  think  well  of  the  present  city  and  of  its  future  prosper- 
ity. But  is  it  not  the  case  that  every  city  is  beautiful  from  a 
distance  ? 

The  house  at  Arlington  Heights  is  picturesque,  but  neither 


\m 


'*•  \ 


& 


\ 


^: 


G16 


KOBTII   AMEEICA. 


i 


■    'if 

'2    V 


large  nor  good.    It  has  before  it  a  high  Greek  colonnade, 
which  seems  to  bo  almost  bigger  than  the  house  itself.    Had 
such  been  built  in  a  city, — and  many  such  a  portico  does  stand 
in  cities  through  the  States, — it  would  be  neither  picturesque 
nor  graceful ;  but  here  it  is  surrounded  by  timber,  and  as  the 
columns  are  seen  through  the  trees,  they  gratify  the  eye  rather 
than  offend  it.    The  place  did  belong,  and  as  I  think  does  still 
belong,  to  the  family  of  the  Lees, — if  not  already  confiscated. 
General  Lee,  who  is  or  would  be  the  present  owner,  bears  high 
command  in  the  army  of  the  Confederalists,  and  knows  well  by 
what  tenure  he  holds,  or  is  likely  to  hold,  his  family  property. 
The  family  were  friends  of  General  Washington,  whose  seat, 
Mount  Vernon,  stands  about  twelve  miles  lower  down  the 
river ;  and  here,  no  doubt,  Washington  often  stood,  looking  on 
the  site  he  had  chosen.    If  his  spirit  could  stand  there  now 
and  look  around  upon  the  masses  of  soldiers  by  which  his  cap- 
ital is  surrounded,  how  would  it  address  the  city  of  his  hopes  ? 
When  he  saw  that  every  foot  of  the  neighbouring  soil  wat-'  des- 
ecrated by  a  camp,  or  torn  into  loathsome  furrows  of  mud  by 
cftnnon  and  army  waggons, — that  agriculture  was  gone,  and 
that  every  effort  both  of  North  and  South  was  concentrated  on 
the  art  of  killing ;  when  he  saw  that  this  was  done  on  the  very 
spot  chosen  by  himself  for  the  centre  temple  of  an  everlasting 
union,  what  would  he  then  say  as  to  that  boast  made  on  his 
behalf  by  his  countrymen  that  he  was  first  in  war  and  first  in 
peace  ?    Washington  was  a  great  man,  and  I  believe  a  good 
man.    I,  at  any  rate,  will  not  belittle  him.    I  think  that  he  had 
tne  firmness  and  audacity  necessary  for  a  revolutionary  leader, 
that  he  had  honesty  to  preserve  him  from  the  temptations  of 
ambition  and  ostentation,  and  that  he  Lad  the  good  sense  to  be 
guided  in  civil  matters  by  men  who  had  studied  the  laws  of 
social  life  and  the  theories  of  free  government.    He  was  Justus 
et  tenax  propositi;  and  in  periods  that  might  well  have  dis- 
mayed a  smaller  man,  he  feared  neither  the  throne  to  which  he 
opposed  himself,  nor  the  changing  voices  of  the  fellow-citizens 
for  whose  welfare  he  had  fought.    But  sixty  or  seventy  years 
will  not  suffice  to  give  to  a  man  the  fame  of  having  been  first 
among  all  men.    Washington  did  much,  and  I  for  one  do  not 
believe  that  his  work  will  perish.    But  I  have  always  found  it 
difficult, — I  may  say  impossible, — to  sound  his  praises  in  his 
own  land.    Let  us  suppose  that  a  courteous  Frenchman  ven- 
tures an  opinion  among  Englishmen  that  Wellington  was  a 
great  general,  would  he  feel  disposed  to  go  on  with  his  eulo- 
gium  when  encountered  on  two  or  three  sides  at  once  with 


WASHINGTON. 


817 


Buch  observations  as  the  following: — "I  should  rather  calcu- 
late ho  was ;  about  the  first  that  ever  did  live  or  ever  will  live. 
Why,  he  whipped  your  Napoleon  everlasting  whenever  ho  met 
him.  He  whipped  everybody  out  of  the  field.  There  warn't 
anybody  ever  lived  was  able  to  stand  nigh  him,  and  there 
won't  come  any  like  him  again.  Sir,  I  guess  our  Wellington 
never  had  his  likes  on  your  side  of  the  water.  Such  men  can't 
o-row  in  a  down-trodden  country  of  slaves  and  paupers."  Un- 
der such  circumstances  the  Frenchman  would  probably  be  shut 
up.  And  when  I  strove  to  speak  of  Washington  I  generally 
found  myself  shut  up  also. 

Arlington  Heights,  when  I  was  at  Washington,  was  the  head- 
quarters of  General  McDowell,  the  General  to  whom  is  attrib- 
uted— I  believe  most  wrongfully — the  loss  of  the  battle  of 
Bull's  Run.  The  whole  place  was  then  one  camp.  The  fences 
had  disappeared.  The  gardens  were  trodden  into  mud.  The 
roads  had  been  cut  to  pieces,  and  new  tracks  made  everywhere 
through  the  grounds.  But  the  timber  still  remained.  Some 
no  doubt  had  fallen,  but  enough  stood  for  the  ample  ornament- 
ation of  the  place.  I  saw  placards  up,  prohibiting  the  destruo- 
tion  of  the  trees,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  have  been 
spared.  Very  little  in  this  way  has  been  spared  in  the  country 
all  around. 

Mount  Vernon,  Washington's  own  residence,  stands  close 
over  the  Potomac,  above  six  miles  below  Alexandria.  It  will 
be  understood  that  the  capital  is  on  the  east3rn,  or  Maryland 
side  of  the  river,  and  that  Arlington  Heights,  Alexandria,  and 
Mount  Vernon  are  in  Virginia.  The  river  Potomac  divided  the 
two  old  colonies,  or  States  as  they  afterward  became ;  but  when 
Washington  was  to  be  built,  a  territory,  said  to  be  ten  miles 
square,  was  cut  out  of  the  two  States  and  was  called  the  dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  The  greater  portion  of  this  district  was 
taken  from  Maryland,  and  on  that  the  city  was  built.  It  com- 
prised the  pleasant  town  of  Georgetown,  which  is  now  a  suburb 
—and  the  only  suburb — of  Washington.  The  portion  of  the 
district  on  the  Virginian  side  included  Arlington  Heights,  and 
went  so  far  down  the  river  as  to  take  in  the  Virginian  city  of 
Alexandria.  This  was  the  extreme  western  point  of  the  dis- 
trict ;  but  since  that  arrangement  was  made,  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia petitioned  to  have  their  portion  of  Columbia  back  again, 
and  this  petition  was  granted.  Now  it  is  felt  that  the  land  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  should  belong  to  the  city,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment is  anxious  to  get  back  the  Virginian  section.  The  city 
and  the  immediate  vicinity  are  freed  from  all  State  allegiance. 


I 


r 


H 


318 


NORTH  AMEBICA. 


and  are  under  the  immediate  rule  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment,— having  of  course  its  own  municipality ;  but  the  inhabit- 
ants have  no  political  power,  as  power  is  counted  in  the  States. 
They  vote  for  no  political  officer,  not  even  for  the  President, 
and  return  no  member  to  Congress,  either  as  a  senator  or  as 
a  representative.  Mount  Vernon  was  never  within  the  district 
of  Columbia. 

When  I  first  made  inquiry  on  the  subject  I  was  told  that 
Mount  Vernon  at  that  time  was  not  to  be  reached; — that 
though  it  was  not  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  neither  was  it  in 
the  hands  of  Northerners,  and  that  therefore  strangers  could 
not  go  there ;  but  this,  though  it  was  told  to  me  and  others 
by  those  who  should  have  known  the  facts,  was  not  the 
case.  I  had  gone  down  the  river  with  a  party  of  ladies,  and 
we  were  opposite  to  Mount  Vernon;  but  on  that  occasion 
we  were  assured  we  could  not  land.  The  rebels,  we  were  told, 
would  certainly  seize  the  ladies,  and  carry  them  off  into  Seces- 
sia.  On  hearing  which  the  ladies  were  of  course  doubly  anx- 
ious to  be  landed.  But  our  stern  commander,  for  we  were  on 
a  Government  boat,  would  not  listen  to  their  prayers,  but  car- 
ried us  instead  on  board  the  *  Pensacola,'  a  sloop-of-war  which 
was  now  lying  in  the  river,  ready  to  go  to  sea,  and  ready  also 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  rebel  batteries  which  lined  the  Vir- 
ginian shore  of  the  river  for  many  miles  down  below  Alexan- 
dria and  Mount  Vernon.  A  sloop-of-war  in  these  days  means 
a  large  man-of-war,  the  guns  of  which  are  so  big  that  they  only 
stand  on  one  deck,  whereas  a  frigate  would  have  them  on  two 
decks,  and  a  line-of-battle  ship  on  three.  Of  line-of-battle  ships 
there  will,  I  suppose,  soon  be  none,  as  the  *  Warrior'  is  only  a 
frigate.  We  went  over  the  *  Pensacola,'  and  I  must  say  she 
was  very  nice,  pretty,  and  clean.  I  have  always  found  Amer- 
ican sailors  on  their  men-of-war  to  be  clean  and  nice-looking, 
— as  much  so  I  should  say  as  our  own ;.  but  nothing  can  he 
dirtier,  more  untidy,  or  apparently  more  ill-preserved  than  all 
the  appurtenances  of  their  soldiers. 

We  landed  also  on  this  occasion  at  Alexandria,  and  saw  as 
melancholy  and  miserable  a  town  as  the  mind  of  man  can  con- 
ceive. Its  ordinary  male  population,  counting  by  the  voters, 
is  1600,  and  of  these  lOQ  were  in  the  southern  army.  The 
place  had  been  made  a  hospital  for  northern  soldiers,  and  no 
doubt  the  site  for  that  purpose  had  been  well  chosen.  But  let 
any  woman  imagine  what  would  be  the  feelings  of  her  life 
while  living  in  a  town  used  as  a  hospital  for  the  enemies  against 
whom  her  absent  husband  was  then  fighting  I     Her  own  man 


U 


IS 


WASUINGTON. 


319 


would  be  away  ill, — wounded,  dyiiig,  for  what  she  knew,  with- 
out the  comfort  of  any  hospital  attendance,  without  physic, 
Avith  no  one  to  comfort  him ;  but  those  she  hated,  with  a  hatred 
much  keener  than  his,  were  close  to  her  hand,  using  some 
friend's  house  that  had  been  forcibly  taken,  crawling  out  into 
the  sun  under  her  eyes,  taking  the  bread  from  her  mouth ! 
Liie  in  Alexandria  at  this  time  must  have  been  sad  enough. 
The  people  weio  all  secessionists,  but  the  town  was  held  by 
the  northern  party.  Through  the  lines,  into  Virginia,  they 
could  not  go  at  all.  Up  to  "Wodhington  they  could  not  go  with- 
out a  military  pass,  not  to  bo  obtained  without  some  cause 
given.  All  trade  was  at  an  end.  In  no  town  at  that  time  was 
trade  very  flourishing ;  but  hero  it  was  killed  altogether, — ex- 
cept that  absolutely  necessary  trade  of  bread.  Who  would  buy 
boots  or  coats,  or  want  new  saddles,  or  waste  money  on  books, 
m  Buch  days  as  these,  in  such  a  town  as  Alexandria  ?  And  then 
out  of  1600  men,  one-half  had  gone  to  fight  the  southern  bat- 
tles !  Among  the  women  of  Alexandria  secession  would  have 
found  but  few  opponents. 

It  was  here  that  a  hot-brained  young  man,  named  Ellsworth, 
was  killed  in  the  early  days  of  the  rebellion.  He  was  a  colonel  in 
the  northern  volunteer  army,  and  on  entering  Alexandria  found 
a  secession  flag  flying  at  the  chief  hotel.  Instead  of  sending 
up  a  corporal's  guard  to  remove  it,  he  rushed  up  and  pulled  it 
down  with  his  own  hand.  As  he  descended,  the  landlord  shot 
him  dead,  and  one  oHnhis  soldiers  shot  the  landlord  dead.  It 
was  a  pity  that  so  brave  a  lad,  who  had  risen  so  high,  should 
fall  so  vainly ;  but  they  have  made  a  hero  of  him  in  America ; 
—have  inscribed  his  name  on  marble  monuments,  and  counted 
him  up  among  their  great  men.  In  all  this  their  mistake  is 
very  great.  It  is  bad  for  a  country  to  have  no  names  worthy 
of  monumental  brass ;  but  it  is  worse  for  a  country  to  have 
monumental  brasses  covered  with  names  which  have  never  been 
made  worthy  of  such  honour.  Ellsworth  had  shown  himself 
to  be  brave  and  foolish.  Let  his  folly  be  pardoned  on  the  score 
of  his  courage,  and  there,  I  think,  should  have  been  an  end  of  it. 

I  found  afterwards  that  Mount  Vernon  was  accessible,  and  I 
rode  thither  with  some  ofiicers  from  the  staff  of  General  Heint- 
zelman,  whose  outside  pickets  were  stationed  beyond  the  old 
place.  I  certainly  should  not  have  been  well  pleased  had  I 
been  forced  to  leave  the  country  without  seeing  the  house  in 
which  Washington  had  lived  and  died.  Till  lately  this  place 
was  owned  and  inhabited  by  one  of  the  family,  a  Washington, 
descended  from  a  brother  of  the  General's ;  but  it  has  now  be- 


I  'i 


■'■\ 


T 


' 


S20 


NOBTH  AMBBICA. 


I  , 


',V 


I       '■ 


como  the  property  of  tho  country,  under  the  auspices  of  M.t. 
Everett,  by  whose  exertions  was  raised  tho  money  with  wliieli 
it  was  purchased.  It  is  a  long  house,  of  two  stories,  built,  I 
think,  chiefly  of  wood,  with  a  verandah,  or  rather  long  portico, 
attached  to  the  front,  which  looks  upon  the  river.  There  are 
two  wings,  or  sets  of  outhouses,  containing  the  kitchen  and 
servants'  rooms,  which  were  joined  by  open  wooden  verandahs 
to  the  main  building;  but  one  of  these  verandahs  has  gone,  un- 
der the  influence  of  years.  By  these  a  semicircular  sweep  is 
formed  before  tho  front  door,  which  opens  away  from  tho  riy. 
er,  and  towards  the  old  prim  gardens,  in  which,  we  were  told, 
General  Washington  used  to  take  much  delight.  There  is  noth- 
ing very  special  about  the  house.  Indeed,  as  a  house,  it  would 
now  be  found  comfortless  and  inconvenient.  But  the  ground 
falls  well  down  to  the  river,  and  the  timber,  if  not  fine,  is  plen- 
tiful and  picturesque.  The  chief  interest  of  the  place,  however, 
is  in  the  tomb  of  Washington  and  his  wife.  It  must  be  under- 
stood that  it  was  a  common  practice  throughout  the  States  to 
make  a  family  burying-ground  in  any  secluded  spot  on  the  fam- 
ily property.  I  have  not  unfrequently  come  across  these  in  my 
rambles,  and  in  Virginia  I  have  encountered  small,  unpretend- 
ing gravestones  under  a  shady  elm,  dated  as  lately  as  eight  or 
ten  years  back.  At  Mount  Vernon  there  is  now  a  cemetery  of 
the  Washington  family ;  and  there,  in  an  open  vault — a  vault 
open,  but  guarded  by  iron  grating — is  the  great  man's  tomb, 
and  by  his  side  the  tomb  of  Martha  his  "Hjife.  As  I  stood  there 
alone,  with  no  one  by  to  irritate  me  by  assertions  of  the  man's 
absolute  supremacy,  I  acknowledged  that  I  had  come  to  the 
final  resting-place  of  a  great  and  good  man, — of  a  man  whose 
patriotism  was,  I  believe,  an  honest  feeling,  untinged  by  any 
personal  ambition  of  a  selfish  nature.  That  he  was  pre-emi- 
nently a  successful  man  may  have  been  due  chiefly  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  his  cause,  and  the  blood  and  character  of  the  people 
who  put  him  forward  as  their  right  arm  in  their  contest ;  but 
that  he  did  not  mar  that  success  by  arrogance,  or  destroy  the 
brightness  of  his  own  name  by  personal  aggrandisement,  is  due  to 
a  noble  nature  and  to  the  calm  individual  excellence  of  the  man. 
Considering  the  circumstances  and  history  of  the  place,  the 
position  of  Mount  Vernon,  as  I  saw  it,  was  very  remarkable. 
It  lay  exactly  between  the  lines  of  the  two  armies.  The  pick- 
ets of  the  Northern  army  had  been  extended  beyond  it,  not  im- 
probably with  the  express  intention  of  keeping  a  spot  so  hal- 
lowed within  the  power  of  the  northern  Government.  But 
since  the  war  began  it  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  seceders. 


y4 


"WASHINGTON. 


321 


In  fact,  it  stood  there  in  the  middle  of  the  battle-field,  on  the 
very  line  of  division  between  loyalism  and  secession.  And  this 
was  the  spot  which  Washington  had  selected  as  the  heart  and 
centre,  and  safest  rallying  homestead  of  the  united  nation  which 
he  left  behind  him.  But  Washington,  when  he  resolved  to 
found  his  capital  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  knew  nothing 
of  the  glories  of  the  Mississippi.  He  did  not  dream  of  the 
speedy  addition  to  his  already  gathered  constellations  of  those 
Western  stars,  of  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa ;  nor 
did  he  dream  of  Texas  conquered,  Louisiana  purchased,  and 
Missouri  and  Kansas  rescued  from  the  wilderness. 

I  have  said  that  Washington  was  at  that  time, — the  Christ- 
mas of  1861-1862, — a  melancholy  place.  This  was  partly  ow- 
ing to  the  despondent  tone  in  Vhich  so  many  Americans  then 
spoke  of  their  own  affairs.  It  was  not  that  the  northern  men 
thought  that  they  were  to  be  beaten,  or  that  the  southern  men 
feared  that  things  were  going  bad  with  their  party  across  the 
river ;  but  that  nobody  seemed  to  have  any  faith  in  anybody. 
Maclellan  had  been  put  up  as  the  true  man — exalted  perhaps 
too  quickly,  considering  the  limited  opportunities  for  distin- 
guishing himself  which  fortune  had  thrown  in  his  way ;  but 
now  belief  in  Maclellan  seemed  to  be  slipping  away.  One  felt 
that  it  was  so  from  day  to  day,  though  it  was  impossible  to  de- 
fine how  or  whence  the  feeling  came.  And  then  the  character 
of  the  ministry  fared  still  worse  in  public  estimation.  That 
Lincoln,  the  President,  was  honest,  and  that  Chase,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  was  able,  was  the  only  good  that  one 
heard  spoken.  At  this  time  two  Jonahs  were  specially  pointed 
out  as  necessary  sacrifices,  by  whose  immersion  into  the  com- 
fortless ocean  of  private  life  the  ship  might  perhaps  be  saved. 
These  were  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  Mr.  Welles, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  It  was  said  that  Lincoln,  when 
pressed  to  rid  his  Cabinet  of  Cameron,  had  replied,  that  when 
a  man  was  crossing  a  stream  the  moment  was  hardly  conven- 
ient for  changing  his  horse ;  but  it  came  to  that  at  last,  that  he 
found  he  must  change  his  horse,  even  in  the  very  sharpest  run 
of  the  river.  Better  that  than  sit  an  animal  on  whose  exer- 
tions he  knew  that  he  could  not  trust.  So  Mr.  Cameron  went, 
and  Mr.  Stanton  became  Secretary  at  War  in  his  place.  But 
Mr.  Cameron,  though  put  out  of  the  Cabinet,  was  to  be  saved 
from  absolute  disgrace  by  being  sent  as  Minister  to  Kussia.  I 
do  not  know  that  it  would  become  me  here  to  repeat  the  accu- 
sations made  against  Mr.  Cameron,  but  it  had  long  seemed  to 
me  that  the  maintenance  in  such  a  position,  at  such  a  time,  of 

02 


1 

r 


I 


'>l 


322 


NOBTU  AMEBICA. 


a  gentleman  who  had  to  sustain  such  a  universal  absence  of 
public  confluence,  must  have  been  most  detrimental  to  the  army 
and  to  the  Government. 

Men  whom  one  met  in  Washington  were  not  unhappy  about 
the  state  of  things,  as  I  had  seen  men  unhappy  in  the  North 
and  in  the  West.  They  were  mainly  indifferent,  but  with  that 
sort  of  indifference  which  arises  from  a  break  down  of  faith  in 
anything.  "  There  was  the  army  I  Yes,  the  army  I  But  what 
an  army!  Nobody  obeyed  anybody.  Nobody  did  anything! 
Nobody  thought  of  advancing !  There  were,  perhaps,  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men  assembled  round  Washmgton;  and  now 
the  effort  of  supplying  them  with  food  and  clothing  was  as 
much  as  could  be  accomplished  I  But  the  contractors,  in  the 
meantime,  were  becoming  rich.*  And  then  as  to  the  Govern- 
ment  I  Who  trusted  it  ?  Who  would  put  their  faith  in  Sew- 
ard and  Cameron  ?  Cameron  was  now  gone,  it  was  true ;  and 
in  that  way  the  whole  of  the  Cabinet  would  soon  be  broken  up. 
As  to  Congress,  what  could  Congress  do  ?  Ask  questions  which 
no  one  would  care  to  answer,  and  finally  get  itself  packed  up 
and  sent  home."  The  President  and  the  constitution  fared  no 
better  in  men's  mouths.  The  former  did  nothing, — neither 
harm  nor  good ;  and  as  for  the  latter,  it  had  broken  down  and 
shown  itself  to  bo  inefficient.  So  men  ate,  and  drank,  and 
laughed,  waiting  till  chaos  should  come,  secure  in  the  belief 
that  the  atoms  into  which  their  world  would  resolve  itself, 
would  connect  themselves  again  in  some  other  form  without 
trouble  on  their  part. 

And  at  Washington  I  found  no  strong  feeling  against  En- 
gland and  English  conduct  towards  America.  "  We  men  of 
the  world,"  a  Washington  man  might  have  said,  "know  very 
well  that  everybody  must  take  care  of  himself  first.  We  are 
very  good  friends  with  you, — of  course,  and  are  very  glad  to  see 
you  at  our  table  whenever  you  come  across  the  water ;  but  as 
for  rejoicing  at  your  joys,  or  expecting  you  to  sympathize  with 
our  sorrows,  we  know  the  world  too  well  for  that.  We  are 
splitting  into  pieces,  and  of  course  that  ib  gain  to  you.  Take 
another  cigar."  This  polite,  fashionable,  and  certainly  comfort- 
able way  of  looking  at  the  matter  had  never  been  attained  at 
New  York  or  Philadelphia,  at  Boston  or  Chicago.  The  north- 
ern provincial  world  of  the  States  had  declared  to  itself  that 
those  who  were  not  with  it  were  against  it ;  that  its  neighbours 
should  be  either  friends  or  foes ;  that  it  would  understand  noth- 
ing of  neutrality.    This  was  often  mortifying  to  me,  but  I  think 


p\ 


WASHINGTON. 


323 


I  liked  it  better  on  the  whole  than  the  laisser-aller  indifference 
of  VVasliington. 

Everybody  acknowledged  that  society  in  Washington  had 
been  almost  destroyed  by  the  loss  of  the  southern  half  of  the 
usual  sojourners  in  the  city.  The  senators  and  members  of 
Government,  who  heretofore  had  como  from  the  southern 
States,  had  no  doubt  spent  more  money  in  the  capital  than  their 
northern  bret.liren.  They  and  their  families  had  been  more  ad- 
dicted to  social  pleasures.  They  are  the  descendants  of  the  old 
English  Cavaliers,  whereas  the  northern  men  have  come  from 
the  old  English  Soundheads.  Or  if,  as  may  be  the  case,  the 
blood  of  the  races  has  now  been  too  well  mixed  to  allow  of  this 
being  said  with  absolute  truth,  yet  something  of  the  manners 
of  the  old  forefathers  has  been  left.  The  southern  gentleman 
is  more  genial,  less  dry, — I  will  not  say  more  hospitable,  but 
more  given  to  enjoy  hospitality  than  his  northern  brother ;  and 
this  difference  is  quite  as  strong  with  the  women  as  with  the 
men.  It  may  therefore  be  understood  that  secession  would  be 
very  fatal  to  the  society  of  Washington.  It  was  not  only  that 
the  members  of  Congress  were  not  there.  As  to  very  many 
of  the  representatives,  it  may  be  said  that  they  do  not  belong 
Bufficiently  to  Washington  to  make  a  part  of  its  society.  It  is 
not  every  representative  that  is,  perhaps,  qualified  to  do  so. 
But  secession  had  taken  away  from  Washington  those  who 
held  property  in  the  South — who  were  bound  to  the  South  bv 
any  ties,  whether  political  or  other ;  who  belonged  to  the  South 
by  blood,  education,  and  old  habits.  In  very  many  cases — nay, 
in  most  such  cases — it  had  been  necessary  that  a  man  should 
select  whether  he  would  be  a  friend  to  the  South,  and  there- 
fore a  rebel ;  or  else  an  enemy  to  the  South,  and  therefore  un- 
true to  all  the  predilections  and  sympathies  of  his  life.  Here 
has  been  the  hardship.  For  such  people  there  has  been  no 
neutrality  possible.  Ladies  even  have  not  been  able  to  profess 
themselvess  simply  anxious  for  peace  and  goodwill,  and  so  to 
remain  tranquil.  They  who  are  not  for  me  are  against  me,  has 
been  spoken  by  one  side  and  by  the  other.  And  I  suppose  that 
in  all  civil  war  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  be  so.  I  neard  of 
various  cases  in  which  father  and  son  had  espoused  different 
sides  in  order  that  property  might  be  retained  both  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  Under  such  circumstances  it  may  be 
supposed  that  society  in  Washington  would  be  considerably 
cut  up.    All  this  made  the  place  somewhat  r^elancholy. 


1     I 


f 


824 


NORTH   AMCIUOA. 


CHAPTEU  XXII. 


CONOKESS. 


n 


In  tho  interior  of  the  Capitol  much  spnco  is  at  present  wasted, 
but  this  arises  from  tho  fact  of  great  additions  to  tho  original  plan 
having  been  made.  Tho  two  chambers, — that  of  tho  Senate  and 
of  tho  Representatives,  are  in  the  two  new  wings,  on  the  middle, 
or  what  jvo  cull  tho  first-fl  The  entrance  is  made  under  a 

dome,  to  a  largo  circular  hai  ,  which  is  hung  around  with  surely 
the  worst  pictures  by  which  a  nation  ever  sought  to  glorify  its 
own  deeds.  There  are  yards  of  paintings  at  Versailles  which  arc 
bad  enough ;  but  there  is  nothing  at  Versailles  comparable  in  vil- 
lany  to  tho  huge  daubs  which  arc  preserved  in  this  hall  at  the  Cap- 
itol. It  is  strange  that  even  self-laudatory  patriotism  should  de- 
sire tho  perpetuation  of  such  rubbish.  When  I  was  there  the  new 
dome  was  still  in  progress,  and  an  ugly  column  of  woodwork,  re- 
quired for  internal  support  and  affording  a  staircase  to  the  top, 
stood  in  this  hall.  This  of  course  was  a  temporary  and  necessai-y 
evil ;  but  even  this  was  hung  around  with  the  vilest  of  portraits. 

From  the  hall,  turning  tc  tho  left,  if  tho  entrance  be  made  at 
tho  front  door,  one  goes  to  new  Chamber  of  Representatives, 
passing  through  that  whic*.  .s  tho  old  chamber.  This  is  now 
dedicated  to  the  exposition  of  various  new  figures  by  Crawford, 
and  to  the  sale  of  tarts  and  gingerbread, — of  very  bad  tarts  and 
gingerbread.  Let  that  old  woman  look  to  it,  or  let  the  House  dis- 
miss her.  In  fact,  this  chamber  is  now  but  a  vestibule  to  a  pas- 
sage, a  second  hall  as  it  were,  and  thus  thrown  away.  Changes 
probably  will  be  made  which  will  bring  it  into  some  use,  or  some 
scheme  of  ornamentation.  From  this  a  passage  runs  to  the  Rep- 
resentative Chamber,  passing  between  those  tell-tale  windows, 
which,  looking  to  tho  right  and  left,  proclaim  the  tenuity  of  the 
building.  The  windows  on  one  side,  that  looking  to  the  east  or 
front,  should,  I  think,  be  closed.  The  appearance,  both  from  the 
inside  and  from  the  outside,  would  be  thus  improved. 

The  Representative  Chamber  itself — which  of  course  answers  to 
our  House  of  Commons — ^is  a  handsome,  commodious  room,  ad- 
mirably fitted  for  the  purposes  required.  It  strikes  one  as  rather 
low,  but  I  doubt  if  it  were  higher  whether  it  would  be  better 
adapted  for  hearing.  Even  at  present  it  is  not  perfect  in  this  re- 
spect as  regards  the  listeners  in  the  gallery.  It  is  a  handsome, 
long  chamber,  lighted  by  skylights  from  the  roof,  and  is  amply 


[i)l 


CONGRESS. 


825 


largo  enough  for  the  number  to  bo  accommodated.  The  Speaker 
gits  opponito  to  tho  chief  entrance,  his  desk  being  fixed  against  the 
oi)po8ito  wall.  He  is  thus  brought  nearer  to  tho  body  of  tho  men 
before  him  tlum  is  tho  case  with  our  Speaker.  He  sits  at  a  mar- 
ble table,  and  tho  clerks  below  him  are  also  accommodated  with 
marble.  Every  representative  has  his  own  arm-chair,  and  his 
own  desk  before  it.  This  may  bo  dono  for  a  house  consisting  of 
nbout  240  members,  but  could  hardly  bo  contrived  with  us.  Theso 
desks  are  arranged  in  a  semicircular  form,  or  in  a  broad  horseshoe, 
and  every  member  as  he  sits  faces  tho  Speaker.  A  score  or  so  of 
little  boys  are  always  running  about  tho  floor,  ministering  to  tho 
members'  wishes,  carrying  up  petitions  to  the  chair,  bringing  wa- 
ter to  long-winded  legislators,  delivering  and  carrying  out  letters, 
and  running  with  general  messages.  They  do  not  seem  to  inter- 
rupt tho  course  of  bu^ncss,  and  yet  they  are  tho  liveliest  little  boys 
I  ever  saw.  When  a  member  claps  his  hands,  indicating  a  desiro 
for  attendance,  three  or  four  will  jockey  for  the  honour.  On  tho 
whole,  I  thought  tho  little  boys  had  a  good  time  of  it. 

liut  not  so  the  Speaker.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  amount  of 
work  falling  upon  tho  Speaker's  shoulders  was  cruelly  heavy.  His 
voice  was  always  ringing  in  my  ears,  exactly  as  does  the  voice  of 
the  croupier  at  a  gambling-table  who  goes  on  declaring  and  ex- 
plaining tho  results  of  tho  game,  and  who  generally  does  so  in 
sharp,  loud,  ringing  tones,  from  which  all  interest  in  the  proceed- 
ing itself  seems  to  be  excluded.  It  was  just  so  with  the  Speaker 
in  the  House  oC  Representatives.  The  debate  was  always  full  of 
interruptions;  but  on  every  interruption  the  Speaker  asked  the 
gentleman  interrupted  whether  he  would  consent  to  be  so  treated. 
"  The  gentleman  Jrom  Indiana  has  the  floor."  "  The  gentleman 
from  Ohio  wishes  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Indiana  a  question." 
"The  gentleman. from  Indiana  gives  permission."  "The  gentle- 
man from  Ohio !" — these  last  words  being  a  summons  to  him  of 
Ohio  to  get  up  and  ask  his  question.  "  The  gentleman  from  Penn- 
sylvania rises  to  order."  "  The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  is 
in  order."  And  then  the  House  seems  always  to  be  voting,  and 
the  Speaker  is  always  putting  the  question.  "The  gentlemen 
who  agree  to  the  amendment  will  say,  Ay."  Not  a  sound  is  heard. 
"  The  gentlemen  who  oppose  the  amendment  will  say,  No."  Again 
not  a  sound.  "  The  Ayes  have  it,"  says  the  Speaker,  and  then 
he  goes  on  again.  All  this  he  does  with  amazing  rapidity,  and  is 
always  at  it  with  the  same  hard,  quick,  ringing,  uninterested  voice. 
The  gentleman  whom  I  saw  in  the  chair  was  very  clever,  and 
quite  up  to  the  task.     But  as  for  dignity  — !     Perhaps  it  might 


»  iy 


-•ia 


326 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'i/ 


■■,'r 


I 


be  found  that  any  great  accession  of  dignity  would  impede  the  ce- 
lerity of  the  work  to  be  done,  and  that  a  closer  copy  of  the  Brit- 
ish model  might  not  on  the  whole  increase  the  efficiency  of  the 
American  machine. 

When  any  matter  of  real  interest  occasioned  a  vote,  the  ayes 
and  noes  would  be  given  aloud  ;  and  then,  if  there  were  a  doubt 
arising  from  the  volume  of  sound,  the  Speaker  would  declare  that 
the  "  ayes"  or  the  "  noes"  would  seem  to  have  it !  And  upon  this 
a  poll  would  be  demanded.  In  such  case£  the  Speaker  calls  on 
two  members,  who  come  forth  and  stand  fronting  each  other  before 
the  chair,  making  a  gangway.  Through  this  the  ayes  wr.ik  like 
sheep,  the  tellers  giving  them  an  accelerating  poke  when  they  fail 
to  go  on  with  rapidity.  Thus  they  are  counted,  and  the  noes  are 
counted  in  the  same  way.  It  seemed  to  me  that  it  would  be  very 
pospible  ill  a  dishonest  legislator  to  vote  twice  on  any  subject  of 
great  interest ;  but  it  may  perhaps  be  the  case  that  the^e  are  no 
dishonest  legislators  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

According  to  a  list  which  I  obtained,  the  present  number  of 
members  is  173,  and  there  are  63  vacancies  occasioned  by  seces- 
sion. New  York  returns  33  members,  Pennsylvania  25,  Ohio  21, 
Virginia  13,  Massachusetts  and  Indiana  11,  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky 10,  South  Carolina  6,  and  so  on,  till  Delaware,  Kansas,  and 
Florida  retarn  only  1  each.  When  the  constitution  was  framed, 
Pennsylvania  returned  8,  and  New  York  only  6 ;  whereas  Vir- 
ginia returned  10,  and  South  Carolina  5.  From  which  may  be 
gathered  the  relative  rate  of  inciease  in  population  of  the  Free- 
soil  States  and  the  Slave  States.  All  these  States  return  two  sen- 
ators each  to  the  othci*  House,  Kansas  sending  as  many  as  New 
York.  The  work  in  the  House  begins  at  12  noon,  and  is  not 
often  carried  on  late  into  the  evening.  Indeed  this,  I  think,  is 
never  done  till  towards  the  end  of  the  session. 

The  Senate  House  is  in  the  opposite  wing  of  the  building,  the 
position  of  the  one  house  answering  exactly  to  that  of  the  other. 
It  is  somewhat  smaller,  but  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  much  less 
crowded.  There  are  34  States,  and  therefore  68  seats  and  68 
desks  only  are  required.  These  also  are  arranged  in  a  horseshoe 
form,  and  face  the  President ;  but  there  was  a  sad  array  of  euipty 
chairs  when  I  was  in  Washington,  nineteen  or  twenty  seats  being 
vacant  in  consequence  of  secession.  In  this  house  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  acts  as  President,  but  has  by  no  means 
so  hard  a  job  of  work  as  his  brother  on  the  other  side  of  the  way. 
Mr.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  from  Maine,  now  fills  this  chair.  I  was 
driven,  while  in  Washington,  to  observe  something  amounting  al- 


. 


CONGRESS. 


327 


most  to  a  peculiarity  in  the  Christian  names  of  the  gentlemen  who 
were  then  administrating  the  Government  of  the  country.  Mr. 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  President,  Mr.  Hannibal  Hamlin  the 
Vice-President,  Mr.  Galusha  Grow  the  Speaker  of  the  Representa- 
tives, Mr.  Salmon  Chase  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Caleb 
Smith  the  Attorney-General,  Mr.  Simon  Cameron  the  Secretary 
at  War,  and  Mr.  Gideon  Welies  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

In  the  Senate  House,  as  in  the  other  house,  there  are  very  com- 
modious galleries  for  strangers,  running  round  the  entire  chambers, 
and  these  galleries  are  open  to  all  the  world.  As  with  all  such 
places  in  the  States,  r\  large  portion  of  them  is  appropriated  to  la- 
dies. But  I  came  at  last  to  find  that  the  word  lady  signified  a 
female  or  a  decently  dressed  man.  Any  arrangement  for  classes 
is  in  America  impossible ;  the  seats  intended  for  gentlemen  must 
as  a  matter  of  course  be  open  to  all  men ;  but  by  giving  up  to  the 
rougher  sex  half  the  amount  of  accommodation  nominally  devoted 
to  ladies,  the  desirable  division  is  to  a  certain  extent  made.  I 
generally  found  that  I  could  obtain  admittance  to  the  ladies'  gal- 
lery if  my  coat  were  decent  and  I  had  gloves  with  me. 

AH  the  adjuncts  of  both  these  chambers  arc  rich  and  in  good 
keeping.  The  staircases  are  of  marble,  and  the  outside  passages 
and  lobbies  are  noble  in  size  and  in  every  way  convenient.  One 
knows  well  the  trouble  of  getting  into  the  House  of  Lords  and 
House  of  Commons,  and  the  want  of  comfort  which  attends  one 
there ;  and  an  Englishman  cannot  fail  to  make  oomparisons  injuri- 
ous to  his  own  country.  It  would  not,  perhaps,  be  possible  to 
welcome  all  the  world  in  London  as  is  done  in  Washington,  but 
there  can  be  no  good  reason  why  the  space  given  to  the  public 
with  us  should  not  equal  that  given  in  Washington.  But,  so  far 
are  we  from  sheltering  the  public,  that  we  have  made  our  House  of 
Commons  so  small,  that  it  will  not  even  hold  all  its  own  members. 

I  had  4»n  opportunity  of  being  present  at  one  of  their  field-days 
in  the  Senate.  Slidell  and  Mason  had  just  then  been  sent  from 
Fort  Warren  across  to  England  in  the  Binaldo.  And  here  I  may 
as  well  say  what  further  there  is  for  me  to  say  about  those  two 
heroes.  I  was  in  Boston  when  they  were  taken,  and  all  Boston 
was  then  full  of  them.  I  was  at  Washington  when  they  were  sur- 
rendered, and  at  Washington  for  a  time  their  names  were  the  only 
household  words  in  vogue.  To  me  it  had,  from  the  first,  been  a 
matter  of  certainty  that  England  would  demand  the  restitution  of 
the  men.  I  had  never  attempted  to  argue  the  matter  on  the  legal 
points,  but  I  felt,  as  though  by  instinct,  that  it  would  be  so.  First 
of  all  there  reached  us,  by  telegram,  from  Cape  Bace,  rumours  of 


il! 


illM 


•''% 


:,1 


',!] 


f 


If, ' 


i 


328 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


what  the  press  in  England  was  saying ; — rumours  of  a  meeting  in 
Liverpool,  and  rumours  of  the  feeling  in  London.  And  then  the 
papers  followed,  and  we  got  our  private  letters.  It  was  some 
days  before  we  knew  what  was  actually  the  demand  made  by  Lord 
Palmerston's  cabinet ;  and  during  this  time,  through  the  five  or 
six  days  which  were  thus  passed,  it  was  clear  to  be  seen  that  the 
American  feeling  was  undergoing  a  great  change — or  if  not  the 
feeling,  at  any  rate  the  purpose.  Men  now  talked  of  surrender- 
ing these  Commissioners  as  though  it  were  a  line  of  conduct  which 
Mr.  Seward  might  find  convenient;  and  then  men  went  further, 
and  said  that  Mr.  Sew?,rd  would  find  any  other  line  of  conduct 
very  inconvenient.  The  newspapers,  one  after  another,  came 
round.  That,  under  all  the  circumstances,  the  States  Ciovern- 
ment  behaved  well  in  the  matter  no  one,  I  think,  can  deny ;  but 
the  newspapers,  taken  as  a  whole,  were  not  very  consistent  and,  1 
think,  not  very  dignified.  They  had  declared  with  throats  of  brass 
that  these  men  should  never  be  surrendered  to  perfidious  Albion ; 
but  when  it  came  to  be  understood  that  in  all  probability  they 
would  be  so  surrendered,  they  veered  round  without  an  excuse, 
and  spoke  of  their  surrender  as  of  a  thing  of  course.  And  thus, 
in  the  course  of  about  a  week,  the  whole  current  of  men's  minds 
was  turned.  For  myself,  on  my  first  arrival  at  Washington,  I  felt 
certain  that  there  would  be  war,  and  was  preparing  myself  for  a 
quick  return  to  England ;  but  from  the  moment  that  the  first  whis- 
per of  England's  message  reached  us,  and  that  I  began  to  hear  how 
it  was  received  and  what  men  said  about  it,  I  knew  that  I  need 
not  hurry  myself.  One  met  a  minister  here,  and  a  senator  there, 
and  anon  some  wise  diplomatic  functionary.  By  none  of  these 
grave  men  would  any  secret  be  divulged ;  none  of  them  had  any 
secret  ready  for  divulging.  But  it  was  to  be  read  in  every  look 
of  the  eye,  in  every  touch  of  the  hand,  and  in  every  fall  of  the  foot 
of  each  of  them,  that  Mason  and  Slidell  would  go  to  England. 

Then  we  had,  in  all  the  fulness  of  diplomatic  language,  Lord 
Russell's  demand  and  Mr.  Seward's  answer.  Lord  Russell's  de- 
mand was  worded  in  language  so  mild,  was  so  devoid  of  threat, 
was  so  free  from  anger,  that  at  the  first  reading  it  seemed  to  ask 
for  nothing.  It  almost  disappointed  by  its  mildness.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's reply,  on  the  other  hand,  by  its  length  of  argumentation,  by 
a  certain  sharpness  of  diction  to  which  that  gentleman  is  addicted 
in  his  State  papers,  and  by  a  tone  of  satisfaction  inherent  through 
it  all,  seemed  to  demand  more  than  he  conceded.  But,  in  truth; 
Lord  Russell  had  demanded  everything,  and  the  United  States 
Government  had  conceded  everything. 


CONGRESS. 


829 


I  have  said  that  the  American  Government  behaVed  well  in  its 
mode  of  giving  the  men  up,  and  I  think  that  so  much  should  bo 
allowed  to  them  on  a  review  of  the  whole  affair.  That  Captain 
Wilkes  had  no  instructions  to  seize  the  two  men  is  a  known  fact. 
He  did  seize  them  and  brought  them  into  Boston  hi^rbour,  to  the 
great  delight  of  his  countrymen.  This  delight  I  could  understand, 
though  of  course  I  did  not  share  it.  One  of  these  men  had  been 
the  parent  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law ;  the  other  had  been  great 
in  fostering  the  success  of  filibustering.  Both  of  them  were  hot 
secessionists,  and  undoubtedly  rebels.  No  two  men  on  the  conti- 
nent were  more  grievous  by  their  antecedents  and  present  charac- 
ters to  all  northern  feeling.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  they 
were  rebels  against  the  Government  of  their  country.  That  Cap- 
tain Wilkes  was  not  on  this  account  justified  in  seizing  them  is 
now  a  matter  of  history,  but  that  the  people  of  the  loyal  States 
should  rejoice  in  their  seizure  was  a  matter  of  course.  Wilkes 
was  received  with  an  ovation,  which  as  regarded  him  was  ill- 
judged  and  undeserved,  but  which  in  its  spirit  was  natural.  Had 
the  President's  Government  at  that  moment  disowned  the  deed 
done  by  Wilkes,  and  declared  its  intention  cf  giving  up  the  men 
unasked,  the  clamour  raised  would  have  been  very  great,  and  per- 
haps successful.  We  were  told  that  the  American  lawyers  were 
against  their  doing  so ;  and  indeed  there  was  such  a  shout  of  tri- 
umph that  no  ministry  in  a  country  so  democratic  could  have  ven- 
tured to  go  at  once  against  it,  and  to  do  so  without  any  external 
pressure. 

Then  came  the  one  ministerial  blunder.  The  President  put 
forth  his  message,  in  which  he  was  cunningly  silent  on  the  Slidell 
and  Mason  affair ;  but  to  his  message  was  appended,  according  to 
custom,  the  report  from  Mr.  Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
In  this  report  approval  was  expressed  of  the  deed  done  by  Captain 
Wilkes.  Captain  Wilkes  was  thus  in  all  respects  indemnified,  and 
the  blame,  if  any,  was  taken  from  his  shoulders  and  put  on  to  the 
shoulders  of  that  officer  who  was  responsible  for  the  Secretary's 
letter.  It  is  true  that  in  that  letter  the  Secretarv  declared  that 
in  case  of  any  future  seizure  the  vessel  seized  must  be  taken  into 
port,  and  so  declared  in  animadverting  on  the  fact  that  Captain 
Wilkes  had  not  brought  the  *  Trent'  into  port.  But,  nevertheless. 
Secretary  Welles  approved  of  Captain  Wilkes's  conduct.  He  al- 
lowed the  reasons  to  be  good  which  Wilkes  had  put  forward  for 
leaving  the  ship,  and  in  all  respects  indemnified  the  captain.  Then 
the  responsibility  shifted  itself  to  Secretary  Welles ;  but  I  think  it 
must  be  clear  that  the  President,  in  sending  forward  that  report, 


ii'li!' 


830 


NOBTH  AMERICA. 


I  ' 


'l  ' 


took  that  responsibility  upon  himself.    That  he  is  not  bound  to 

send  forward  the  reports  of  his  Secretaries  as  he  receives  them ; 

that  he  can  disapprove  them  and  require  alteration,  was  proved  at 
the  very  time  by  the  fact  that  he  had  in  this  way  condemned  Sec- 
retary Cameron's  report,  and  caused  a  portion  of  it  to  be  omitted. 
Secretary  Cameron  had  unfortunately  allowed  his  entire  report  to 
be  printed,  and  it  appeared  in  a  New  York  paper.  It  contained  a 
recommendation  with  reference  to  the  slave  question  most  offens- 
ive to  a  part  of  the  Cabinet,  and  to  the  majority  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
party.  This,  by  order  of  the  President,  was  omitted  in  the  official 
way.  It  was  certainly  a  pity  that  Mr.  Welles' s  paragraph  respect- 
ing the  *  Trent'  was  not  omitted  also.  The  President  was  dumb  on 
the  matter,  and  that  being  so  the  Secretary  should  have  been  dumb 
also. 

But  when  the  demand  was  made  the  States  Government  yielded 
at  once,  and  yielded  without  bluster.  I  cannot  say  I  much  ad- 
mired Mr.  Seward's  long  letter^  It  was  full  of  smart  special  plead- 
ing, and  savoured  strongly,  as  Mr.  Seward's  productions  always  do, 
of  the  personal  author.  Mr.  Seward  was  making  an  effort  to  place 
a  great  State  paper  on  record,  but  the  ars  cclare  artem  was  alto- 
gether wanting ;  and,  if  I  am  not  mlltaken,  he  was  without  the 
art  itself.  I  think  he  left  the  matter  very  much  where  he  found 
it.  The  men  however  were  to  be  surrendered,  and  the  good  pol- 
icy consisted  in  this, — that  no  delay  was  sought,  no  diplomatic 
ambiguities  were  put  into  request.  It  was  the  opinion  of  very 
many  that  some  two  or  three  months  might  be  gained  by  corre- 
spondence, and  that  at  the  end  of  that  time  things  might  stand  on 
a  different  footing.  If  during  that  time  the  North  should  gain 
any  great  success  over  the  South,  the  States  might  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  disregard  England's  threats.  No  such  game  was  played. 
The  illegality  of  the  arrest  was  at  once  acknowledged,  and  the 
men  were  given  up, — with  a  tranquillity  that  certainly  appeared 
marvellous  after  all  that  had  so  lately  occurred.    , 

Then  came  Mr.  Sumner's  field  day.  Mr.  Charles  Sumner  is  a 
senator  from  Massachusetts,  known  as  a  very  hot  abolitionist  and 
as  having  been  the  victim  of  an  attack  made  upon  him  in  the  Sen- 
ate House  by  Senator  Brookes.  He  was  also  at  the  time  of  which 
I  am  writing  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  which 
position  is  as  near  akin  to  that  of  a  British  minister  in  Parliament 
as  can  be  attained  under  the  existing  constitution  of  the  States. 
It  is  not  similar,  because  such  chairman  is  by  no  means  bound  to 
the  Government ;  but  he  has  ministerial  relations,  and  is  supposed 
to  be  specially  conversant  with  all  questions  relating  to  foreign  af- 


CONGRESS. 


831 


fairs.  It  was  understood  that  Mr.  Sumner  did  not  intend  to  find 
fault  either  with  England  or  with  the  Government  of  his  own 
country  as  to  its  management  of  this  matter ;  or  that,  at  least,  such 
fault-findiug  was  not  his  special  object,  but  that  he  was  desirous 
to  put  forth  views  which  might  lead  to  a  final  settlement  of  all 
difficulties  with  reference  to  the  right  of  international  search. 

On  such  an  occasion,  a  speaker  gives  himself  very  little  chance 
of  making  a  favorable  impression  on  his  immediate  hearers  if  he 
reads  his  speech  from  a  written  manuscript.  Mr.  Sumner  did  so 
on  this  occasion,  and  I  must  confess  that  I  ^/as  not  edified.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  he  merely  repeated,  at  greater  length,  the  argu- 
ments which  I  had  heard  fifty  times  during  the  last  thirty  or  forty 
days.  I  am  told  that  the  discourse  is  considered  to  be  logical,  and 
thav  it  "  reads"  well.  As  regards  the  gist  of  it,  or  that  result 
which  Mr.  Sumner  thinks  to  be  desirable,  I  fully  agree  with  him, 
as  I  think  will  all  the  civilized  world  before  many  years  have 
passed.  If  international  law  be  what  the  lawyers  say  it  is,  inter- 
national law  must  be  altered  to  suit  the  requirements  of  modern 
civilization.  By  those  laws,  as  they  are  construed,  everything  is 
to  be  done  for  two  nations  at  war  with  each  other ;  but  nothing 
is  to  be  done  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world  that  can  manage  to 
maintain  the  peace.  The  belligerents  are  to  be  treated  with  every 
delicacy,  as  we  treat  our  heinous  criminals ;  but  the  poor  neutrals 
are  to  be  handled  with  unjust  rigour,  as  we  handle  our  unfortu- 
nate witnesses  in  order  that  the  murderer  may,  if  possible,  be  al- 
lowed to  escape.  Two  men  living  in  the  same  street  choose  to 
pelt  each  other  across  the  way  with  brickbats,  and  the  other  in- 
habitants are  denied  the  privileges  of  the  footpath  lest  they  should 
interfere  with  the  due  prosecution  of  the  quarrel !  It  is,  I  sup- 
pose, the  truth,  that  we  English  have  insisted  on  this  right  of  search 
with  more  pertinacity  than  any  other  nation.  Now  in  this  case 
of  Slidell  and  Mason  we  have  felt  ourselves  aggrieved,  and  have 
resisted.  Luckily  for  us  there  was  no  doubt  of  the  illegality  of 
the  mode  of  seizure  in  this  instance ;  but  who  will  say  that  if 
Captain  Wilkes  had  taken  the  *  Trent'  into  the  harbour  of  New 
York,  in  order  that  the  matter  might  have  been  adjudged  there, 
England  would  have  been  satisfied  1  Our  grievance  was,  that  our 
mail-packet  was  stopped  on  the  seas  while  doing  its  ordinary  be- 
neficent work.  And  our  resolve  is,  that  our  mail-packets  shall 
not  be  so  stopped  with  impunity.  As  we  were  high-handed  in 
old  days  in  insisting  on  this  right  of  search,  and  as  we  are  high- 
handed now  in  resisting  a  right  of  search,  it  certainly  behoves  us 
to  see  that  we  be  just  in  our  modes  of  proceed'ig.     Would  Cap- 


n 


882 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


tain  "Wilkes  have  been  right  according  to  the  existing  law  if  he 
had  carried  the  '  Trent'  away  io  New  York  ?  If  so,  we  ought  not 
to  be  content  with  having  escaped  from  such  a  trouble  merely 
through  a  mistake  on  his  part.  Lord  Russell  says  that  the 
*  Trent's'  voyage  was  an  innocent  voyage.  That  is  the  fact  that 
should  be  established ;  not  only  that  the  voyage  was,  in  truth,  in- 
nocent, but  that  it  should  not  be  made  out  to  be  guilty  by  any  in- 
ternational law.  Of  its  real  innocency  all  thinking  men  must  feel 
themselves  assured.  But  it  is  not  only  of  the  seizure  that  we 
complain,  but  of  the  search  also.  An  honest  man  is  not  to  be 
handled  by  a  policeman  while  on  his  daily  work,  lest  by  chance 
a  stolen  watch  should  be  in  his  pocket.  If  international  law  did 
give  such  power  to  all  belligerents,  international  law  must  give  it 
no  longer.  In  the  beginning  of  these  matters,  as  I  take  it,  the  ob- 
ject was  when  two  powerful  nations  were  at  war  to  allow  the 
smaller  fry  of  nations  to  enjoy  peace  and  quiet,  and  to  avoid  if 
possible  the  general  scuffle.  Thence  arose  the  position  of  a  neu- 
tral. But  it  was  clearly  not  fair  that  any  such  nation,  having  pro- 
claimed its  neutrality,  should,  after  that,  fetch  and  carry  for  either 
of  the  combatants  to  the  prejudice  of  the  other.  Hence  came  the 
right  of  search,  in  order  that  unjust  falsehood  might  be  prevented. 
But  the  seas  were  not  then  bridged  with  ships  as  they  are  now 
bridged,  and  the  laws  as  written  were,  perhaps,  then  practical  and 
capable  of  execution.  Now  they  are  impracticable  and  not  capa- 
ble of  execution.  It  will  not,  however,  do  for  us  to  ignore  them  if 
they  exist ;  and  therefore  they  should  be  changed.  It  is,  I  think, 
manifest  that  our  own  pretensions  as  to  the  right  of  search  must 
be  modified  after  this.  And  now  I  trust  I  may  finish  my  book 
without  again  naming  Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason. 

The  working  of  the  Senate  bears  little  or  no  analogy  to  that  of 
our  House  of  Lords.  In  the  first  place,  the  senator's  tenure  there 
is  not  hereditary,  nor  is  it  for  life.  They  are  elected,  and  sit  for 
six  years.  Their  election  is  not  made  by  the  people  of  their  States, 
but  by  the  State  Legislature.  The  two  Houses,  for  instance,  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  meet  together  and  elect  by  their  joint  vote 
to  the  vacant  seat  for  their  State.  It  is  so  arranged  that  an  en- 
tirely new  senate  is  not  elected  every  sixth  year.  Instead  of  this  a 
third  of  the  number  is  elected  every  second  year.  It  is  a  common 
thing  for  senators  to  be  re-elected,  and  thus  to  remain  in  the  House 
for  twelve  and  sixteen  years.  In  our  Parliament  the  House  of 
Commons  has  greater  political  strength  and  wider  political  action 
than  the  House  of  Lords ;  but  in  Congress  the  Senate  counts  for 
more  than  the  House  of  Representatives  in  general  opinion.    Mon- 


i        !    I 
ill 


CONGRESS. 


333 


cy  bills  must  originate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  that 
is,  I  think,  the  only  special  privilege  attaching  to  the  public  purse 
Avhich  the  lower  House  enjoys  over  the  upper.  Amendments  to 
such  bills  can  be  moved  in  the  Senate;  and  all  such  bills  must 
pass  the  Senate  before  they  become  law.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  individual  members  of  the  Senate  work  harder  than  individ- 
ual representatives.  More  is  expected  of  them,  and  any  prolonged 
absence  from  duty  would  be  more  remarked  in  the  Senate  than  in 
the  other  House.  In  our  Parliament  this  is  reversed.  The  pay- 
ment made  to  members  of  the  Senate  is  3000  dollars,  or  COO/,  per 
annum,  and  to  a  representative,  500/.  per  annum.  To  this  is  added 
certain  mileage  allowance  for  travelling  backwards  and  forwards, 
between  their  own  State  and  the  Capitol.  A  senator,  therefore, 
from  California  or  Oregon  has  not  altogether  a  bad  place ;  but 
the  halcyon  days  of  mileage  allowances  are,  I  believe,  soon  to  be 
brought  to  an  end.  It  is  quite  within  rule  that  the  senator  of  to- 
day should  be  the  representative  of  to-morrow.  Mr.  Crittenden, 
who  was  senator  from  Kentucky,  is  now  a  member  of  the  Lower 
House  from  an  electoral  district  in  that  State.  John  Quincy 
Adams  went  into  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  after  he  had  been 
President  of  the  United  States. 

Divisions  in  the  Senate  do  not  take  place  as  in  the  House  of 
Kepresentatives.  The  ayes  and  noes  are  called  for  in  the  same 
way ;  but  if  a  poll  be  demanded,  the  clerk  of  the  House  calls  out 
the  names  of  the  different  senators,  and  makes  out  lists  of  the 
votes  according  to  the  separate  answers  given  by  the  members. 
The  mode  is  certainly  more  dignified  than  that  pursued  in  the 
other  House,  where  during  the  ceremony  of  voting  the  members 
look  very  much  like  sheep  being  passed  into  their  pens. 

I  heard  two  or  three  debates  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  that  one  especially  in  which,  as  I  have  said  before,  a  chapter 
was  read  out  of  the  book  of  Joshua.  The  manner  in  which  the 
Creator's  name  and  the  authority  of  His  Word  was  bandied  about 
the  house  on  that  occasion,  did  not  strike  me  favourably.  The 
question  originally  under  debate  was  the  relative  power  of  the 
civil  and  military  authority.  Congress  had  desired  to  declare  its 
ascendancy  over  military  matters  ;  but  the  army  and  the  Execu- 
tive generally  had  demurred  to  this, — not  with  an  absolute  denial 
of  the  rights  of  Congress,  but  with  those  civil  and  almost  silent 
generalities  with  which  a  really  existing  Power  so  well  knows 
how  to  treat  a  nominal  Power.  The  ascendant  wife  seldom  tells 
her  husband  in  so  many  words  that  his  opinion  in  the  house  is  to 
go  for  nothing ;  she  merely  resolves  that  such  shall  be  the  case, 


'■1 


334 


Moirrn  amebica. 


i 


and  acts  accordingly.  An  observer  could  not  but  perceive  that  in 
those  days  Congress  was  taking  upon  itself  the  part,  not  exactly 
of  an  obedient  husband,  but  of  a  husband  vainly  attempting  to  as- 
sert his  supremacy.  "  I  have  got  to  learn,"  said  one  gentleman 
after  another,  rising  indignantly  on  the  floor,  "  that  the  militaiy 
authority  of  our  generals  is  above  that  of  this  House."  And  then 
one  gentleman  relieved  the  difficulty  of  the  position  by  branching 
off  into  an  eloquent  discourse  against  slavery,  and  by  causing  a 
chapter  to  be  read  out  of  the  book  of  Joshua. 

On  that  occasion  the  gentleman's  diversion  seemed  to  have  the 
effect  of  relieving  the  House  altogether  from  the  embarrassment  of 
the  original  question  ;  but  it  was  becoming  manifest,  day  by  day, 
that  Congress  was  losing  its  ground,  and  that  the  army  was  be- 
coming indifferent  to  its  thunders : — that  the  army  was  doing  so, 
and  also  that  ministers  were  doing  so.     In  the  States,  the  Presi- 
dent and  his  ministers  are  not  in  fact  subject  to  any  parliamentary 
responsibility.     The  President  may  be  impeached,  but  the  member 
of  an  opposition  does  not  always  wish  to  have  recourse  to  such  an 
extreme  measure  as  impeachment.     The  ministers  are  not  in  the 
houses,  and  cannot  therefore  personally  answer  questions.    Differ- 
ent large  subjects,  such  as  Foreign  affairs,  Financial  affairs,  and 
Army  matters,  are   referred  to   Standing   Committees   in  both 
houses ;  and  these  Committees  have  relations  with  the  ministers. 
But  they  have  no  constitutional  power  over  the  ministers;  nor 
have  they  the  much  more  valuable  privilege  of  badgering  a  minis- 
ter hither  and  thither  by  vivd  voce  questions  on  every  point  of  his 
administration.     The  minister  sits  safe  in  his  office — safe  there 
for  the  term  of  the  existing  Presidency  if  he  can  keep  well  with 
the  President ;  and  therefore,  even  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
does  not  care  much  for  the  printed  or  written  messages  of  Con- 
gress.    But  under  circumstances  so  little  ordinary  as  those  of 
1861-62,  while  Washington  was  sut-rounded  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  soldiers.  Congress  was  absolutely  impotent.     Mr.  Seward 
could  snap  his  Angers  at  Congress,  and  he  did  so.     He  could  not 
snap  his  fingers  at  the  army ;  but  then  he  could  go  with  the  army, — 
could  keep  the  army  on  his  side  by  remaining  on  the  same  side  with 
the  army ;  and  this,  as  it  seemed,  he  resolved  to  do.     It  must  be 
understood  that  Mr.  Seward  was  not  Prime  Minister.     The  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  has  no  Prime  Minister, — or  hitherto 
has  had  none.    The  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  has  usually  stood 
highest  in  the  Cabinet,  and  Mr.  Seward,  as  holding  that  position, 
was  not  inclined  to  lessen  its  authority.    He  was  gradually  assum- 
ing for  that  position  the  prerogatives  of  a  Premier,  and  men  were 


OOMORESS. 


885 


beginning  to  talk  of  Mr.  Seward's  ministry.  It  may  easily  be  un- 
derstood that  at  such  a  time  the  powers  of  Congress  would  be  un- 
defined)  and  that  ambitious  members  of  Congress  would  rise  and 
aggert  on  the  floor,  with  that  peculiar  voice  of  indignation  so  com- 
mon in  parliamentary  debate,  "  that  they  had  got  to  learn,"  &c., 
&c.,  &c.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  lesson  which  they  had  yet  to 
learn  was  then  in  the  process  of  being  taught  to  them.  They  were 
anxious  to  be  told  all  about  the  mischance  at  Ball's  iBluif,  but  nO' 
body  would  tell  them  anything  about  it.  They  wanted  to  know 
gomething  of  that  blockade  on  the  Potomac ;  but  such  knowledge 
was  not  good  for  them.  *'  Pack  them  up  in  boxes,  and  send  them 
home,"  one  military  gentleman  said  to  me.  And  I  began  to  think 
that  something  of  the  kind  would  be  done,  if  they  made  themselves 
troublesome.  I  quote  here  the  manner  in  which  their  questions, 
respecting  the  affair  at  Ball's  Bluff,  were  answered  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War.  "  The  Speaker  laid  before  the  House  a  letter  from 
the  Secretary  at  War,  in  which  he  says  that  he  has  the  honour  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  resolution  adopted  on  the  6th  in- 
stant, to  the  effect  that  the  answer  of  the  department  to  the  reso- 
lution passed  on  the  second  day  of  the  session,  is  not  responsive 
and  satisfactory  to  the  House,  and  requesting  a  further  answer. 
The  Secretary  has  now  to  state  that  measures  have  becui  iaken  to 
ascertain  who  is  responsible  for  the  disastrous  movement  at  Ball's 
Bluff,  but  that  it  is  not  compatible  with  the  public  interest  to  make 
known  those  measures  at  the  present  time.'' 

In  truth  the  days  are  evil  for  any  Congress  of  debaters,  when  a 
great  army  is  in  camp  on  every  side  of  them.  The  people  had 
called  for  the  army,  and  there  it  was.  It  was  of  younger  birth 
than  Congress,  and  had  thrown  its  elder  brother  considerably  out 
of  favour,  as  has  been  done  before  by  many  a  new-born  baby.  If 
Congress  could  amuse  itself  with  a  few  set  speeches,  and  a  field- 
day  or  two,  such  as  those  afforded  by  Mr.  Sumner,  it  might  all  be 
very  well, — provided  that  such  speeches  did  not  attack  the  army. 
Over  and  beyond  this,  let  them  vote  the  supplies  and  have  done 
with  it.  Was  it  probable  that  General  Maclellan  should  have 
time  to  answer  questions  about  Ball's  Bluff, — and  he  with  such  a 
job  of  work  on  his  hands  ?  Congress  could  of  course  vote  what 
committees  of  military  inquiry  it  might  please,  and  might  ask 
questions  without  end ;  but  we  all  know  to  what  such  questions 
lead,  when  the  questioner  has  no  power  to  force  an  answer  by  a 
penalty.  If  it  might  be  possible  to  maintain  the  semblance  of  re- 
spect for  Congress,  without  too  much  embarrassment  to  military 
secretaries,  such  semblance  should  be  maintained ;  but  if  Congress 


i!!i!i 


"'»*♦{*' 


* 


336 


MOKTII    AMEIUCA. 


I 


chopo  to  mako  itself  really  disagreeable,  then  no  semblance  could 
be  kept  up  any  longer.  That,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  was  the  po- 
sition of  Congress  in  the  early  months  of  1862 ;  and  that,  under 
existing  circumstances,  was  perhaps  the  only  possible  position  that 
it  could  fill. 

All  this  to  me  was  very  melancholy.  The  streets  of  Washhig- 
ton  were  always  full  of  soldiers.  Mounted  sentries  stood  at  tlio 
corners  of  all  the  streets  with  drawn  sabres, — shivering  in  the  cold 
and  besmeared  with  mud.  A  military  law  came  out  that  civilians 
might  not  ride  quickly  through  the  street.  Military  riders  gal- 
loi)ed  over  one  at  every  turn,  splashing  about  through  the  mud, 
and  reminding  one  not  unfrequently  of  John  Gilpin.  Why  they 
always  went  so  fast,  destroying  th?ir  horses'  feet  on  the  rough 
stones,  I  could  never  learn.  But  I,  as  a  civilian,  given,  as  English- 
men are,  to  trotting,  and  furnished  for  the  time  with  a  nimble  trot- 
ter, found  myself  harried  Tiom  time  to  time  by  muddy  men  with 
sabres,  who  would  dash  after  me,  rattling  their  trappings,  and  bid 
me  go  at  a  slower  pace.  There  is  a  building  in  Washington,  built 
by  private  munificence,  and  devoted,  according  to  an  inscription 
which  it  bears,  "  To  the  Arts."  It  has  been  turned  into  an  army 
clothing  establishment.  The  streets  of  Washington,  night  and  day, 
were  thronged  with  army  waggons.  All  through  the  city  military 
huts  and  military  tents  were  to  be  seen,  pitched  out  among  the 
mud  and  in  the  desert  places.  Then  there  was  the  chosen  local- 
ity of  the  teamsters  and  their  mules  and  horses — a  wonderful 
world  in  itself;  and  all  within  the  city  I  Here  horses  and  mulca 
lived, — or  died, — sub  dw,  with  no  slightest  apology  for  a  stable 
over  them,  eating  their  provender  from  off  the  waggonis  to  which 
they  were  fastened.  Here,  there,  and  everywhere  largo  houses 
were  occupied  as  the  head-quarters  of  some  officer,  or  the  bureau 
of  some  militaiy  official.  At  Washington  and  round  Washington 
the  army  was  everything.  While  this  was  so,  is  it  to  be  conceived 
that  Congress  should  ask  questions  about  military  matters  with 
success  ? 

All  this,  as  I  say,  filled  me  with  sorrow.  I  hate  military  be- 
longings, and  am  disgusted  at  seeing  the  great  affi[iirs  of  a  nation 
put  out  of  their  regular  course.  Congress  to  me  is  respectable. 
Parliamentary  debates,  be  they  ever  so  prosy, — as  with  us,  or  even 
so  rowdy,  as  sometimes  they  have  been  with  our  cousins  across  the 
water, — engage  my  sympathies.  I  bow  inwardly  before  a  Speak- 
er's chair,  and  look  upon  the  elected  representatives  of  any  nation 
as  the  choice  men  of  the  age.  These  muddy,  clattering  dragoons, 
sitting  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  withdirty  woollen  comforters 


■i 


C0NQKE8S. 


337 


round  their  ears,  were  to  mo  liidcous  in  the  extreme.  But  there 
lit  Washington,  at  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing,  I  was  forced 
to  acknowledge  that  Congress  was  at  a  discount,  and  that  the 
rough-shod  generals  were  the  men  of  the  day.  "  Pack  them  up 
ftnd  send  them  in  boxes  to  their  several  States."  It  would  come 
to  that,  I  thought,  or  to  something  like  that  unless  Congress  would 
consent  to  be  submissive.  "I  have  yet  to  learn — !"  said  indig- 
nant members,  stamping  with  their  feet  on  the  floor  of  the  house. 
One  would  have  said  that  by  that  time  the  lesson  might  almost 
have  been  understood. 

Up  to  the  period  of  this  civil  war  Congress  has  certainly  work- 
ed well  for  the  United  States.  It  might  be  easy  to  pick  holes  in 
ij. — to  show  that  some  members  have  been  corrupt,  others  quar- 
relsome, and  others  again  impracticable.  But  when  we  look  at 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  has  been  from  year  to  year  elect- 
ed,— when  we  remember  the  position  of  the  newly-populated  States 
from  which  the  members  have  been  sent,  and  the  absence  through- 
out the  country  of  that  old  traditionary  class  of  Parliament  men 
on  whom  we  depend  in  England ;  when  we  think  how  recent  has 
been  the  elevation  in  life  of  the  majority  of  those  who  are  and 
must  be  elected, — it  is  impossible  to  deny  them  praise  for  intellect, 
patriotism,  good  sense,  and  diligence.  They  began  but  sixty  years 
ago,  and  for  sixty  years  Congress  has  fully  answered  the  p'^rpose 
for  which  It  was  established.  With  no  antecedents  of  grandeur, 
the  nation,  with  its  Congress,  has  made  itself  one  of  the  five  great 
nations  of  the  world.  And  what  living  English  politician  will 
say  even  now,  with  all  its  troubles  thick  upon  it,  that  it  is  the 
smallest  of  the  five  ?  When  I  think  of  this,  and  remember  the  po- 
sition in  Europe  which  an  American  has  been  able  to  claim  for 
himself,  I  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  Congress  on  the  whole  has 
been  conducted  with  prudence,  wisdom,  and  patriotism. 

The  question  now  to  be  asked  is  this, — Have  the  powers  of 
Congress  been  sufiicient,  or  are  they  sufficient,  for  the  continued 
maintenance  of  free  government  in  the  States  under  the  constitu- 
tion ?  I  think  that  the  powers  given  by  the  existing  constitution 
to  Congress  can  no  longer  be  held  to  be  sufficient ;  and  that  if  the 
Union  be  maintained  at  all,  it  must  be  done  by  a  closer  assimila- 
tion of  its  congressional  system  to  that  of  our  Parliament.  But 
to  that  matter  I  must  allude  again,  when  speaking  of  the  existing 
constitution  of  the  States. 


* 


u 


338 


NOBTII   AMBBICA. 


CHAPTER  XXm. 


THE  CAUSES   OP  THE  WAR. 


I 


T  HAVE  seen  various  essays  purporting  to  describe  the  causes 
of  this  civil  war  between  the  N  orth  ana  South ;  but  they  have 
generally  been  written  with  the  view  of  vindicating  either  ono 
side  or  the  other,  and  have  spoken  rather  of  causes  which 
should,  according  to  the  ideas  of  their  writers,  have  produced 
peace,  than  of  those  which  did,  in  the  course  of  events,  actual- 
^  produce  war.  This  has  been  essentially  the  case  with  Mr. 
Everett,  who  in  his  lecture  at  New  York,  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1860,  recapitulated  all  the  good  things  which  the  North  has 
done  for  the  South,  and  who  proved — if  he  has  proved  any- 
thing— that  the  South  should  have  cherished  the  North  instead 
of  hating  it.  And  this  was  very  much  the  case  also  with  Mr. 
Motley  m  his  letter  to  the  'London  Times.*  That  letter  is 
good  m  its  way,  as  is  everything  that  comes  from  Mr.  Motley, 
but  it  does  not  tell  us  why  the  war  has  existed.  Why  is  it 
that  eight  millions  of  people  have  desired  to  separate  them- 
selves from  a  rich  and  mighty  empire, — from  an  empire  which 
was  apparently  on  its  road  to  unprecedented  success,  and 
which  had  already  achieved  wealth,  consideration,  power,  and 
internal  well-being  ? 

One  would  be  led  to  imagine  from  the  essays  of  Mr.  Everett 
and  of  Mr.  Motley,  that  slavery  has  had  little  or  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  I  must  acknowledge  it  to  be  my  opinion  that  slavery 
in  its  various  bearings  has  been  the  single  and  necessary  cause 
of  the  war ; — that  slavery  being  there  in  the  South,  this  war 
was  only  to  be  avoided  by  a  voluntary  division, — secession  vol- 
untary both  on  the  part  of  North  and  South ; — that  in  the  event 
of  such  voluntary  secession  being  not  asked  for,  or  if  asked  for 
not  conceded,  revolution  and  civil  war  became  necessary,— 
were  not  to  be  avoided  by  any  wisdom  or  care  on  the  part  of 
the  North. 

The  arguments  used  by  both  the  gentlemen  I  have  named 
prove  very  clearly  that  South  Carolina  and  her  sister  States 
had  no  right  to  secede  under  the  constitution ;  that  is  to  say, 
that  it  was  not  open  to  them  peaceably  to  take  their  departure, 
and  to  refuse  further  allegiance  to  the  President  and  Congress 
without  a  breach  of  the  laws  by  which  they  were  bound.  For 
a  certain  term  of  years,  namely,  from  1781  to  1787,  the  differ- 
ent States  endeavoured  to  make  their  way  in  the  world,  simply 


^ 


THE   CAUSKH    OF  TllK   WAK. 


330 


Icagnccl  together  by  certain  articles  of  confederation.  It  was 
(leclarcd  that  each  State  retained  itR  sovereignty,  freedom,  and 
independence ;  and  that  tlie  said  States  then  entered  Boverally 
into  a  tirm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other  for  their  com- 
mon defence.  There  was  no  President,  no  Congress  taking 
the  pUice  of  our  Parliament,  but  simply  a  congress  of  delegates 
or  ambassadors,  two  or  three  from  each  State,  who  were  to  act 
in  accordance  with  the  ])olicy  of  their  own  individual  States. 
It  is  well  that  this  should  be  thoroughly  understood,  not  as 
bearing  on  the  question  of  the  present  war,  but  as  showing  tliat 
a  loose  confederation,  not  subversive  of  the  separate  independ- 
ence of  the  States,  and  capable  of  being  partially  dissolved  at 
the  will  of  each  separate  State,  was  tried,  and  was  found  to  fail. 
South  Carolina  took  upon  herself  to  act  as  she  miglit  have  act- 
ed had  that  confederation  remained  in  force ;  but  that  confed- 
eration was  an  acknowledged  failure.  National  greatness 
could  not  bo  achieved  under  it,  and  individual  enterprise  could 
not  succeed  under  it.  Then  in  lieu  of  that,  by  the  united  con- 
sent of  the  thirteen  States  the  present  constitution  was  drawn 
up  and  sanctioned,  and  to  that  every  State  bound  itself  in  al- 
legiance. In  that  constitution  no  power  of  secession  is  either 
named  or  presumed  to  exist.  The  individual  sovereignty  of 
the  States  had,  in  the  first  instance,  been  thought  desirable. 
The  young  republicans  hankered  after  the  separate  power,  and 
separate  name  which  each  might  then  have  achieved ;  but  that 
dream  had  been  found  vain, — and  therefore  the  States,  at  the 
cost  of  some  fond  wishes,  agreed  to  seek  together  for  national 
power,  rather  than  run  the  risks  entailed  upon  separate  exist- 
ence. I  append  to  this  volume  the  articles  of  confederation 
and  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  they  who  desire 
to  look  into  this  matter  may  be  anxious  to  examine  them  with- 
out reference  to  other  volumes.  The  latter  alone  is  clear 
enough  on  the  subject,  but  is  strengthened  by  the  former  in 
proving  that  under  the  latter  no  State  could  possess  the  legal 
power  of  seceding. 

But  they  who  created  the  constitution,  who  framed  the 
clauses,  and  gave  to  this  terribly  important  work  what  wisdom 
they  possessed,  did  not  presume  to  think  that  it  could  be  final. 
The  mode  of  altering  the  constitution  is  arranged  in  the  con- 
stitution. Such  alterations  must  be  proposed  either  by  two- 
thirds  of  both  the  houses  of  the  general  Congress,  or  by  the 
legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  States ;  and  must,  when  so 
proposed,  be  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the 
States. — (Ai'ticle  V.)     There  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  that  any 


I 

I        j 


M 


'! 


340 


NORTH   AMJfiKICA. 


k. 


■ )'- 


alteration  so  carried  would  be  valid ;  «?ven  though  that  altera- 
tion should  go  to  the  extent  of  excluding  one  or  any  number 
of  States  from  the  Union.  Any  division  so  made  would  ba 
made  in  accordance  with  the  constitution. 

South  Carolina  and  the  southern  States  no  doubt  felt  that 
they  would  not  succeed  in  obtaining  secession  in  this  way,  and 
therefore  they  sought  to  obtain  the  separation  which  they  want- 
ed by  revolution, — by  revolution  and  rebellion,  as  Naples  has 
latelv  succeeded  in  her  attempt  to  change  her  political  status ; 
as  Hungary  is  looking  to  do ;  as  Poland  has  been  seeking  to  do 
any  time  smce  her  subjection ;  as  the  revolted  colonies  of  Great 
Britain  succeeded  in  doing  in  1776,  whereby  they  created  this 
great  nation  which  is  now  undergoing  all  the  sorrows  of  a  civil 
war.  The  name  of  secession  claimed  by  the  South  for  this 
movement  is  a  misnomer.  If  any  part  of  a  nationality  or  em- 
pire ever  rebelled  against  the  government  established  on  he- 
half  of  the  whole.  South  Carolina  so  rebelled  when,  on  the  20th 
November,  1 860,  she  put  forth  her  ordinance  of  so-called  seces- 
sion; and  the  other  southern  States  joined  in  that  rebellioD 
when  they  followed  her  lead.  As  to  that  fact,  there  cannot,  I 
think,  much  longer  be  any  doubt  in  any  mind.  I  insist  on  this 
especially,  repeating  perhaps  unnecessarily,  opinions  expressed 
in  a  former  part  of  this  volume,  because  I  still  see  it  stated 
by  English  writers  that  the  secession  ordinance  of  South  Car- 
olina  should  have  been  accepted  as  a  political  act  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  It  seems  to  me  that  no  goveni- 
ment.  can  in  this  way  accept  an  act  of  rebellion  without  declar- 
ing its  own  functions  to  be  beyond  its  own  power. 

But  what  if  such  rebellion  be  justifiable,  or  even  reasonable? 
what  if  the  rebels  have  cause  for  their  rebellion  ?  For  no  one 
will  now  deny  that  rebellion  may  be  both  reasonable  and  justi- 
fiable ;  or  that  every  subject  in  the  land  may  be  bound  in  duty 
to  rebel.  In  such  case  the  government  will  be  held  to  have 
brought  about  its  own  punishment  by  its  own  fault.  But  as 
government  is  a  wide  affair,  spreading  itself  gradually,  and 
growing  in  virtue  or  in  vice  from  small  beginnings, — from 
seeds  slow  to  produce  their  fruits,  it  is  much  easier  to  discern 
the  incidence  of  the  punishment  than  the  perpetration  of  the 
fault.  Governm^'-^t/  goes  astray  by  degrees,  or  sins  by  the  ab- 
sence of  that  wisdom  which  should  teach  rulers  how  to  make 
progress,  as  progress  is  made  by  those  whom  they  rule.  The 
fault  may  be  absolutely  negative  and  have  spread  itself  over 
centuries ;  may  be,  and  generally  has  been,  attributable  to  dull 
good  men ; — but  not  the  less  does  the  punishment  come  at  a 


THE  CAUSES   OP  THE  WAR. 


341 


blow.  The  rebellion  exists  and  cannot  be  put  down, — will  put 
down  all  that  opposes  it ;  but  the  government  is  not  the  less 
bound  to  make  its  Ight.  That  is  the  punishment  that  comes 
on  governing  men  or  on  a  governing  people,  that  govern  not 
well  or  not  wisely. 

As  Mr.-  Motley  says  in  the  paper  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
"  No  man,  ou  either  side  of  the  Atlantic,  with  Anglo-Saxon 
blood  in  his  veins,  will  dispute  the  right  of  a  people,  or  of  any 
portion  of  a  people,  to  rise  against  oppression,  to  demand  re- 
dress of  grievances,  and  in  case  of  denial  of  justice  to  take  up 
arms  to  vindicate  the  sacred  principle  of  liberty.  Few  English- 
men or  Americans  will  deny  that  the  source  of  government  is 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  or  that  every  nation  has  the  right 
to  govern  itself  according  to  its  will.  When  the  silent  consent 
is  changed  to  fierce  remonstrance,  revolution  is  impending. 
The  right  of  revolution  is  indisputable.  It  is  written  on  the 
whole  record  of  our  race.  British  and  American  history  is 
made  up  of  rebellion  and  revolution.  Hampden,  Pym,  and 
Oliver  Cromwell ;  Washington,  Adams,  and  Jefferson,  all  were 
rebels."  Then  comes  the  question  whether  South  Carolina  and 
the  Gulf  States  had  so  suffered  as  to  make  rebellion  on  their 
behalf  justifiable  or  reasonable ;  or  if  not,  what  cause  had  been 
strong  enough  to  produce  in  them  so  strong  a  desire  for  seces- 
sion,— a  desire  which  has  existed  for  full^  naif  the  term  through 
which  the  United  States  has  existed  as  a  nation,  and  so  firm 
a  resolve  to  rush  into  rebellion  with  the  object  of  accomplish- 
ing that  which  they  deemed  not  to  be  accomplished  on  other 
terras. 

It  must,  I  think,  be  conceded  that  the  Gulf  States  have  not 
suffered  at  all  by  their  connection  with  the  northern  States ; 
that  in  lieu  of  any  such  suffering,  they  owe  all  their  national 
greatness  to  the  northern  States ;  that  they  have  been  lifted 
up  by  the  commercial  energy  of  the  Atlantic  States  and  by  the 
agricultural  prosperity  of  the  western  States,  to  a  degree  of 
national  consideration  and  respect  through  the  world  at  large, 
which  never  could  have  belonged  to  them  standing  alone.  I 
will  not  trouble  my  readers  with  statistics  which  few  would 
care  to  follow,  but  let  any  man  of  ordinary  every-day  knowl- 
edge turn  over  in  hirf  own  mind  his  present  existing  ideas  of 
the  wealth  and  commerce  of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Chicago,  Pittsburgh,  and  Cincinnati,  and  compare  them  with 
his  ideas  as  to  New  Orleans,  Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile, 
Richmond,  and  Memphis.  I  do  not  name  such  towns  as  Bal- 
timore and  St.  LouiSj  which  stand  in  slave  States,  but  which 


I 


I . 


'  J. 


342 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


If; 


I   ■   ■; 


have  raised  themselves  to  prosperity  by  northern  liabits.  If 
this  be  not  sufficient,  let  him  refer  to  population  tables  and  ta- 
bles of  shipping  and  tonnage.  And  of  those  southern  towns 
which  I  have  named  the  commercial  wealth  is  of  northern  cre- 
ation. The  success  of  New  Orleans  as  a  city  can  be  no  more 
attributed  to  Louisianians  than  can  that  of  the  Havana  to  the 
men  of  Cuba,  or  of  Calcutta  to  the  natives  of  India.  It  has 
been  a  repetition  of  the  old  story,  told  over  and  over  again 
through  every  century  since  commerce  has  flourished  in  the 
world ;  the  tropics  can  produce, — but  the  men  from  the  North 
shall  sow  and  reap,  and  garner  and  enjoy.  As  the  Creator's 
work  has  progressed,  this  privilege  has  extended  itself  to  re- 
gions further  removed  and  still  further  from  southern  influ- 
ences.  If  we  look  to  Europe,  we  see  that  this  has  been  so  in 
Greece,  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  the  Netherlands ;  in  England 
and  Scotland;  in  Prussia  and  in  Russia;  and  the  Western 
world  shows  us  the  same  story.  Where  is  now  the  glory  of 
the  Antilles  ?  where  the  riches  of  Mexico,  and  the  power  of 
Peru?  They  still  produce  sugar,  guano,  gold,  cotton,  coffee, 
almost  whatever  we  may  ask  them, — and  will  continue  to  do 
so  while  held  to  labour  under  sufficient  restraint;  but  where 
are  their  men,  where  are  their  books,  where  are  their  learning, 
their  art,  their  enterprise  ?  I  say  it  with  sad  regret  at  the  de- 
cadence of  so  vast  a  population ;  but  I  do  say  that  the  southern 
States  of  America  have  not  been  able  to  keep  pace  with  their 
northern  brethren ; — that  they  have  fallen  behind  in  the  race^ 
and  feeling  that  the  struggle  is  too  much  for  them,  have  there- 
fore resolved  to  part. 

The  reasons  put  forward  by  the  South  for  secession  have 
been  trifling  almost  beyond  conception.  Northern  tariffs  have 
been  the  first,  and  perhaps  foremost.  Then  there  has  been  a 
plea  that  the  national  exchequer  haa  paid  certain  bounties  to 
New  England  fishermen,  of  which  the  South  has  paid  its  share 
— getting  no  part  of  such  bounty  in  return.  There  is  also  a 
complaint  as  to  the  navigation  laws, — meaning,  I  believe,  that 
the  laws  of  the  States  increase  the  cost  of  coast  traffic  by  for- 
bidding foreign  vessels  to  engage  in  the  trade,  thereby  increas- 
ing also  the  price  of  goods  and  confining  the  benefit  to  the 
North,  which  carries  on  the  coasting  trade  of  the  country,  and 
doing  only  injury  to  the  South  which  has  none  of  it.  Then 
last,  but  not  least,  comes  that  grievance  as  to  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  The  law  of  the  land  as  a  whole, — the  law  of  the 
nation, — requires  the  rendition  from  free  States  of  all  fugitive 
slaves.    But  the  free  States  will  not  obey  this  law.    They  even 


THE   CAUSES   OP  THE  WAR. 


343 


•n  have 
E  have 
been  a 
ities  to 
,s  share 
also  a 
e,  that 
by  for- 
LDcreas- 
to  the 
iry,  and 
Then 
fugitive 
of  the 
fugitive 
ley  even 


pass  State  laws  in  opposition  to  it.  "  Catch  your  own  slaves," 
they  say,  "and  we  will  not  hinder  you;  at  any  rate  we  will 
not  hinder  you  officially.  Of  non-official  hindrance  you  must 
take  your  chance.  But  we  absolutely  decline  to  employ  our 
officers  to  catch  your  slaves."  That  list  comprises,  as  1  take 
it,  the  amount  of  southern  official  grievances.  Southern  peo- 
ple will  tell  you  privately  of  others.  They  will  say  that  they 
cannot  sleep  happy  in  their  beds,  fearing  lest  insurrection  should 
be  roused  among  their  slaves.  They  will  tell  you  of  domestic 
comfort  invaded  by  northern  falsehood.  They  will  explain  to 
you  how  false  has  been  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe.  Ladies  will  fill 
your  ears  and  your  hearts  too  with  tales  of  the  daily  efforts 
they  make  for  the  comfort  of  their  "  people,"  and  of  the  ruin 
to  those  efforts  which  arises  from  the  malice  of  the  abolition- 
ists. To  all  this  you  make  some  answer  with  your  tongue  that 
is  hardly  true, — for  in  such  a  matter  courtesy  forbids  the  plain 
truth.  But  your  heart  within  answers  truly,  "  Madam, — dear 
madam,  your  sorrow  is  great ;  but  that  sorrow  is  the  necessary 
result  of  your  position." 

As  to  those  official  reasons,  in  what  fewest  words  I  can  use 
I  will  endeavour  to  show  that  they  come  to  nothing.  The  tar- 
iff—and a  monstrous  tariff  it  then  was — was  the  ground  put 
forward  by  South  Carolina  for  secession,  when  General  Jackson 
was  President,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  hero  of  the  South. 
Calhoun  bound  himself  and  his  State  to  take  certain  steps  to- 
wards secession  at  a  certain  day  if  that  tariff  were  not  abol- 
ished. The  tariff  was  so  absurd  that  Jackson  and  his  Govern- 
ment were  forced  to  abandon  it, — would  have  abandoned  it 
without  any  threat  from  Calhoun ;  but  under  that  threat  it  was 
necessary  that  Calhoun  should  be  defied.  General  Jackson 
proposed  a  compromise  tariff,  which  was  odious  to  Calhoun, — 
not  on  its  own  behalf,  for  it  yielded  nearly  all  that  was  asked, 
but  as  being  subversive  of  his  desire  for  secession.  The  Presi- 
dent, however,  not  only  insisted  on  his  compromise,  but  de- 
clared his  purpose  of  preventing  its  passage  into  law  unless 
Calhoun  himself,  as  senator,  would  vote  for  it.  And  he  also 
declared  his  purpose,  not,  we  may  presume,  officially,  of  hang- 
ing Calhoun  if  he  took  that  step  towards  secession  which  he 
had  bound  himself  to  take  in  the  event  of  the  tariff  not  being 
repeuied.  As  a  result  of  all  this  Calhoun  voted  for  the  com- 
promise, and  secession  for  the  time  was  beaten  down.  That 
was  in  1832,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  commencement  of  the 
secession  movement.  The  tariff  was  then  a  convenient  reason, 
a  ground  to  be  assigned  with  a  colour  of  justice,  because  it  was 


I  , 


H 


r 


r., 


344 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


a  tariff  admitted  to  be  bad.  But  the  tariff  has  been  modified 
again  and  again  since  that;  and  the  tariff  existing  when  South 
Carolina  seceded  in  1860  had  been  carried  by  votes  from  South 
Carolina.  Tiie  absurd  Morrill  tariff  could  not  have  caused  se- 
cession, for  it  was  passed  without  a  struggle  in  the  collapse  of 
Congress  occasioned  by  secession. 

The  bounty  to  fishermen  was  given  to  create  sailors,  so  tliat 
a  marine  might  be  provided  for  the  nation.  I  need  hardly 
show  that  the  national  benefit  would  accrue  to  the  whole  na- 
tion for  whose  protection  such  sailors  were  needed.  Such  a 
system  of  bounties  may  be  bad,  but  if  so  it  was  bad  for  the 
whole  nation.  It  did  not  affect  South  Carolina  otherwise  thaa 
it  affected  Illinois,  Pennsylvania,  or  even  New  York. 

The  navigation  laws  may  also  have  been  bad.  According  to 
my  thinking  such  protective  laws  are  bad;  but  they  created 
no  special  hardship  on  the  South.  By  any  such  a  theory  of 
complaint  all  sections  of  all  nations  have  ground  of  complaint 
against  any  other  section  which  receives  special  protection  un- 
der any  law.  The  drinkers  of  beer  in  England  should  secede 
because  they  pay  a  tax,  whereas  the  consumers  of  paper  pay 
none.  The  navigation  laws  of  the  States  are  no  doubt  injuri- 
ous to  the  mercantile  interests  of  the  States.  I  at  least  have 
no  doubt  on  the  subject.  But  no  one  will  think  that  secession 
is  justified  by  the  existence  of  a  law  of  questionable  expedien- 
cy. Bad  laws  will  go  by  the  board  if  properly  handled  by 
those  whom  they  pinch,  as  the  navigation  laws  went  by  the 
board  with  us  in  England. 

As  to  that  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  it  should  be  explained  that 
the  grievance  has  not  arisen  from  the  loss  of  slaves.  I  have 
heard  it  stated  that  South  Carolina,  up  to  the  time  of  the  seces- 
sion, had  never  lost  a  slave  in  this  way — that  is,  by  northern 
opposition  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law ;  and  that  the  total  num- 
ber of  slaves  escaping  successfully  into  the  northern  States, 
and  there  remaining  through  the  non-operation  of  this  law,  did 
not  amount  to  five  in  the  year.  It  has  not  been  a  question  of 
property  but  of  feeling.  It  has  been  a  political  point,  and  the 
South  has  conceived — and  probably  conceived  truly — that  this 
resolution  on  the  part  of  northern  States  to  defy  the  law  with 
reference  to  slaves,  even  though  in  itself  it  might  not  be  im- 
mediately injurious  to  southern  property,  was  an  insertion  of 
the  narrow  end  of  the  wedge.  It  was  an  action  taken  against 
slavery, — an  action  taken  by  men  of  the  North  against  their 
fellow-countrymen  in  the  South.  Under  such  circumstances 
the  sooner  such  countrymen  should  cease  to  be  theii*  fellows 


THE   CAUSES   OP  THE   WAR. 


345 


the  better  it  would  be  for  them.  That,  I  take  it,  was  the  argu- 
ment of  the  South ;  or  at  any  rate  that  was  its  feeling. 

I  have  said  that  the  reasons  given  for  secession  have  been 
trifling,  and  among  them  have  so  estimated  this  matter  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  I  mean  to  assert  that  the  ground  actually 
put  forward  is  trifling ; — the  loss,  namely,  of  slaves  to  wliich 
tlie  South  has  been  subjected.  But  the  true  reason  pointed  at 
in  this — the  conviction,  namely,  that  the  North  would  not  leave 
slavery  alone,  and  would  not  allow  it  to  remain  as  a  settled  in- 
stitution— was  by  no  means  trifling.  It  has  been  this  convic- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  South,  that  the  North  would  not  live  in 
amity  with  slavery,  would  continue  to  tight  it  under  this  ban- 
ner or  under  that,  would  still  condemn  it  as  disgraceful  to  man 
and  rebuke  it  as  impious  before  God,  which  has  produced  re- 
bellion and  civil  war — and  will  ultimately  produce  that  division 
for  which  the  South  is  fighting,  and  against  which  the  North 
is  fighting;  and  which,  when  accomplished,  will  give  the  North 
new  wings,  and  will  leave  the  South  without  political  greatness 
or  commercial  success. 

Under  such  circumstances  I  cannot  think  that  rebellion  on 
the  part  of  the  South  was  justified  by  wrongs  endured  or  made 
reasonable  by  the  prospect  of  wrongs  to  be  inflicted.  It  is  dis- 
agreeable, that  having  to  live  with  a  wife  who  is  always  rebuk- 
ing one  for  some  special  fault ;  but  the  outside  world  will  not 
grant  a  divorce  on  that  account,  especially  if  the  outside  world 
is  well  aware  that  the  fault  so  rebuked  is  of  daily  occurrence. 
"  If  you  do  not  choose  to  be  called  a  drunkard  by  your  wife," 
the  outside  world  will  say,  "it  will  be  well  that  you  should 
cease  to  drink."  Ah !  but  that  habit  of  drinking  when  once 
acquired  cannot  easily  be  laid  aside.  The  brain  will  not  work, 
the  organs  of  the  body  will  not  perform  their  functions,  the 
blood  will  not  run.  The  drunkard  must  drink  till  he  dies.  All 
that  may  be  a  good  ground  for  divorce,  the  outside  world  will 
say ;  but  the  plea  should  be  put  in  by  the  sober  wife,  not  by 
the  intemperate  husband.  But  what  if  the  husband  takes  him- 
self off  without  any  divorce  and  takes  with  him  also  his  wife's 
property,  her  earnings,  that  on  which  he  has  lived  and  his  chil- 
dren ?  It  may  be  a  good  bargain  still  for  her,  the  outside 
world  will  say;  but  she,  if  she  be  a  woman  of  spirit,  will  not 
■willingly  put  up  with  such  wrongs.  The  South  has  been  the 
husband  drunk  with  slavery,  and  the  North  has  been  the  ill- 
used  wife. 

Rebellion,  as  I  have  said,  is  often  justifiable,  but  it  isj  I  think, 
never  justifiable  oii  the  part  of  a  paid  servant  of  that  Govern- 

P2 


\^i 


% 


346 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I 


11    " 


■1! 


ment  against  which  it  is  raised.  We  must  at  any  rate  feel 
that  this  is  true  of  men  in  high  places, — as  regards  those  men 
to  whom  by  reason  of  their  offices  it  should  specially  belong  to 
put  down  rebellion.  Had  Washington  been  the  Governor  of 
Virginia,  had  Cromwell  been  a  minister  of  Charles,  had  Gari- 
baldi  held  a  marshal's  baton  under  the  Emperor  of  Austria  or 
the  King  of  Naples,  those  men  would  have  been  traitors  as 
well  as  rebels.  Treason  and  rebellion  may  be  made  one  under 
the  law,  but  the  mind  will  always  draw  the  distinction.  I,  if  I 
rebel  against  the  Crown,  am  not  on  that  account  necessarily  a 
traitor.  A  betrayal  of  trust  is,  I  take  it,  necessary  to  treason. 
I  am  not  aware  that  Jefferson  Davis  is  a  traitor ;  but  that  Bu- 
chanan  was  a  traitor  admits,  I  think,  of  no  doubt.  Under  him 
and  with  his  connivance,  the  rebellion  was  allowed  to  make  its 
way.  Under  him  and  by  his  officers*  arms  and  ships,  and  men 
and  money,  were  sent  away  from  those  points  at  which  it  was 
known  that  they  would  be  needed  if  it  were  intended  to  put 
down  the  coming  rebellion,  and  to  those  points  at  which  it  was 
known  that  they  would  be  needed  if  it  were  intended  to  foster 
the  coming  rebellion.  But  Mr.  Buchanan  had  ru  eager  feeling 
in  favour  of  secession.  He  was  not  of  that  stuff  of  which  are 
made  Davis  and  Toombs  and  Slidell.  But  treason  was  easier 
to  him  than  loyalty.  Remonstrance  was  made  to  him,  point- 
ing out  the  misfortunes  which  his  action,  or  want  of  action, 
would  bring  upon  the  country.  "Not  in  my  time,"  he  an- 
swered. "It  will  not  be  in  my  time."  So  that  he  might  es- 
cape unscathed  out  of  the  fire,  this  chief  ruler  of  a  nation  of 
thirty  million  of  men  was  content  to  allow  treason  and  rebel- 
lion to  work  their  way !  I  venture  to  say  so  much  here  as 
showing  how  impossible  it  was  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  government, 
on  its  coming  into  office,  should  have  given  to  the  South, — not 
what  the  South  had  asked,  for  the  South  had  not  asked, — but 
what  the  South  had  taken ;  what  the  South  had  tried  to  filch. 
Had  the  South  waited  for  secession  till  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been 
in  his  chair,  I  could  understand  that  England  should  sympa- 
thize with  her.  For  myself  I  cannot  agree  to  that  scuttling  of 
the  ship  by  the  captain  on  the  day  which  was  to  see  the  trans- 
fer of  his  command  to  another  officer. 

The  southern  States  were  driven  into  rebellion  by  no  wrongs 
inflicted  on  them ;  but  their  desire  for  secession  is  not  on  that 
account  matter  for  astonishment.  It  would  have  been  sur- 
prising had  they  not  desired  secession.  Secession  of  one  kind, 
a  very  practical  secession,  had  already  been  forced  upon  them 
by  circumstances.    They  had  become  a  separate  people,  dis- 


rVf*l 


THE   CAUSES   OF  THE   WAR. 


347 


severed  from  the  North  by  habits,  morals,  institutions,  pur- 
suits and  every  conceivable  difference  in  their  modes  of  thought 
and  action.  They  still  spoke  the  same  language,  as  do  Austria 
and  Prussia ;  but  beyond  that  tie  of  language  they  had  no  bond 
but  that  of  a  meagre  political  union  in  their  Congress  at  Wash- 
ington. Slavery,  as  it  had  been  expelled  from  the  North,  and 
as  it  had  come  to  be  welcomed  in  the  Bouth,  had  raised  such  a 
wall  of  difference,  that  true  political  union  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. It  would  be  juster,  perhaps,  to  say  that  those  physical 
characteristics  of  the  South  which  had  induced  this  welcoming 
of  slavery,  and  those  other  characteristics  of  the  North  which 
had  induced  its  expulsion,  were  the  true  causes  of  the  differ- 
ence. For  years  and  years  this  has  been  felt  by  both,  and  the 
fight  has  been  going  on.  It  has  been  continued  for  thirty  years, 
and  almost  always  to  the  detriment  of  the  South.  In  1845 
Florida  and  Texas  were  admitted  into  the  Union  as  slave  States. 
I  think  that  no  State  had  then  been  admitted,  as  a  free  State, 
since  Michigan,  in  1836.  In  1846  Iowa  was  admitted  as  a  free 
State,  and  from  that  day  to  this  Wisconsin,  California,  Min- 
nesota, Oregon,  and  Kansas  have  been  brought  into  the  Union ; 
all  as  free  States.  The  annexation  of  another  slave  State  to  the 
existing  Union  had  become,  I  imagine,  impossible — unless  such 
object  were  gained  by  the  admission  of  Texas.  We  all  re- 
member that  fight  about  Kansas,  and  what  sort  of  a  fight  it 
was !  Kansas  lies  alongside  of  Missouri,  a  slave  State,  and  is 
contiguous  to  no  other  State.  If  the  free-soil  party  could,  in 
the  days  of  Pierce  and  Buchanan,  carry  the  day  in  Kansas,  it 
is  not  likely  that  they  would  be  beaten  on  any  new  ground  un- 
der such  a  President  as  Lincoln.  We  have  all  heard  in  Europe 
how  southern  men  have  ruled  in  the  White  House,  nearly  from 
the  days  of  Washington  downwards ;  or  if  not  southern  men, 
northern  men,  such  as  Pierce  and  Buchanan,  with  southern 
politics ;  and  therefore  we  have  been  taught  to  think  that  the 
South  has  been  politically  the  winning  party.  They  have,  in 
truth,  been  the  losing  party  as  regards  national  power.  But 
what  they  have  so  lost  they  have  hitherto  recovered  by  polit- 
ical address  and  individual  statecraft.  The  leading  men  of  the 
South  have  seen  their  position,  and  have  gone  to  their  work 
with  the  exercise  of  all  their  energies.  They  organized  the 
Democrat  party  so  as  to  include  the  leaders  among  the  north- 
ern politicians.  They  never  begrudged  to  these  assistants  a 
full  share  of  the  good  things  of  official  life.  They  have  been 
aided  by  the  fanatical  abolitionism  of  the  North,  by  which  the 
Republican  party  has  been  divided  into  two  sections.    It  h;is 


i 


•t 


III 

I  ■ 


F 


348 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


been  fashionable  to  be  a  Democrat,  that  is,  to  hold  southorii 
politics,  and  unfashionable  to  be  a  llepublican,  or  to  hold  anti- 
southern  politics.  In  tliat  way  the  South  has  lived  and  strug- 
gled on  against  the  growing  will  of  the  population ;  but  at  last 
that  will  became  too  strong,  and  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elect- 
ed, the  South  knew  that  its  day  was  over. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  South  should  have  desired  se- 
cession. It  is  not  surprising  that  it  should  have  prepared  for 
it.  Since  the  days  of  Mr.  Calhoun  its  leaders  have  always  un- 
derstood its  position  with  a  fair  amount  of  political  accuracy. 
Its  only  chance  of  political  life  lay  in  prolonged  ascendancy  at 
Washington.  The  swelling  crowds  of  Germans,  by  whom  the 
western  States  were  being  tilled,  enlisted  themselves  to  a  man 
in  the  ranks  of  abolition.  What  was  the  acquisition  of  Texas 
against  such  hosts  as  these  ?  An  evil  day  was  coming  on  the 
southern  politicians,  and  it  behoved  them  to  be  prepared.  As 
a  separate  nation, — a  nation  trusting  to  cotton,  having  in  their 
hands,  as  they  imagined,  a  monopoly  of  the  staple  of  English 
manufacture,  with  a  tariff  of  their  own,  and  those  rabid  curses 
on  the  source  of  all  their  wealth  no  longer  ringing  in  their  ears, 
what  might  they  not  do  as  a  separate  nation  ?  But  as  a  part 
of  the  Union,  they  were  too  weak  to  hold  their  own  if  once 
their  political  finesse  should  fail  them.  That  day  came  upon 
them,  not  unexpected,  in  1860,  and  therefore  they  cut  the  cable. 

And  all  this  has  come  from  slavery.  It  is  hard  enough,  for 
how  could  the  South  have  escaped  slavery?  How,  at  least, 
could  the  South  have  escaped  slavery  any  time  during  these 
last  thirty  years  ?  And  is  it,  moreover,  so  certain  that  slavery 
is  an  unmitigated  evil,  opposed  to  God's  will,  and  producing 
all  the  sorrows  which  have  ever  been  produced  by  tyranny  and 
wrong  ?  It  is  here,  after  all,  that  one  comes  to  the  difficult 
question.  Here  is  the  knot  which  the  fingers  of  men  cannot 
open,  and  which  admits  of  no  sudden  cutting  with  the  knife. 
I  have  likened  the  slaveholding  States  to  the  drunken  husband, 
and  in  so  doing  have  pronounced  judgment  against  them.  As 
regards  the  state  of  the  drunken  man,  his  unfitness  for  partner- 
ship with  any  decent,  diligent,  well-to-do  wife,  his  ruined  con- 
dition, and  shattered  prospects,  the  simile,  I  think,  holds  good. 
But  I  refrain  from  saying,  that  as  the  fault  was  originally  with 
the  drunkard  in  that  he  became  such,  so  also  has  the  fault  been 
with  the  slave  States.  At  any  rate  I  refrain  from  so  saying 
here,  on  this  page.  That  the  position  of  a  slave-owner  is  ter- 
ribly prejudicial,  not  to  the  slave  of  whom  I  do  not  here  speak, 
but  to  the  owner; — of  so  much  at  any  rate  I  feel  assured. 


THE   CAUSES   OP  THE   WAR. 


340 


That  the  position  is  therefore  criminal  and  damnable,  I  am  not 
now  disposed  to  take  upon  myself  to  assert. 

The  question  of  slavery  in  America  cannot  bo  handled  fully 
and  fairly  by  any  one  who  is  afraid  to  go  back  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  take  its  whole  history  since  one  man  first  claimed 
juid  exercised  the  right  of  forcing  labour  from  another  man. 
I  certainly  am  afraid  of  any  such  task ;  but  I  believe  that  there 
has  been  no  period  yet,  since  the  world's  work  began,  when 
such  a  practice  has  not  prevailed  in  a  large  portion,  probably 
ill  the  largest  portion  of  the  world's  work-fields.  As  civiliza- 
tion has  made  its  progress,  it  has  been  the  duty  and  delight, 
as  it  has  also  been  the  interest  of  the  men  at  the  top  of  aftairs, 
not  to  lighten  the  work  of  the  men  below,  but  so  to  teach  them 
that  they  should  recognize  the  necessity  of  working  without  co- 
ercion. Emancipation  of  serfs  and  thralls,  of  bondsmen  and 
slaves,  has  always  meant  this, — that  men  having  been  so  taught, 
should  then  work  without  coercion.  As  men  become  educated 
and  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  tenure  on  which  they  hold  their 
life,  they  learn  the  fact  that  work  is  a  necessity  for  them,  and 
that  it  is  better  to  work  without  coercion  than  with  it.  When 
men  have  learned  this  they  are  fit  for  emancipation,  but  they 
are  hardly  fit  till  they  have  learned  so  much. 

In  talking  or  writing  of  slaves,  we  always  now  think  of  the 
negro  slave.  Of  us  Englishmen  it  must  at  any  rate  be  acknowl- 
edged that  we  have  done  what  in  us  lay  to  induce  him  to  rec- 
ognize this  necessity  for  labour.  At  any  rate  we  acted  on  the 
presumption  that  he  would  do  so,  and  gave  him  his  liberty 
throughout  all  our  lands  at  a  cost  which  has  never  yet  been 
reckoned  up  in  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence.  The  cost  never 
can  be  reckoned  up,  nor  can  the  gain  which  we  achieved  in 
purging  ourselves  from  the  degradation  and  demoralization  of 
such  employment.  We  come  into  court  with  clean  hands,  hav- 
ing done  all  that  lay  with  us  to  do  to  put  down  slavery  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  But  when  we  enfranchised  the  negroes,  we 
did  so  with  the  intention,  at  least,  that  they  should  work  as 
free  men.  Their  share  of  the  bargain  in  that  respect  they 
have  declined  to  keep,  wherever  starvation  has  not  been  the  re- 
sult of  such  resolve  on  their  part ;  and  from  the  date  of  our 
emancipation,  seeing  the  position  which  the  negroes  now  hold 
with  us,  the  southern  States  of  America  have  learned  to  regard 
slavery  as  a  permanent  institution,  and  have  taught  themselves 
to  regard  it  as  a  blessing,  and  not  as  a  curse. 

Negroes  were  first  taken  over  to  America  because  the  white 
man  could  not  work  under  the  tropical  heats,  and  because  the 


' ) 


360 


NORTH   AMEBICA. 


Ill 


I. 


n 

w: 

Hi 


native  Indian  would  not  work.  Tlio  latter  people  has  boon,  or 
Hoon  will  bo,  exterminated, — polished  off  the  face  of  creation,  as 
the  Americans  say, — which  fate  must,  I  should  say  in  the  lonir 
run,  attend  all  non-working  people.  As  the  soil  of  the  world  is 
required  for  increasing  ])opuIation,  the  non-working  people  must 
go.  And  80  the  Indians  have  gone.  The  negroes  under  com- 
pulsion did  work,  and  work  well ;  and  under  their  hands  vast 
regions  of  the  western  tropics  became  fertile  gardens.  Tho 
fact  that  they  were  carried  up  into  northern  regions  which  from 
their  nature  did  not  require  such  aid,  that  slavery  prevailed  in 
Now  York  and  Massachusetts,  does  not  militate  against  my 
argument.  Tho  exact  limits  of  any  great  movement  will  not 
be  bounded  by  its  purpose.  Tho  heated  wax  which  you  drop 
on  your  letter  spreads  itself  beyond  the  necessities  of  your  seal. 
That  these  negroes  wouU  not  have  come  to  the  western  world 
without  compulsion,  or  having  come,  would  not  have  worked 
without  compulsion,  is,  I  imagine,  acknowledged  by  all.  That 
they  have  multiplied  in  the  western  world  and  have  there  be- 
come a  race  happier,  at  any  rate  in  all  the  circumstances  of 
their  life,  than  their  still  untamed  kinsmen  in  Africa,  must  also 
be  acknowledged.  Who,  then,  can  dare  to  wish  that  all  that 
has  been  done  by  the  negro  immigration  should  have  remained 
undone  ? 

The  name  of  slave  is  odious  to  me.  If  I  kjow  myself  I 
would  not  own  a  negro  though  he  could  sweat  gold  on  my  be- 
hoof. I  glory  in  that  bold  leap  in  the  dark  which  England 
took  with  regard  to  her  own  West  Indian  slaves.  But  I  do 
not  see  the  less  clearly  the  difficulty  of  that  position  in  which 
the  southern  States  have  been  placed ;  and  I  will  not  call  them 
wicked,  impious,  and  abominable,  because  they  now  hold  by 
slavery,  as  other  nations  have  held  by  it  at  some  period  of  their 
career.  It  is  their  misfortune  that  they  must  do  so  now, — now, 
when  so  large  a  portion  of  the  world  has  thrown  off  the  sys- 
tem, spurning  as  base  and  profitless  all  labour  that  is  not  free. 
It  is  their  misfortune,  for  henceforth  they  must  stand  alone, 
with  small  rank  among  the  nations,  whereas  their  brethren  of 
the  North  will  still  "flame  in  tho  forehead  of  the  morning  sky." 

When  the  present  constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
written, — the  merit  of  which  must  probably  be  given  mainly  to 
Madison  and  Hamilton,  Madison  finding  the  French  democratic 
element,  and  Hamilton  the  English  conservative  element, — this 
question  of  slavery  was  doubtless  a  great  trouble.  The  word 
itself  is  not  mentioned  in  the  constitution.  It  speaks  not  of  a 
slave,  but  of  a  "  person  held  to  service  or  labour.'*    It  neither 


TIIK   CAUSES   OP  THE   WAll. 


351 


sanctions,  nor  forbids  Blavcry.  It  assumes  no  power  in  tho 
mutter  of  slavery ;  and  under  it,  at  the  i)rosi'nt  inoinent,  all 
Congress  voting  together,  with  the  full  consent  of  the  legisla- 
tures of  thirty-three  States,  could  not  constitutionally  put  down 
shivery  in  tho  remaining  thirty-fourth  State.  In  fact  the  cou- 
Btitution  ignored  tho  subject. 

Jiut  nevertheless  Washington,  and  Jefferson  fcom  whom 
Madison  received  his  inspiration,  were  opposed  to  slavery.  I 
do  not  know  that  Washuigton  ever  took  much  action  in  tho 
matter,  but  his  expressed  opinion  is  on  record.  But  Jefferson 
did  so  throughout  nis  life.  Before  the  declaration  of  independ- 
ence ho  endeavoured  to  make  slavery  illegal  in  Virginia.  In 
this  he  failed, '  "*  long  aflerwards,  when  the  United  States  was 
a  nation,  ho  «.  v  .?ded  in  carrying  a  law  by  which  the  further 
importation.  \.es  into  any  of  tho  States  was  proliibited  afl- 
er  a  certain  yeui — 1 820.  When  this  law  was  passed,  the  framers 
of  it  considered  that  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  would  bo 
secured.  Up  to  that  period  tho  negro  population  in  the  States 
had  not  been  self-maintained.  As  now  in  Cuba,  tho  numbers 
Iwd  been  kept  up  by  new  importations,  and  it  was  calculated 
that  the  race,  when  not  recruited  from  Africa,  would  die  out. 
That  this  calculation  was  wrong  we  now  know,  and  the  breed- 
ing-grounds of  Virginia  have  been  the  result. 

At  that  time  there  were  no  cotton-fields.  Alabama  and  Mis- 
sissippi were  outlying  territories.  Louisiana  had  been  recently 
purchased,  but  was  not  yet  incorporated  as  a  State.  Florida 
still  belonged  to  Spain,  and  was  all  but  unpopulated.  Of 
Texas  no  man  had  yet  heard.  Of  the  slave  States,  Virginia, 
the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia  were  alone  wedded  to  slavery. 
Then  the  matter  might  have  been  managed.  But  under  the 
constitution  as  it  had  been  framed,  and  with  the  existing  pow- 
ers of  the  separate  States,  there  was  not  even  then  open  any 
way  by  which  slavery  could  be  abolished  other  than  by  the 
separate  action  of  the  States ;  nor  has  there  been  any  such  way 
opened  since.  With  slavery  these  southern  States  have  grown 
and  become  fertile.  The  planters  have  thriven,  and  the  cotton- 
fields  have  spread  themselves.  And  then  came  emancipation 
in  the  British  islands.  Under  such  circumstances  and  with 
such  a  lesson,  could  it  be  expected  that  the  southern  States 
should  learn  to  love  abolition  r 

It  is  vain  to  say  that  slavery  has  not  caused  secession,  and 
that  slavery  has  not  caused  the  war.  That,  and  that  only  has 
been  the  real  cause  of  this  conflict,  though  other  small  collat- 
eral issues  may  now  be  put  forward  to  bear  the  blame.    Those 


^ 


f^ 


352 


KOUTII    AMEUICA. 


m 


ii  I  •, 


i'r 


!' 


otlior  issues  have  arisen  from  this  question  of  slavery,  and  are 
incidental  to  it  and  a  part  of  it.    MaHHachusctts,  as  wo  all  know- 
is  democratic  in  its  tendencies,  but  South  Carolina  is  essential- 
ly aristocratic.     This  difference  has  come  of  slavery.     A  slave 
country,  which  has  progressed  far  in  slavery,  must  bo  aristo- 
cratic in  its  nature,  —  aristocratic  and  patriarchal.    A  hriro 
"slave-owner  from  Georgia  may  call  himself  a  democrat, — may 
think  that  ho  reveres  republican  institutions,  and  may  talk 
with  American  horror  of  the  thrones  of  Europe ;  but  lie  must 
in  his  heart  be  an  aristocrat.    AVe,  in  England,  are  apt  to  speak 
of  republican  institutions,  and  of  universal  suftrage,  which  is 
perhaps  the  chief  of  them,  as  belonging  equally  to  all  the 
States.     In  South  Carolina  there  is  not  and  has  not  been  any 
such  thing.     The  electors  for  the  President  there  are  chosen 
not  by  the  people  but  by  the  legislature ;  and  the  votes  for  the 
legislature  are  limited  by  a  high  property  qualification.    A 
high  property  qualification  is  required  for  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  South  Carolina; — four  hundred 
freehold  acres  of  land  and  ten  negroes  is  one  qualification. 
Five  hundred  pounds  clear  of  debt  is  another  qualification  ;— 
for,  where  a  sum  of  money  is  thus  named,  it  is  given  in  English 
money.     Russia  and  England  are  not  more  unlike  in  their  po- 
litical and  social  feelings  than  are  the  real  slave  States  and  the 
real  free-soil  States.    The  gentlemen  from  one  and  from  the 
other  side  of  the  line  have  met  togethet  on  neutral  ground, 
and  have  discussed  political  matters  without  flying  frequently 
at  each  other's  throats,  while  the  great  question  on  which  they 
differed  was  allowed  to  slumber.    But  the  awakening  has  been 
coming  by  degrees,  and  now  the  South  had  felt  that  it  wae 
come.     Old  John  Brown,  who  did  his  best  to  create  a  servile 
insurrection  at  Harper's  Ferry,  has  been  canonized  through  the 
North  and  West,  to  the  amazement  and  horror  of  the  South. 
The  decision  in  the  '  Dred  Scott'  case,  given  by  the  Chief  Just- 
ice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  has  been  re- 
ceived with  shouts  of  execration  through  the  North  and  West. 
The  southern  gentry  have  been  Uncle-Tommed  into  madness. 
It  is  no  light  thing  to  be  told  daily  by  your  fellow-citizens,  by 
your  fellow-representatives,  by  your  fellow-senators,  that  you 
are  guilty  of  the  one  damning  sin  that  cannot  be  forgiven.    All 
this  they  could  partly  moderate,  partly  rebuke,  and  partly  bear 
as  long  as  political  power  remained  m  their  hands ;  but  they 
have  gradually  felt  that  that  was  going,  and  were  prepared  to 
cut  the  rope  and  run  as  soon  as  it  was  gone. 
Such,  according  to  my  ideas,  have  been  the  causes  of  the 


THE   CAU8E8   OF  TIIR   "WAR. 


S53 


war.  But  T  cannot  dcfond  the  South.  Ah  lonpj  as  thoy  could 
bo  successful  in  their  schemes  for  holding  the  political  power 
of  the  nation,  they  were  prepared  to  hold  by  the  nation.  Im- 
niediately  those  schemes  faiUMl,  tliey  were  prepared  to  throw 
the  nation  overboard.  In  this,  there  has  undoubtedly  been 
treachery  as  well  as  rebellion.  Had  these  politicians  been 
honest, — though  the  political  growth  of  Washington  has  hard- 
ly admitted  of  political  honesty, — but  had  these  politicians  been 
even  ordinarily  respectable  in  their  dishonesty,  they  would  have 
claimed  secession  openly  before  Congress,  while  yet  their  own 
President  was  at  the  White  House.  Congress  would  not  have 
acceded.  Congress  itself  could  not  have  acceded  under  the 
constitution ;  but  a  way  would  have  been  found,  had  the  south- 
ern States  been  persistent  in  their  demand.  A  way,  indeed, 
lias  been  found  ;  but  it  has  lain  through  fire  and  water,  through 
blood  and  ruin,  through  treason  and  theft,  and  the  downfall  of 
national  greatness.  Secession  will,  I  think,  bo  accomplished, 
and  the  southern  Confederation  of  States  will  stand  something 
higlier  in  the  world  than  Mexico  and  the  republics  of  Central 
America.  Her  cotton  monopoly  will  have  vanished,  and  her 
wealth  will  have  been  wasted. 

I  think  that  history  will  agree  with  mo  in  saying  that  tho 
northern  States  had  no  alternative  but  war.  What  concession 
could  they  make  ?  Could  they  promise  to  hold  their  peaco 
about  slavery  ?  And  had  they  so  promised,  would  tho  South 
have  believed  them  ?  They  might  have  conceded  secession ; 
that  is,  they  might  have  given  all  that  would  have  been  de- 
manded. But  what  individual  chooses  to  yield  to  such  de- 
mands; and  if  not  an  individual, — then  -what  people  will  do 
so  ?  But  in  truth  they  could  not  have  yielded  all  that  was  de- 
manded. Had  secession  been  granted  to  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  Virginia  would  have  been  coerced  to  join  those  States 
by  the  nature  of  her  property,  and  with  Virginia  Maryland 
would  have  gone,  and  Washington,  the  capital.  What  may 
be  the  future  lino  of  division  between  the  North  and  the  South 
I  will  not  pretend  to  say ;  but  that  line  will  probably  be  dic- 
tated by  the  North.  It  may  still  be  hoped  that  Missouri,  Ken- 
tucky, Virginia,  and  Maryland  will  go  with  the  North,  and  bo 
rescued  from  slavery.  But  had  secession  been  yielded,  had  the 
prestige  of  success  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  South,  those  States 
must  have  become  southern. 

While  on  this  subject  of  slavery — for  in  discussing  the  cause 
of  the  war,  slavery  is  the  subject  that  must  be  discussed — I 
cannot  forbear  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  negroes  of  the 


t    I 


% 


3 


354 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


It;  ■ 


North  American  States.  The  republican  party  of  the  North 
is  divided  into  two  sections,  of  which  one  may  be  called  aboli- 
tionist,  and  the  other  non-abolitionist.  Mr.  Lincoln's  govern- 
ment presumes  itself  to  belong  to  the  latter,  though  its  tenden- 
cies towards  abolition  are  very  strong.  The  aboliti  n  party  is 
growing  in  strength  daily.  It  is  but  a  short  time  since  Wen- 
dell Phillips  could  not  lecture  in  Boston  without  a  guard  of 
police.  Now,  at  thi's  moment  of  my  writing,  he  is  a  popular 
hero.  The  very  raen  who,  five  years  since,  were  accustomed 
to  make  speeches,  strong  as  words  could  frame  them,  against 
abolition,  are  now  turning  round,  and  if  not  preaching  aboli- 
tion, are  patting  the  backs  of  those  who  do  so.  I  heard  one 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet  declare  old  John  Brown  to  be  a  hero 
and  a  martyr.  All  the  Protestant  Germans  are  aboliticnlists,— 
and  they  have  become  so  strong  a  political  element  in  the  coun- 
try that  many  now  declare  that  no  future  President  can  be 
elected  without  their  aid.  The  object  is  declared  boldly.  No 
long  political  scheme  is  asked  for,  but  instant  abolition  is  want- 
ed ;  abolition  to  be  declared  while  yet  the  war  is  raging.  Let 
the  slaves  of  all  rebels  be  declared  free ;  and  all  slave-owners 
in  the  seceding  States  are  rebels ! 

One  iiannot  but  ask  what  abolition  means,  and  to  what  it 
would  lead.  Any  ordinance  of  abolition  now  pronounced  would 
not  effect  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  but  might  probably 
effect  a  'servile  insurrection.  I  will  not  accuse  those  who  are 
preaching  this  crusade  of  any  desire  for  so  fearful  a  scourge  on 
the  land.  They  probably  calculate  that  an  edict  of  abolition 
once  given  would  be  so  much  done  towards  the  ultimate  win- 
ning of  the  battle.  They  are  making  their  hay  while  their  sun 
shines.  But  if  they  could  emancipate  those  four  million  slaves, 
in  what  way  would  they  then  treat  them  ?  How  would  they 
feed  them  ?  In  what  way  would  they  treat  the  ruined  owners 
of  the  slaves,  and  the  acres  of  land  which  would  lie  unculti- 
vated ?  Of  all  subjects  with  whi  3h  a  man  can  bo  called  on  to 
deal,  it  is  the  most  difficult.  But  a  New  England  abolitionist 
talks  of  it  as  though  no  more  were  required  than  an  open  path 
for  his  humanitarian  energies.  "  I  could  arrange  it  all  to-mor- 
ro\,  morning,"  a  gentleman  said  to  me  who  is  well  known  for 
his  zeal  in  this  cuuse ! 

Arrange  it  all  to-morrow  morning, — abolition  of  slavery  hav- 
ing become  a  fact  during  the  night !  I  should  not  envy  that 
gentleman  his  morning's  work.  It  was  bad  enough  with  us, 
but  what  were  our  numbers  compared  with  those  of  the  south- 
ern States  ?    We  paid  a  price  for  the  slaves,  but  no  price  is  to 


THE   CAUSES   OF  THE   "WAR. 


355 


be  paid  in  this  case.  The  vahic  of  the  property  would  proba- 
bly bo  lowly  estimated  at  100^.  a  piece  for  men,  women,  and 
children,  or  four  hundred  million  pounds  for  the  whole  popula- 
tion. They  form  the  wealth  of  tlie  South ;  and  if  they  were 
bought,  what  should  be  done  with  them  ?  They  are  like  chil- 
dren. Every  slave-owner  in  tbe  country, — every  man  who  has 
had  ought  to  do  with  slaves, — will  tell  the  same  story.  In 
Maryland  and  Delaware  are  men  who  hate  slavery,  who  would 
be  only  too  happy  to  enfranchise  their  slaves ;  but  the  negroes 
who  have  been  slaves  are  not  fit  for  freedom.  In  many  cases, 
practically,  they  cannot  be  enfranchised.  Give  them  their  lib- 
erty, starting  them  well  in  the  world  at  what  expense  you 
please,  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  they  will  come  back  upon 
your  hands  for  the  means  of  support.  Everything  must  be 
done  for  them.  They  expect  food  and  clothes,  and  instruction 
as  to  every  simple  act  of  life,  as  do  children.  The  negro  do- 
mestic servant  is  handy  at  his  own  work ;  no  servant  more  so ; 
but  be  cannot  go  beyond  that.  He  does  not  comprehend  the 
object  and  purport  of  continued  industry.  If  he  have  money 
he  will  play  w^'h  it, — will  amuse  himself  with  it.  If  he  have 
none,  he  'vill  amuse  himself  without  it.  His  work  is  like  a 
school-boy's  task ;  he  knows  it  must  be  done,  but  never  com- 
prehends that  the  doing  of  it  is  the  very  end  and  essence  of  his 
life.  He  is  a  child  in  all  things,  and  the  extent  of  jjrudential 
wisdom  to  which  he  ever  attains  is  to  disdain  emancipation, 
and  cling  to  the  security  of  his  bondage.  It  is  true  enough 
that  slavery  has  been  a  curse.  Whatever  may  have  been  its 
effect  on  the  negroes,  it  has  been  a  deadly  curr  o  upon  the 
white  masters. 

The  preaching  of  abolition  di  ring  the  war  is  to  me  either 
the  deadliest  of  sins  or  the  vainest  of  follies.  Its  only  immedi- 
ate result  possible  would  be  servile  insurrection.  That  is  so 
manifestly  atrocious, — a  wish  for  it  would  be  so  hellish,  that  I 
do  not  presume  the  preachers  of  abolition  to  entertain  it.  But 
if  that  be  not  meant,  it  must  be  intended  that  an  act  of  eman- 
cipation should  be  carried  throughout  the  slai'o  States, — either 
in  their  separation  from  the  North,  or  after  their  subjection 
and  consequent  reunion  with  the  North.  As  regards  the  States 
while  in  secession,  the  North  cannot  operate  upon  their  slaves 
any  more  than  England  can  operate  on  the  slaves  of  Cuba. 
But  if  a  reunion  is  to  be  a  precursor  of  emancipf\tion,  surely 
that  reunion  should  be  first  effected.  A  decision  in  the  north- 
em  and  western  mind  on  such  a  subject  cannot  assist  in  obtain- 
ing that  reunion, — but  must  militate  against  the  practicability 


•itNil 


I  lI 


«t 


r 


850 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


ll^ 


of  such  an  object.  This  is  so  well  understood,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  his  Government  do  not  dare  to  call  themselves  abolition- 
ists.* 

Abolition,  in  truth,  is  a  political  cry.  It  is  the  banner  of  de- 
fianco  opposed  to  secession.  As  the  differences  between  tlie 
North  and  South  have  grown  with  years,  and  have  swelled  to 
the  proportions  of  national  antipathy,  southern  nullification  has 
amplified  itself  into  secession,  and  northern  free-soil  principles 
have  burst  into  this  growth  of  abolition.  Men  have  not  calcu- 
lated  the  results.  Charming  pictures  are  drawn  for  you  of  the 
negro  in  a  state  of  Utopian  bliss,  owning  his  own  hoe  and  eat- 
ing his  own  hog ;  in  a  paradise,  where  everything  is  bought 
and  sold,  except  his  wife,  his  little  ones,  and  himself  But  the 
enfranchised  negro  has  always  thrown  away  his  hoe,  has  eaten 
any  man's  hog  but  his  own, — and  has  too  often  sold  his  daugh- 
ter for  a  dollar  when  any  such  market  has  been  open  to  him. 

I  confess  that  this  cry  of  abolition  has  been  made  peculiarly 
displeasing  to  me,  by  the  fact  that  the  northern  abolitionist  is 
by  no  means  willing  to  give  even  to  the  neg'o  who  is  already 
free  that  position  in  the  world  which  alone  might  tend  to  raise 
him  in  the  scale  of  human  beings, — if  anything  can  so  raise  him 
and  make  him  fit  for  freedom.  The  abolitionists  hold  that  the 
negro  is  the  white  man's  equal.  I  do  not.  I  see,  or  thinlr  that 
I  see,  that  the  negro  is  the  white  man's  inferior  through  laws 
of  nature.  That  he  is  not  mentally  fit  to  cope  with  white  men, 
— I  speak  of  the  full-blooded  negro, — and  that  he  must  till  a 
position  simply  servile.  But  the  abolitionist  declares  him  to 
be  the  white  man's  equal.  But  yet,  when  he  has  him  at  his 
elbow,  he  treats  him  with  a  scorn  which  even  the  negro  can 
hardly  endure.  I  will  give  him  political  equality,  but  not  social 
equality,  says  the  abolitionist.  But  even  in  this  he  is  untrue. 
A  black  man  may  vote  in  New  York,  but  he  cannot  vote  under 
the  same  circumstances  as  a  white  man.  He  is  subjected  to 
qualifications  which  in  truth  debar  him  from  the  poll.  A  white 
man  votes  by  manhood  suffrage,  providing  he  has  been  for  one 
year  an  inhabitant  of  his  State ;  but  a  man  of  colour  must  have 
been  for  three  years  a  citizen  of  the  State,  and  must  own  a 
property  qualification  of  50/.  free  of  debt.     But  political  equal- 

*  President  Lincoln  has  proposed  a  plan  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in 
the  border  States,  and  for  compensation  to  the  owners.  His  doing  so  proves 
that  he  regards  present  emancipation  in  the  Gulf  States  as  quite  out  of  the 
question.  It  also  proves  that  he  looks  forward  to  the  recovery  of  the  border 
States  for  the  North,  but  that  he  does  not  look  forward  to  the  recovery  of  the 
Gulf  States. 


THi:    CAUSES    OF   THE   WAR. 


357 


ity  is  not  what  such  men  want,  nor  indeed  is  it  social  equality. 
It  is  social  tolerance  and  social  sympathy;  and  these  are  denied 
to  the  negro.  An  American  abolitionist  would  not  sit  at  table 
with  a  negro.  He  might  do  so  in  England  at  the  house  of  an 
Knglish  duchess ;  but  in  his  own  country  the  proposal  of  such 
a  companion  would  be  an  insult  to  him.  He  will  not  sit  with 
him  in  a  public  carriage  if  he  can  avoid  it.  In  New  York  I 
have  seen  special  street-cars  for  coloured  people.  The  aboli- 
tionist is  struck  with  horror  when  he  thinks  that  a  man  and  a 
brother  should  be  a  slave ;  but  when  the  man  and  the  brother 
has  been  made  free,  he  is  regarded  with  loathing  and  contempt. 
All  this  I  cannot,  see  with  equanimity.  There  is  falsehood  in 
it  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  The  slave  as  a  rule  is  well 
treated, — gets  all  he  wants  and  almost  all  he  desires.  The  free 
negro  as  a  rule  is  ill  treated,  and  does  not  get  that  considera- 
tion which  alone  might  put  him  in  the  worldly  position  for 
which  his  advocate  declares  him  to  be  fit.  It  is  false  through- 
out,—this  preaching.  The  negro  is  not  the  white  man's  equal 
by  nature.  But  to  the  free  negro  in  the  northern  States  this 
inequaHty  is  increased  by  the  white  man's  hardness  to  him. 

In  a  former  book,  which  I  wrote  some  few  years  since,  I  ex- 
pressed an  opinion  as  to  the  probable  destiny  of  this  race  in 
the  West  Indies.  I  will  not  now  go  over  that  question  again. 
I  then  divided  the  inhabitants  of  those  islunds  into  three  classes, 
—the  white,  the  black,  and  the  coloured,  taking  a  nomenclature 
which  I  found  there  prevailing.  By  coloured  men  I  alluded  to 
mulattoes,  and  all  those  of  mixed  European  and  African  blood. 
The  word  "  coloured,"  in  the  States,  seems  to  apply  to  the 
whole  negro  race,  whether  full-blooded  or  half-blooded.  I  al- 
lude to  this  now  because  I  wish  to  explain  that,  in  speaking  of 
what  I  conceive  to  be  the  intellectual  inferiority  of  the  negro 
race,  I  allude  to  those  of  pure  negro  descent, — or  of  descent  so 
nearly  pure  as  to  make  the  negro  element  manifestly  predom- 
inant. In  the  West  Indies,  where  I  had  more  opportunity  of 
studying  the  subject,  I  always  believed  myself  able  to  tell  a 
negro  from  a  coloured  man.  Indeed  the  classes  are  to  a  great 
degree  distinct  there,  the  greater  portion  of  the  retail  trade  of 
the  country  being  in  the  hands  of  the  coloured  people.  But 
in  the  States  I  have  been  able  to  make  no  such  distinction. 
One  sees  generally  neither  the  rich  yellow  of  the  West  Indian 
mulatto,  nor  the  deep  oily  black  of  the  West  Indian  negro. 
The  prevailing  hue  is  a  dry,  dingy  brown, — almost  dusty  in  its 
dryness.  I  have  observed  but  little  difference  made  between 
the  negro  and  the  half-caste, — and  no  difference  in  the  actual 


■fih 


'i 


358 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


treatment.  I  have  never  met  in  American  society  any  man  or 
woman  in  whose  veins  there  can  have  been  presumed  to  be  any 
taint  of  African  blood.  In  Jamaica  they  are  daily  to  be  found 
in  society. 

Every  Englishman  probably  looks  forward  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  abolition  of  slavery  at  some  future  day.  I  feel  as  sure 
of  it  as  I  do  of  the  final  judgment.  When  or  how  it  shall 
come  I  will  not  attempt  to  foretell.  The  mode  which  seems 
to  promise  the  surest  success  and  the  least  present  or  future 
inconvenience,  would  be  an  edict  enfranchising  all  female  chil- 
dren  born  after  a  certain  date,  and  all  their  children.  Under 
such  an  arrangement  the  negro  population  would  probably  die 
out  slowly, — very  slowly.  What  might  then  be  the  fate  of  the 
cotton-fields  of  the  Gulf  States,  who  shall  dare  to  say  ?  It  may 
be  that  coolies  from  India  and  from  China  will  then  have  taken 
the  place  of  the  negro  there,  as  they  probably  will  have  done 
also  in  Guiana  and  the  West  Indies. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


WASHINGTON   TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


Though  I  had  felt  Washington  to  be  disagreeable  as  a  city, 
yet  I  was  almost  sorry  to  leave  it  when  the  day  of  my  depart- 
ure came.  I  had  allowed  myself  a  month  for  my  sojourn  in 
the  capital,  and  I  had  stayed  a  month  to  the  day.  Then  came 
the  trouble  of  packing  up,  the  necessity  of  calling  on  a  long 
list  of  acquaintances  one  after  another,  the  feeling  that  bad  as 
Washington  might  be,  I  might  be  going  to  places  that  were 
worse,  a  conviction  that  I  should  get  beyond  the  reach  of  my 
letters,  and  a  sort  of  affect)  ;n  which  I  had  acquired  for  my 
roc'Tis.  My  landlord,  being  a  coloured  man,  told  me  that  he 
was  sorry  I  was  going.  Would  I  not  remain  ?  Would  I  come 
back  to  him  ?  Had  I  been  comfortable  ?  Only  for  so  and  so 
or  so  and  so,  he  would  have  done  better  for  me.  No  white 
American  citizen,  occupying  the  position  of  landlord,  would 
have  condescended  to  such  comfortable  words.  I  knew  the 
man  did  not  in  truth  want  me  to  stay,  as  a  lady  and  gen- 
tleman were  waiting  to  go  in  the  moment  I  went  out ;  but  I 
did  not  the  less  value  the  assurance.  One  hungers  and  thirsts 
after  such  civil  words  among  American  citizens  of  this  class. 
The  clerks  and  managers  at  hotels,  the  officials  at  railway  sta- 
tions, the  cashiers  at  banks,  the  women  in  the  shops ; — ah  1  they 
are  the  worst  of  all.    An  American  woman  who  is  bound  by 


WASHINGTON   TO    ST.  LOUIS. 


359 


her  position  to  serve  you, — who  is  paid  in  some  shape  to  sup- 
ply your  wants,  whether  to  sell  you  a  bit  of  soap  or  bring  you 
a  towel  in  your  bedroom  at  an  hotel, — is,  I  think,  of  all  human 
creatures,  the  most  insolent.  I  certainly  had  a  feeling  of  regret 
at  parting  with  my  coloured  frienc', — and  some  regret  also  as 
regards  a  few  that  were  white. 

As  I  drove  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  through  the  slush 
and  mud,  and  saw,  perhaps  for  the  last  time,  those  wretchedly 
dirty  horse  sentries  who  had  refused  to  allow  me  to  trot  through 
the  streets,  I  almost  wished  that  I  could  see  more  of  them. 
How  absurd  they  looked,  with  a  whole  kit  of  rattletraps  strap- 
ped on  their  horses'  backs  behind  them, — blankets,  coats,  can- 
teens, coils  of  rope,  and,  always  at  the  top  of  everything  else,  a 
tin  pot !  No  doubt  these  things  are  all  necessary  to  a  mounted 
sentry,  or  they  would  not  have  been  there ;  but  it  always  seem- 
ed as  though  the  horse  had  been  loaded  gipsy-fashion,  in  a  man- 
ner that  I  may  perhaps  best  describe  as  higgledy-piggledy,  and 
that  there  was  a  want  of  military  precision  in  the  packing. 
The  man  would  have  looked  more  graceful,  and  the  soldier 
more  warlike,  had  the  pannikin  been  made  to  assume  some  rig- 
idly fixed  position,  instead  of  dangling  among  the  ropes.  The 
drawn  sabre,  too,  never  consorted  well  with  the  dirty  outside 
woollen  wrapper  which  generally  hung  loose  from  the  man's 
neck.  Heaven  knows,  I  did  not  begrudge  him  his  comforter 
in  that  cold  weather,  or  even  his  long,  uncombed  shock  of  hair ; 
but  I  think  he  might  have  been  made  more  spruce,  and  I  am 
sure  that  he  could  not  have  looked  more  uncomfortable.  As  I 
went,  however,  I  felt  for  him  a  sort  of  aflfection,  and  wished  in 
my  heart  of  hearts  that  he  might  soon  be  enabled  to  return  to 
some  more  congenial  employment. 

I  went  out  by  the  Capitol,  and  saw  that  also,  as  I  then  be- 
lieved, for  the  last  time.  With  all  its  faults  it  is  a  great  build- 
ing, and,  though  unfinished,  is  effective ;  its  very  size  and  pre- 
tension give  it  a  certain  majesty.  What  will  be  the  fate  of 
that  vast  pile,  and  of  those  other  costly  public  edifices  at  Wash- 
ington, should  the  South  succeed  wholly  in  their  present  enter- 
prise ?  If  Virginia  should  ever  become  a  part  of  the  southern 
republic,  Washington  cannot  remain  the  capital  of  the  northern 
republic.  In  such  case  it  would  be  almost  better  to  let  Mary- 
land go  also,  so  that  the  future  destiny  of  that '  iUfortunate  city 
may  not  be  a  source  of  trouble,  and  a  stumbling  block  of  op- 
probrium. Even  if  Virginia  be  saved,  its  position  will  be  most 
unfrrtunate. 

I  fancy  that  the  railroads  in  those  days  must  have  been  do- 


!iMl 


I , 


360 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


% 


(I 


ing  a  very  prosperous  business.  From  New  York  to  Philadel- 
phia,  thence  on  to  Baltimore,  and  again  to  Washington,  I  Jiarl 
found  the  cars  full ;  so  full  that  sundry  passengers  could  not 
find  seats.  Now,  on  my  return  to  Baltimore,  they  were  again 
crowded.  The  stations  were  all  crowded.  Luggage-trains  were 
going  in  and  out  as  fast  as  the  rails  could  carry  them.  Among 
the  passengers  almost  half  were  soldiers.  I  presume  that  these 
were  men  going  on  furlough,  or  on  special  occasions ;  for  the 
regiments  were  of  course  not  received  by  ordinary  passenger 
trains.  About  this  time  a  return  was  called  for  by  Congress 
of  all  the  moneys  paid  by  the  government,  on  account  of  the 
army,  to  the  lines  between  New  York  and  Washington.  Wheth- 
er  or  no  it  was  ever  furnished  I  did  not  hear ;  but  it  was  open- 
ly stated  that  the  colonels  of  regiments  received  large  gratuities 
from  certain  railway  companies  for  the  regiments  passing  over 
their  lines.  Charges  of  a  similar  nature  were  made  against  of- 
ficers, contractors,  quartermasters,  paymasters,  generals,  and 
cabinet  ministers.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  any  of  these 
men  had  dirty  hands.  It  was  not  for  me  to  make  inquiries  on 
such  matters.  But  the  cor.tinuance  and  universality  of  the  ac- 
cusations were  dreadful.  When  everybody  is  suspected  of  be- 
ing dishonest,  dishonesty  almost  ceases  to  be  regarded  as  dis- 
graceful. 

I  will  allude  to  a  charge  made  against  one  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  because  the  circumstances  of  the  case  were  all  ac- 
knowledged and  proved.  This  gentleman  employed  his  wife's 
brother-in-law  to  buy  ships,  and  the  agent  so  employed  pock- 
eted about  20,000^.  by  the  transaction  in  six  months.  The  ex- 
cuse made  was  that  this  profit  was  in  accordance  with  the  usu- 
al practice  of  the  ship-dealing  trade,  and  that  it  was  paid  by 
the  owners  who  sold,  and  not  by  the  Government  which  bought. 
But  in  so  vast  an  agency  the  ordinary  rate  of  profit  on  such 
business  became  an  enormous  sum;  and  the  gentleman  who 
made  the  plea  must  surely  have  understood  that  that  20,000/. 
was  in  fact  paid  by  the  government.  It  is  the  purchaser,  and 
not  the  seller,  who  in  fact  pays  all  such  fees.  The  question  is 
this, — Should  the  government  have  paid  so  vast  a  sum  for  one 
man's  work  for  six  months  ?  And  if  so,  was  it  well  that  that 
sum  should  go  into  the  pocket  of  a  near  relative  of  the  Minis- 
ter whose  special  business  it  was  to  protect  the  government? 

American  private  soldiers  are  not  pleasant  fellow-travellers. 
They  are  loud  and  noisy,  and  swear  quite  as  much  as  the  army 
could  possibly  have  sworn  in  Flanders.  They  are,  moreover, 
very  dirty ;  and  each  man,  with  his  long,  thick  great-coat,  takes 


WASHINGTON   TO    ST.  LOUIS. 


361 


up  more  space  than  is  intended  to  be  allotted  to  him.  Of 
course,  I  felt  that  if  I  chose  to  travel  in  a  country  while  it  had 
such  a  piece  of  business  on  its  hands,  I  could  not  expect  that 
everythmg  should  be  found  in  exact  order.  The  matter  for 
wonder,  perhaps,  was  that  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  were  so 
little  disarranged,  and  that  any  travelling  at  all  was  practica- 
ble. Nevertheless  the  fact  remains  that  American  private  sol- 
diers are  not  agreeable  fellow-travellers. 

It  was  my  present  intention  to  go  due  west  across  the  coun- 
try into  Missouri,  skirting,  as  it  were,  the  line  of  the  war  which 
had  now  extended  itself  from  the  Atlantic  across  into  Kansas. 
There  were  at  this  time  three  main  armies, — that  of  the  Poto- 
mac, as  the  army  of  Virginia  was  called,  of  which  Maclellan 
held  the  command ;  that  of  Kentucky,  under  General  Buell, 
who  was  stationed  at  Louisville  on  the  Ohio ;  and  the  army  on 
the  Mississippi,  which  had  been  under  Fremont,  and  of  which 
General  Ilalleck  now  held  the  command.  To  these  were  op- 
posed the  three  rebel  armies  of  Beauregard,  in  Virginia ;  of 
Johnston,  on  the  borders  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee;  and  of 
Price,  in  Missouri.  There  was  also  a  fourth  army  in  Kansas, 
west  of  Missouri,  under  General  Hunter ;  and  while  I  was  in 
Washington  another  general,  supposed  by  some  to  be  the 
"coming  man,"  was  sent  down  to  Kansas  to  participate  in 
General  Hunter's  command.  This  was  General  Jim  Lane, 
who  resigned  a  seat  in  the  Senate  in  order  that  he  might  un- 
dertake this  military  duty.  When  he  reached  Kansas,  having 
on  his  route  made  sundry  violent  abolition  speeches,  and  pro- 
claimed his  intention  of  sweeping  slavery  out  of  the  southwest- 
ern States,  he  came  to  loggerheads  with  his  superior  officer  re- 
specting their  relative  positions. 

On  my  arrival  at  Baltimore,  I  found  the  place  knee-deep  in 
mud  and  slush  and  half-melted  snow.  It  was  then  raining 
hard, — raining  dirt,  not  water,  as  it  sometimes  does.  Worse 
weather  for  soldiers  out  in  tents  could  not  be  imagined, — nor 
for  men  who  were  not  soldiers,  but  who  nevertheless  were  com- 
pelled to  leave  their  houses.  I  only  remained  at  Baltimore  one 
day,  and  then  started  again,  leaving  there  the  greater  part  of 
my  baggage.  I  had  a  vague  hope, — a  hope  which  I  hardly 
hoped  to  realize, — that  I  might  be  able  to  get  through  to  the 
South.  At  any  rate  I  made  myself  ready  for  the  chance  by 
making  my  travelling  impediments  as  light  as  possible,  and 
started  from  Baltimore,  prepared  to  endure  all  the  discomfort 
which  lightness  of  baggage  entails.  My  route  lay  over  the 
Alleghanies  by  Pittsburg  and  Cincinnati,  and  my  first  stop- 


362 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


ping-placo  was  at  Ilarrisburg,  tlie  political  capital  of  Pennsyl. 
vnnin      Thoro  is  notliing  special  at  Harrisburg  to  arrest  any 


vania. 


11' 


m 


traveller;  but  the  local  legislature  of  the  State  was  then  sit- 
ting,  and  I  was  desirous  of  seeing  the  Senate  and  Kepresenta- 
tives  of  at  any  rate  one  State,  during  its  period  of  vitality. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  General  Assembly,  as  the  joint  legisla- 
ture is  called,  sits  every  year,  commencing  their  work  early  in 
January,  and  continuing  till  it  be  finished.  The  usual  period 
of  sitting  seems  to  be  about  ten  weeks.  In  the  majority  of 
States,  the  legislature  only  sits  every  other  year.  In  this  State 
it  sits  every  year,  and  the  representatives  are  elected  annually. 
The  senators  are  elected  for  three  years,  a  third  of  the  body 
being  chosen  each  year.  The  two  chambers  were  ugly,  con- 
venient rooms,  arranged  very  much  after  the  fashion  of  the  halls 
of  Congress  at  Washington.  Each  member  had  his  own  desk, 
and  his  own  chair.  They  were  placed  in  the  shape  of  a  horse* 
shoe,  facing  the  chairman,  before  whom  sat  three  clerks.  In 
neither  house  did  I  hear  any  set  speech.  The  voices  of  the 
Speaker  and  of  the  clerks  of  the  houses  were  heard  more  fre- 
quently than  those  of  the  members ;  and  the  business  seemed 
to  be  done  in  a  dull,  serviceable,  methodical  manner,  Jikely  to 
be  useful  to  the  country,  and  very  uninteresting  to  the  gentle- 
men engaged.  Indeed  at  Washington  also,  in  Congress,  it 
seemed  to  me  that  there  was  much  less  of  set  speeches  than  in 
our  House  of  Commons.  With  us  there  are  certain  men  whom 
it  seems  impossible  to  put  down,  and  by  whom  the  time  of 
Parliament  is  occupied  from  night  to  night,  with  advantage  to 
no  one  and  with  satisfaction  to  none  but  themselves.  I  do  not 
think  that  the  evil  prevails  to  the  same  extent  in  America, 
either  in  Congress  or  in  the  State  legislatures.  As  regards 
Washington,  this  good  result  may  be  assisted  by  a  salutary 
practice  which,  as  I  was  assured,  prevails  there.  A  member 
gets  his  speech  printed  at  the  Government  cost,  and  sends  it 
down  free  by  post  to  his  constituents,  without  troubling  either 
the  house  with  hearing  it,  or  himself  with  speaking  it.  I  can- 
not but  think  that  the  practice  might  be  copied  with  success 
on  our  side  of  the  water. 

The  appearance  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania did  not  impress  me  very  favourably.  I  do  not  know 
why  we  should  wish  a  legislator  to  be  neat  in  :  As  dress,  and 
comely,  in  some  degree,  in  his  personal  appearance.  There  is 
no  good  reason,  perhaps,  why  they  should  have  cleaner  shirts 
th'm  their  outside  brethren,  or  have  been  more  particular  in 
the  use  of  soap  and,  water,  and  brush  and  comb.     But  I  have 


7 


WASHINGTON  TO  ST.  LOUIS. 


303 


an  idea  that  if  e\  er  our  own  Parliament  becomes  dirty,  it  will 
lose  its  prestige;  and  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  Parliament 
of  Pennsylvania  would  gain  an  accession  of  dignity  by  some 
slightly  increased  devotion  to  the  Graces.  I  saw  m  the  two 
houses  but  one  gentleman,  a  senator,  who  looked  like  a  Qua- 
ker ;  but  even  he  was  a  very  untidy  Quaker. 

I  paid  my  respects  to  the  Governor,  and  found  him  briskly 
employed  in  arranging  the  appointments  of  officers.  All  tho 
regimental  appointments  to  the  volunteer  regiments, — and  that 
is  practically  to  tho  whole  body  of  the  army,* — arc  made  by 
the  State  in  which  the  regiments  are  mustered.  When  tho 
att'uii*  commenced,  the  captains  and  lieutenants  were  chosen  by 
the  men ;  but  it  was  found  that  this  would  not  do.  When  tho 
skeleton  of  a  State  militia  only  was  required,  such  an  arrange- 
ment was  popular  and  not  essentially  injurious ;  but  now  that 
war  had  become  a  reality,  and  that  volunteers  were  required 
to  obey  discipline,  some  other  mode  of  promotion  was  found 
necessary.  As  far  as  I  could  understand,  the  appointments 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  State  Governor,  who  however  was 
expected  in  the  selection  of  the  superior  officers  to  be  guided 
by  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  regiment,  when  no  objection 
existed  to  such  a  choice.  In  the  present  instance  the  Govern- 
or's course  was  very  thorny.  Certain  unfinished  regiments 
were  in  the  act  of  being  amalgamated ; — two  perfect  regiments 
being  made  up  from  perhaps  live  imperfect  regiments,  and  so 
But  though  the  privates  had  not  been  forthcoming  to  the 


on. 


full  number  tor  each  expected  regiment,  there  had  been  no 
such  dearth  of  officers,  and  consequently  the  present  operation 
consisted  in  reducing  their  number. 

Nothing  can  be  much  uglier  than  the  State  House  at  Har- 
risburg,  but  it  commands  a  magnificent  view  of  one  of  the  vat- 
leys  into  which  the  Alleghany  mountainp  is  broken.  Harris- 
burg  is  immediately  under  the  range,  probably  at  its  finest 
point,  and  the  railway  running  west  from  the  town  to  Pitts- 
burg, Cincinnati,  and  Chicago  passes  right  over  the  chain. 
The  line  has  been  magnificently  engineered,  and  the  scenery  is 
very  grand.  I  went  over  the  Alleghanies  in  midwinter  when 
they  were  covered  with  snow,  but  even  when  so  seen  they 
were  very  fine.  The  view  down  the  valley  from  Altoona,  a 
point  near  the  summit,  must  in  summer  be  excessively  lovely. 
I  stopped  at  Altoona  onu  night  with  the  object  of  getting  about 
among  the  hills,  and  making  the  best  of  the  winter  view ;  but 

*  The  army  at  this  time  consisted  nomiaally  of  660,000  men,  of  whom 
only  20,000  were  regulars.  . 


! 


864 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


1 


I 


'.11 


\r 


I 


I  found  it  impossible  to  walk.  Tho  snow  had  become  frozen 
and  was  like  glass.  I  could  not  progress  a  mile  in  any  way. 
With  infinite  labour  I  climbed  to  the  top  of  one  little  lull,  anj 
when  there  became  aware  that  the  descent  would  be  very 
much  more  difficult.  I  did  get  down,  but  should  not  choose 
to  describe  the  manner  in  which  I  accomplished  the  descent. 

In  running  down  tho  mountains  to  Pittsburg  an  accidont 
occurred  which  in  any  other  country  would  have  thrown  tlie 
engine  off  the  line,  and  have  reduced  the  cirriagcs  behind  tho 
engine  to  a  heap  of  ruins.  But  hero  it  had  no  other  effect  than 
that  of  delaying  ns  for  three  or  four  hours.  The  tire  of  one 
of  the  heavy  driving  wheels  flew  off,  and  in  the  shock  the  body 
of  the  wheel  itself  was  broken,  one  spoke  and  a  portion  of  the 
circumference  of  tho  wheol  was  carried  away,  and  the  steam- 
chamber  was  ripped  open.  Nevertheless  the  train  was  pulled 
up,  neither  the  engine  nor  any  of  the  carriages  ^ot  off  the  line, 
and  the  men  in  charge  of  the  train  seemed  to  thmk  very  lightly 
of  the  matter.  I  was  amused  to  see  how  little  was  made  of 
the  affair  by  any  of  the  passengers.  In  England  a  delay  of 
three  hours  would  in  itself  produce  a  great  amount  of  grum- 
bling, or  at  least  many  signs  of  discomfort  and  temporary  un- 
happiness.  BuJb  here  no  one  said  a  word.  Some  of  the  youn- 
ger men  trot  out  and  looked  at  the  ruined  wheel ;  but  most  of 
the  passengers  kept  their  seats,  chewed  their  tobacco,  and  went 
to  sleep.  In  all  such  matters  an  American  is  much  more  pa- 
tient than  an  Englishman.  To  sit  quiet,  without  speech,  and 
ruminate  in  some  contorted  position  of  body,  comes  to  him  by 
nature.  On  this  occasion  I  did  not  hear  a  word  of  complaint 
— nor  yet  a  word  of  surprise  or  thankfulness  that  tlie  accident 
had  been  attended  with  no  serious  result.  "  I  have  got  a  fur- 
lough for  ten  days,"  one  soldier  said  to  me.  "  And  I  have 
missed  every  connection  all  through  from  Washington  here. 
I  shall  have  just  time  to  turn  round  and  go  back  when  I  get 
home."  But  he  did  not  seem  to  be  in  any  way  dissatis- 
fied. He  had  not  referred  to  his  relatives  when  he  spoke  of 
"missing  his  connections,"  but  to  his  want  of  good  fortune  as 
regarded  railway  travelling.  He  had  reached  Baltimore  too 
late  for  the  train  on  to  Harrisburg,  and  Harrisburg  too  late 
for  the  train  on  to  Pittsburg.  Now  he  must  again  reach  Pitts- 
burg too  late  for  his  further  journey.  But  nevertheless  he 
seemed  to  be  well  pleased  with  his  position. 

Pittsburg  is  the  Merthyr  Tydvil  of  Pennsylvania, — or  per- 
haps I  should  better  describe  it  as  an  amalgamation  of  Swan- 
sea, Merthyr-Tydvil,  and  South  Shields.    It  is  without  excep- 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


366 


tion  the  blackest  place  which  I  over  saw.  The  three  English 
towns  which  I  have  named  are  very  dirty,  but  all  their  com- 
bined soot  and  grease  and  dingincss  do  not  equal  that  of  Pitts- 
burg. As  regards  scenery  it  is  beautifully  situated,  being  at 
the  toot  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  and  at  the  juncture  of 
tlie  two  rivers  Monongahela  and  Alleghany.  Ilere,  at  tho 
town,  they  come  together  and  form  the  river  Ohio.  Nothing 
can  be  more  picturesque  than  the  site ;  for  the  spurs  of  tho 
mountains  come  down  close  round  the  town,  and  the  rivers  aro 
broad  and  swift,  and  can  bo  seen  for  miles  from  heights  which 
may  be  reached  in  a  short  walk.  Even  tho  filth  and  wondrous 
blackness  of  tho  place  are  picturesque  when  looked  down  upon 
from  above.  The  tops  of  tlio  churches  are  visible,  and  some  of 
the  larger  buildings  may  be  partially  traced  through  the  thick, 
brown,  settled  smoke.  But  the  city  itself  is  buried  in  a  dense 
cloud.  The  atmosphere  was  especially  heavy  when  I  was  there, 
nnd  the  effect  was  probably  increased  by  the  general  darkness 
of  tho  weather.  The  Monongahela  is  crossed  by  a  fine  bridge, 
and  on  the  other  side  tho  ground  rises  at  once,  almost  with  tho 
rapidity  of  a  precipice ;  so  that  a  commanding  view  is  obtain- 
ed down  upon  the  town  and  tho  two  rivers  and  the  different 
bridges,  from  a  height  immediately  above  them.  I  was  never 
more  in  love  with  smoke  and  dirt  than  when  I  stood  here  and 
watched  the  darkness  of  night  close  in  upon  the  floating  soot 
which  hovered  over  the  housetops  of  the  city.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  saw  the  sun  set,  for  there  was  no  sun.  I  should  say  that 
the  sun  never  shone  at  Pittsburg, — as  foreigners  who  visit  Lon- 
don in  November  declare  that  the  sun  never  shines  there. 

Walking  along  the  river-side  I  counted  thirty-two  steamers, 
all  beached  upon  the  shore  with  their  bows  towards  the  land 
—large  boats,  capable  probably  of  carrying  from  one  to  two 
hundred  passengers  each,  and  about  300  tons  of  merchandise. 
On  inquiry  I  found  that  many  of  these  were  not  now  at  work. 
They  were  resting  idle,  the  t^'ade  down  the  Mississippi  below 
St.  Louis  having  been  cut  off  by  the  war.  Many  of  them,  how- 
ever, \vere  still  running,  the  passage  down  the  river  being  open 
to  Wheeling  in  Virginia,  to  Portsmouth,  Cincinnati  and  the 
whole  of  South  Ohio,  to  Louisville  in  Kentuckv,  and  to  Cairo 
in  Illinois,  where  the  Ohio  joins  the  Mississippi.  The  amount 
of  traffic  carried  on  by  these  boats  while  the  comitry  was  at 
peace  within  itself  was  very  great,  and  conclusive  as  to  the  in- 
creasing prosperity  of  the  people.  It  seems  that  everybody 
travels  in  America,  and  that  nothing  is  thought  of  distance. 
A  yonng  man  will  step  into  a  car  and  sit  beside  you,  with  that 


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Liotographic 

Sciences 

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NORTH  AMERICA. 


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easy,  careless  air  which  is  common  to  a  railway  passenger  in 
England  who  is  passing  from  one  station  to  the  next ;  and  on 
conversing  with  liini  you  will  find  that  he  is  going  seven  or 
eight  hundred  miles.  He  is  supplied  with  fresh  newspapers 
three  or  four  times  a  day  as  he  passes  by  the  towns  at  which 
they  are  published ;  he  eats  a  large  assortment  of  gum-drops 
and  apples,  and  is  quite  as  much  at  home  as  in  his  own  house. 
On  board  the  river  boats  it  is  the  same  with  him,  with  this  ex- 
ception, that  when  there  he  can  get  whisky  when  he  wants  it. 
He  knows  nothing  of  the  ennui  of  travelling,  and  never  seems 
to  long  for  the  end  of  his  journey,  as  travellers  do  with  us. 
Should  his  boat  come  to  grief  upon  the  river,  and  lie  by  for  a 
day  or  a  night,  it  does  not  in  the  least  disconcert  him.  He 
seats  himself  upon  three  chairs,  takes  a  bite  of  tobacco,  thrusts 
his  hands  into  his  trousers  pockets  and  revels  in  an  elysium  of 
his  own. 

I  was  told  that  the  Stockholders  in  these  boats  were  in  a  bad 
way  at  the  present  time.  There  were  no  dividends  going.  The 
same  story  was  repeated  as  to  many  and  many  an  investment. 
Where  the  war  created  business,  as  it  had  done  on  some  of  the 
main  lines  of  railroad  and  in  some  special  towns,  money  was 
passing  very  freely ;  but  away  from  this,  ruin  seemed  to  have 
fallen  on  the  enterprise  of  the  country.  Men  were  not  broken- 
hearted, nor  were  they  even  melancholy ;  but  they  were  simply 
ruined.  That  h  nothing  in  the  States,  so  long  as  the  ruined 
man  has  the  means  left  to  him  of  supplying  his  daily  wants  till 
he  can  start  himself  again  in  life.  It  is  almost  the  normal  con- 
dition of  the  American  man  in  business ;  and  therefore  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  when  this  war  is  over,  and  things  begin 
to  settle  themselves  into  new  grooves,  commerce  will  recover 
herself  more  quickly  there  than  she  would  do  among  any  other 
people.  It  is  so  common  a  thing  to  hear  of  an  enterprise  that 
has  never  paid  a  dollar  of  interest  on  the  original  outlay, — of 
hotels,  canals,  railroads,  banks,  blocks  of  houses,  <fcc.,  that  never 
paid  even  in  the  happy  days  of  p'^ace, — that  one  is  tempted  to 
disregard  the  absence  of  dividends,  and  to  believe  that  such  a 
trifling  accident  will  not  act  as  any  check  on  future  speculation. 
In  no  country  has  pecuniary  ruin  been  so  common  as  in  the 
States ;  but  then  in  no  country  is  pecuniary  ruin  so  little  ruin- 
ous. "  We  are  a  recuperative  people,"  a  west-country  gentle- 
man once  said  to  me.  I  doubted  the  propriety  of  his  word, 
but  I  acknowledged  the  truth  of  his  assertion. 

Pittsburg  and  Alleghany,  which  latter  is  a  town  similar  in  its 
nature  to  Pittsburg  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  of  the  snme 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


367 


name,  regard  themselves  as  places  apart ;  but  they  are  in  effect 
one  and  the  same  city.  They  live  under  the  same  blanket  of 
soot,  wliich  is  woven  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the  two  places. 
Their  united  population  is  135,000,  of  which  Alleghany  owns 
about  50,000.  The  mdustry  of  the  towns  is  of  that  sort  which 
arises  from  a  union  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  vicinity.  The  Penn- 
sylvanian  coalfields  are  the  most  prolific  in  the  Union ;  and  Pitts- 
burg is  therefore  great,  exactly  as  Merthyr-Tydvil  and  Birming- 
ham are  great.  But  the  foundry-work  at  Pittsburg  is  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  heavy,  rough  works  of  the  Welsh  coal  me- 
tropolis than  to  the  finish  and  polish  of  Birmingham. 

"  Why  cannot  you  consume  your  own  smoke  ?"  I  asked  a 
gentleman  there.  "  Fuel  is  so  cheap  that  it  would  not  pay," 
he  answered.  His  idea  of  the  advantage  of  consuming  smoke 
was  confined  to  the  question  of  its  paying  as  a  simple  operation 
in  itself.  The  consequent  cleanliness  and  improvement  in  the 
atmosphere  had  not  entered  into  his  calculations.  Any  such 
result  might  be  a  fortuitous  benefit,  but  was  not  of  sufiicient 
importance  to  make  any  effort  in  that  direction  expedient  on 
its  own  account.  "  Coal  was  burned,"  he  said,  "  in  the  found- 
ries at  something  less  than  two  dollars  a  ton  ;  while  that  was 
the  case,  it  could  not  answer  the  purpose  of  any  iron-founder  to 
put  up  an  apparatus  for  the  consumption  of  smoke."  I  did 
not  pursue  the  argument  any  further,  as  I  perceived  that  we 
were  looking  at  the  matter  from  two  different  points  of  view. 

Everything  in  the  hotel  was  black ;  not  black  to  the  eye,  for 
the  eye  teaches  itself  to  discriminate  colours  even  when  loaded 
with  dirt,  but  black  to  the  touch.  On  coming  out  of  a  tub  of 
water  my  foot  took  an  impress  from  the  carpet  exactly  as  it 
would  have  done  had  I  trod  barefooted  on  a  path  laid  with  soot. 
I  thought  that  I  was  turning  negro  upwards,  till  I  put  my  wet 
hand  upon  the  carpet,  and  found  that  the  result  was  the  same. 
And  yet  the  carpet  was  green  to  the  eye, — a  dull,  dingy  green, 
but  still  green.  "  You  shouldn't  damp  your  feet,"  a  man  said 
to  me,  to  whom  I  mentioned  the  catastrophe.  Certainly  Pitts- 
burg is  the  dirtiest  place  I  ever  saw,  but  it  is,  as  I  said  before, 
very  picturesque  in  its  dirt  when  looked  at  from  above  the 
blanket. 

From  Pittsburg  I  went  on  by  train  to  Cincinnati,  and  was 
soon  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  I  confess  that  I  have  never  felt  any 
great  regard  for  Pennsylvania.  It  has  always  had  in  ray  esti- 
mation a  low  character  for  commercial  honesty,  and  a  certain 
flavour  of  pretentious  hypocrisy.  This  probably  has  been  much 
owing  to  the  acerbity  and  pungency  of  Sydney  Smith's  witty 


<  ,1 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


367 


name,  regard  themselves  as  places  apart ;  but  they  are  in  effect 
one  and  the  same  city.  They  live  under  the  same  blanket  of 
soot,  which  is  woven  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the  two  places. 
Tlieir  united  population  is  135,000,  of  which  Alleghany  owns 
about  50,000.  The  mdustry  of  the  towns  is  of  that  sort  which 
arises  from  a  union  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  vininitv.  The  Penn- 
sylvanian  coalfields  are  the  most  prolific  in  the  Union ;  and  Pitts- 
burg is  therefore  great,  exactly  as  Merthyr-Tydvil  and  Birming- 
ham are  great.  But  the  foundry-work  at  Pittsburg  is  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  heavy,  rough  works  of  the  Welsh  coal  me- 
tropolis than  to  the  finish  and  polish  of  Birmingham. 

"  Why  cannot  you  consume  your  own  smoke  ?"  I  asked  a 
gentleman  there.  "  Fuel  is  so  cheap  that  it  would  not  pay," 
he  answered.  His  idea  of  the  advantage  of  consuming  smoke 
was  confined  to  the  question  of  its  paying  as  a  simple  operation 
in  itself.  The  consequent  cleanliness  and  improvement  in  the 
atmosphere  had  not  entered  into  his  calculations.  Any  such 
result  might  be  a  fortuitous  benefit,  but  was  not  of  suflficient 
importance  to  make  any  effort  in  that  direction  expedient  on 
its  own  account.  "  Coal  was  burned,"  he  said,  "  in  the  found- 
ries at  something  less  than  two  dollars  a  ton  ;  while  that  was 
the  case,  it  could  not  answer  the  purpose  of  any  iron-founder  to 
put  up  an  apparatus  for  the  consumption  of  smoke."  I  did 
not  pursue  the  argument  any  further,  as  I  perceived  that  we 
were  looking  at  the  matter  from  two  different  points  of  view. 

Everything  in  the  hotel  was  black ;  not  black  to  the  eye,  for 
the  eye  teaches  itself  to  discriminate  colours  even  when  loaded 
with  dirt,  but  black  to  the  touch.  On  coming  out  of  a  tub  of 
water  my  foot  took  an  impress  from  the  carpet  exactly  as  it 
would  have  done  had  I  trod  barefooted  on  a  path  laid  with  soot. 
I  thought  that  I  was  turning  negro  upwards,  till  I  put  my  wet 
hand  upon  the  carpet,  and  found  that  the  result  was  the  same. 
And  yet  the  carpet  was  green  to  the  eye, — a  dull,  dingy  green, 
but  still  green.  "  You  shouldn't  damp  your  feet,"  a  man  said 
to  me,  to  whom  I  mentioned  the  catastrophe.  Certainly  Pitts- 
burg is  the  dirtiest  place  I  ever  saw,  but  it  is,  as  I  said  before, 
very  picturesque  in  its  dirt  when  looked  at  from  above  the 
blanket. 

From  Pittsburg  I  went  on  by  train  to  Cincinnati,  and  was 
soon  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  I  confess  that  I  have  never  felt  any 
great  regard  for  Pennsylvania.  It  has  always  had  in  ray  esti- 
mation a  low  character  for  commercial  honesty,  and  a  certain 
flavour  of  pretentious  hypocrisy.  This  probably  has  been  much 
owing  to  the  acerbity  and  pungency  of  Sydney  Smith's  witty 


368 


NOBTH   ASIEBICA. 


denunciations  against  the  drab-coloured  State.  It  is  noted  for 
repudiation  of  its  own  debts,  and  for  shiirpness  in  exaction  of 
its  own  bargains.  It  has  been  always  smart  in  banking.  It 
has  given  Buchanan  as  a  President  to  th*  country,  and  Came- 
ron as  a  Secretary  at  War  to  the  Government!  When  the 
battle  of  Bull's  Run  was  to  be  fought,  Pennsylvaniau  soldiers 
were  the  men  who,  on  that  day,  threw  down  their  arms  because 
the  three  months'  term  for  which  they  had  been  enlisted  was 
then  expired !  Pennsylvania  does  not  in  my  mind  stand  on  a 
par  with  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  lUinois,  or 
Virginia.  We  are  apt  to  connect  the  name  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin with  Pennsylvania,  but  Franklin  was  a  Boston  man.  Nev- 
ertheless, Pennsylvania  is  rich  and  prosperous.  Indeed  it  bears 
all  those  marks  which  Quakers  generally  leave  behind  them. 

I  had  some  littla  personal  feeling  in  visiting  Cincinnati,  be- 
cause my  mother  had  lived  there  for  some  time,  and  had  there 
been  concerned  in  a  commercial  enterprise,  by  which  no  one,  I 
believe,  made  any  great  sum  of  money.  Between  thirty  and 
forty  years  ago  she  built  a  bazaar  in  Cincinnati,  which  I  was  as- 
sured by  the  present  owner  of  the  house,  was  at  the  time  of  its 
erection  considered  to  be  the  great  building  of  the  town.  It 
has  been  sadly  eclipsed  now,  and  by  no  means  rears  its  heaC 
proudly  among  the  great  blocks  around  it.  It  had  become  a 
"  Physico-medical  Institute"  when  I  was  there,  and  was  under 
the  dominion  of  a  quack  doctor  on  one  side,  and  of  a  college 
of  rights-of- women  female  medical  professors  on  the  other.  "I 
believe,  sir,  no  man  or  woman  ever  yet  made  a  dollar  in  that 
building ;  and  as  for  rent,  I  don't  even  expect  it."  Such  was 
the  account  given  of  the  unfortunate  bazaar  by  the  present  pro- 
prietor. 

Cincinnati  has  long  been  known  as  a  great  town, — conspicu- 
ous among  all  towns  for  the  number  of  hogs  which  are  there 
killed,  salted,  and  packed.  It  is  the  great  hog  metropolis  of 
the  western  States ;  but  Cincinnati  has  not  grown  with  the  ra- 
pidity of  other  towns.  It  has  now  1 70,000  inhabitants,  but 
then  it  got  an  early  start.  St.  Louis,  which  is  west  of  it  again, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  has  gone 
ahead  of  it.  Cincinnati  stands  on  the  Ohio  river,  separated  by 
a  ferry  from  Kentucky,  which  is  a  slave  State.  Ohio  itself  is  a 
free-soil  State.  When  the  time  comes  for  arranging  the  line 
of  division,  if  such  time  shall  ever  come,  it  will  be  very  hard  to 
say  where  northern  feeling  ends  and  where  southern  wishes 
commence.  Newport  and  Covington,  which  are  in  Kentucky, 
are  suburbs  of  Cincinnati ;  and  yet  in  these  places  slavery  is  rife. 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


369 


Tho  domestic  servants  are  mostly  slaves,  though  it  is  essential 
that  those  so  kept  should  be  known  as  slaves  who  will  not  run 
away.  It  is  understood  that  a  slave  who  escapes  into  Ohio  will 
not  be  caught  and  given  up  by  the  intervention  of  the  Ohio  po- 
lice ;  and  from  Covington  or  Newport  any  slave  can  escape  into 
Ohio  with  ease.  But  when  that  division  takes  place,  no  river 
like  the  Ohio  can  form  the  boundary  between  the  divided  na- 
tions. Such  rivers  are  the  highways,  round  which  in  this  coun- 
try people  have  clustered  themselves.  A  river  here  is  not  a 
natural  barrier,  but  a  connecting  street.  It  would  be  as  well 
to  make  a  railway  a  division,  or  the  centre  line  of  a  city  a  na- 
tional boundary.  Kentucky  and  Ohio  States  are  joined  togeth- 
er by  the  Ohio  river,  with  Cincinnati  on  one  side  and  Louisville 
on  the  other ;  and  I  do  not  think  that  man's  act  can  upset  these 
ties  of  nature.  But  between  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  there  is 
no  such  bond  of  union.  There  a  mathematical  line  has  been 
simply  drawn,  a  continuation  of  that  line  which  divides  Vir- 
ginia from  North  Carolina,  to  which  two  latter  States  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  belonged  when  the  thirteen  original  States 
first  formed  themselves  into  a  union.  But  that  mathematical 
line  has  offered  no  peculiar  advantages  to  population.  No 
great  towns  cluster  there,  and  no  strong  social  interests  would 
be  dissevered  should  Kentucky  throw  in  her  lot  with  the 
North,  and  Tennessee  with  the  South ;  but  Kentucky  owns  a 
quarter  of  million  of  slaves,  and  those  slaves  must  either  be  eman- 
cipated or  removed  before  such  a  junction  can  be  firmly  settled. 
The  great  business  of  Cincinnati  is  hog-killing  now,  as  it  used 
to  be  in  the  old  days  of  which  1  have  so  often  heard.  It  seems 
to  be  an  established  fact,  that  in  this  portion  of  the  world  the 
porcine  genus  are  all  hogs.  One  never  hears  of  a  pig.  With 
us  a  trade  in  hogs  and  pigs  is  subject  to  some  little  contumely. 
There  is  a  feeling,  which  has  perhaps  never  been  expiessed  in 
words,  but  which  certainly  exists,  that  these  animals  are  not  so 
honourable  in  their  bearings  as  sheep  and  oxen.  It  is  a  preju- 
dice which  by  no  means  exists  in  Cincinnati.  There  hog  kill- 
ing and  salting  and  packing  are  very  honourable,  and  the  great 
men  in  the  trade  are  the  merchant  princes  of  the  city.  I  went 
to  see  the  performance,  feeling  it  to  be  a  duty  to  inspect  every- 
where that  which  I  found  to  be  of  most  importance ;  but  I 
will  not  describe  it.  There  were  a  crowd  of  men  operating, 
and  I  was  told  that  the  point  of  honour  was  to  "  put  through" 
a  hog  a  minute.  It  must  be  understood  that  the  animal  enters 
upon  the  ceremony  alive,  and  comes  out  in  that  cleanly,  disem- 
bowelled guise  in  which  it  may  sometimes  be  seen  hanging  up 

Q2 


1% 


I, 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


369 


Tho  domestic  servants  are  mostly  slaves,  though  it  is  essential 
that  those  so  kept  should  be  known  as  slaves  who  will  not  run 
away.  It  is  understood  that  a  slave  who  escapes  into  Ohio  will 
not  be  caught  and  given  up  by  the  intervention  of  the  Ohio  po- 
lice ;  and  from  Covington  or  Newport  any  slave  can  escape  into 
Ohio  with  ease.  But  when  that  division  takes  place,  no  river 
Hke  the  Ohio  can  form  the  boundary  between  the  divided  na- 
tions. Such  rivers  are  the  highways,  round  which  in  this  coun- 
try people  have  clustered  themselves.  A  river  here  is  not  a 
natural  barrier,  but  a  connecting  street.  It  would  be  as  well 
to  make  a  railway  a  division,  or  the  centre  line  of  a  city  a  na- 
tional boundary.  Kentucky  and  Ohio  States  are  joined  togeth- 
er by  the  Ohio  river,  with  Cincinnati  on  one  side  and  Louisville 
on  the  other ;  and  I  do  not  think  that  man's  act  can  upset  these 
ties  of  nature.  But  between  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  there  is 
no  such  bond  of  union.  There  a  mathematical  line  has  been 
simply  drawn,  a  continuation  of  that  line  which  divides  Vir- 
ginia from  North  Carolina,  to  which  two  latter  States  Ken* 
tucky  and  Tennessee  belonged  when  the  thirteen  original  States 
first  formed  themselves  into  a  union.  But  that  mathematical 
line  has  offered  no  peculiar  advantages  to  population.  No 
great  towns  cluster  there,  and  no  strong  social  interests  would 
be  dissevered  should  Kentucky  throw  in  her  lot  with  the 
North,  and  Tennessee  with  the  South ;  but  Kentucky  owns  a 
quarter  of  million  of  slaves,  and  those  slaves  must  either  be  eman- 
cipated or  removed  before  such  a  junction  can  be  firmly  settled. 
The  great  business  of  Cincinnati  is  hog-killing  now,  as  it  used 
to  be  in  the  old  days  of  which  1  have  so  often  heard.  It  seems 
to  be  an  established  fact,  that  in  this  portion  of  the  world  the 
porcine  genus  are  all  hogs.  One  never  hears  of  a  pig.  With 
us  a  trade  in  hogs  and  pigs  is  subject  to  some  little  contumely. 
There  is  a  feeling,  which  has  perhaps  never  been  expiessed  in 
words,  but  which  certainly  exists,  that  these  animals  are  not  so 
honourable  in  their  bearings  as  sheep  and  oxen.  It  is  a  preju- 
dice which  by  no  means  exists  in  Cincinnati.  There  hog  kill- 
ing and  salting  and  packing  are  very  honourable,  and  the  great 
men  in  the  trade  are  the  merchant  princes  of  the  city.  I  went 
to  see  the  performance,  feeling  it  to  be  a  duty  to  inspect  every- 
where that  which  I  found  to  be  of  most  importance ;  but  I 
will  not  describe  it.  There  were  a  crowd  of  men  operating, 
and  I  was  told  that  the  point  of  honour  was  to  "  put  through" 
a  hog  a  minute.  It  must  be  understood  that  the  animal  enters 
upon  the  ceremony  alive,  and  comes  out  in  that  cleanly  fJispTn. 


370 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


('        H 


' 


previous  to  the  operation  of  the  pork-butcher's  knife.  To  one 
special  man  was  appointed  a  performance  which  seemed  to  be 
specially  disagreeable,  so  that  he  appeared  despicable  in  niy 
eyes ;  but  when  on  inquiry  I  learned  that  he  earned  five  do). 
lars,  or  a  pound  sterling,  a  day,  my  judgment  as  to  his  position 
was  reversed.  And  after  all  what  matters  the  ugly  nature  of 
such  an  occupation  when  a  man  is  used  to  it  ? 

Cincinnati  is  like  all  other  American  towns,  with  second, 
third,  and  fourth  streets,  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  streets,  and 
so  on.  Then  the  cross-streets  are  named  chiefly  from  trees. 
Chesnut,  walnut,  locust,  &c.  I  do  not  know  whence  has  come 
this  fancy  for  naming  streets  after  trees  in  the  States,  but  it  is 
very  general.  The  town  is  well  built,  with  good  fronts  to  many 
of  the  houses,  with  large  shops  and  larger  stores ; — of  course 
also  with  an  enormous  hotel,  which  has  never  paid  anything 
like  a  proper  dividend  to  the  speculator  who  built  it.  It  is  al- 
ways the  same  story.  But  these  towns  shame  our  provincial 
towns  by  their  breadth  and  grandeur.  I  am  afraid  that  specu- 
lators with  us  are  trammelled  by  an  "  ignorant  impatience  of 
ruin."  I  should  not  myself  like  to  live  in  Cincinnati  or  in  any 
of  these  towns.  They  are  slow,  dingy,  and  uninteresting;  but 
they  all  possess  an  air  of  substantial,  civic  dignity.  It  must 
however  be  remembered  that  the  Americans  live  much  more 
in  towns  than  we  do.  All  with  us  that  are  rich  and  aristocratic 
and  luxurious  live  in  the  country,  frequenting  the  metropolis 
for  only  a  portion  of  the  year.  But  all  that  are  rich  and  aris- 
tocratic and  luxurious  in  the  States  live  in  the  towns.  Our  pro- 
vincial towns  are  not  generally  chosen  as  the  residences  of  our 
higher  classes. 

Cincicnati  has  170,000  inhabitants,  and  there  are  14,000  chil- 
dren at  the  free  schools, — which  is  about  one  in  twelve  of  the 
whole  population.  This  number  gives  the  average  of  scholars 
throughout  the  year  ended  30th  June,  1861.  But  there  are 
other  schools  in  Cincinnati, — parish  schools  and  private  schools, 
and  it  is  stated  to  me  that  there  were  in  all  32,000  children  at- 
tending school  in  the  city  throughout  the  year.  The  education 
at  the  State  schools  is  very  good.  Thirty-four  teachers  are 
employed,  at  an  average  salary  of  921.  each,  ranging  from  260/. 
to  601.  per  annum.  It  is  in  this  matter  of  education  that  the 
cities  of  the  free  States  of  America  have  done  so  much  for  the 
civilization  and  welfare  of  their  population.  This  fact  cannot 
be  repeated  in  their  praise  too  often.  Those  who  have  the 
management  of  affairs,  who  are  at  the  top  of  the  tree,  are  de- 
sirous of  giving  to  all  an  opportunity  of  raising  themselves 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


371 


in  the  scale  of  human  beinj^s.  I  dislike  universal  suffrage ;  I 
dislike  vote  by  ballot ;  I  dislike  above  all  things  the  tyranny  of 
democracy.  But  I  do  like  the  political  feeling — for  it  is  a  po- 
litical feeling — which  induces  every  educated  American  to  lend 
!i  hand  to  the  education  of  his  fellow-citizens.  It  shows,  if 
nothing  else  does  so,  a  germ  of  truth  in  that  doctrine  of  equal- 
ity. It  is  a  doctrine  to  be  forgiven  when  he  who  preaches  it 
is  in  truth  striving  to  raise  others  to  his  own  level ; — though 
utterly  unpardonable  when  the  preacher  would  pull  down  oth- 
ers to  his  level. 

Leaving  Cincinnati  I  again  entered  a  slave  State;  namely, 
Kentucky.  When  the  war  broke  out  Kentucky  took  upon  it- 
self to  say  that  it  would  be  neutral,  as  if  neutrality  in  such  a 
position  could  by  any  means  have  been  possible !  Neutrality 
on  the  borders  of  secession,  on  the  battle-field  of  the  coming 
contest,  was  of  course  impossible.  Tennessee,  to  the  south,  had 
joined  the  South  by  a  regular  secession  ordinance.  Ohio,  Illi- 
nois, and  Indiana  to  the  north  were  ot  course  true  to  the  Union. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  became  necessary  that  Kentucky 
should  choose  her  side.  With  the  exception  of  the  little  State 
of  Delaware,  in  which  from  her  position  secession  would  have 
been  impossible,  Kentucky  was,  I  think,  less  inclined  to  rebel- 
lion, more  desirous  of  standing  by  the  North,  than  any  other 
of  the  slave  States.  She  did  all  she  could,  however,  to  put  off 
the  evil  day  of  so  evil  a  choice.  Abolition  within  her  borders 
was  held  to  be  abominable  as  strongly  as  it  was  so  held  in 
Georgia.  She  had  no  sympathy  and  could  have  none  with  the 
teachings  and  preachings  of  Massachusetts.  But  she  did  not 
wish  to  belong  to  a  Confederacy  of  which  the  northern  States 
were  to  be  the  declared  enemy,  and  be  the  border  State  of  the 
South  under  such  circumstances.  She  did  all  she  could  for  per- 
sonal neutrality.  She  made  that  effort  for  general  reconcilia- 
tion of  which  I  have  spoken  as  the  Crittenden  compromise. 
But  compromises  and  reconciliation  were  not  as  yet  possible, 
and  therefore  it  was  necessary  that  she  should  choose  her  part. 
Her  Governor  declared  for  secession ;  and  at  first  also  her  leg- 
islature was  inclined  to  follow  the  Governor.  But  no  overt 
act  of  secession  by  the  State  was  committed,  and  at  last  it  was 
decided  that  Kentucky  should  be  declared  to  be  loyal.  It  was 
in  fact  divided.  Those  on  the  southern  border  joined  the  se- 
cessionists, whereas  the  greater  portion  of  the  State,  containing 
Frankfort  the  capital  and  the  would-be  secessionist  Governor 
who  lived  there,  joined  the  North.  Men  in  fact  became  union- 
ists or  secessionists,  not  by  their  own  conviction,  but  through 


372 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


11/ 


I    '. 


the  necessity  of  their  positions ;  and  Kentucky,  through  tho 
necessity  of  her  position,  became  one  of  the  scenes  of  civil  war. 
I  must  confess  that  the  difficulty  of  the  position  of  the  whole 
country  seems  to  me  to  have  been  under-estimated  in  England. 
In  common  life  it  is  not  easy  to  arrange  the  circumstances  of  a 
divorce  between  man  and  wife,  all  whose  belongings  and  asso- 
ciations have  for  many  years  been  in  common.  Their  children, 
their  money,  their  house,  their  friends,  their  secrets,  have  been 
joint  property  and  have  formed  bonds  of  union.  But  yet  such 
quarrels  may  arise,  such  mutual  antipathy,  such  acerbity  and 
even  ill-usage,  that  all  who  know  them  admit  that  a  separation 
is  needed.  So  it  is  here  in  the  States.  Free-soil  and  slave-soil 
could,  while  both  were  young  and  unused  to  power,  go  on  to- 
gether,— not  without  many  jars  and  unhappy  bickerings ;  but 
they  did  go  on  together.  But  now  they  must  part ;  and  how 
shall  the  parting  be  made?  With  which  side  shall  go  this 
child,  and  who  shall  remain  in  possession  of  that  pleasant 
homestead  ?  Putting  secession  aside,  there  were  in  the  United 
States  two  distinct  political  doctrines,  of  which  the  extremes 
■were  opposed  to  each  other  as  pole  is  opposed  to  pole.  We 
have  no  sucli  variance  of  creed,  no  such  radical  ditFerence  as  to 
the  essential  rules  of  life  between  parties  in  our  country.  We 
have  no  such  cause  for  personal  rancour  in  our  Parliament  as 
has  existed  for  some  years  past  in  both  Houses  of  Congress. 
These  two  extreme  parties  were  the  slave-owners  of  the  South 
and  the  abolitionists  of  the  North  and  West.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  former  regarded  the  institution  of  slavery  as  a  necessity  of 
their  position, — generally  as  an  evil  necessity, — and  generally 
also  as  a  custom  to  be  removed  in  the  course  of  years.  Gradu- 
ally they  have  learned  to  look  upon  slavery  as  good  in  itself, 
and  to  believe  that  it  has  been  the  source  of  their  wealth  and 
the  strength  of  their  position.  They  have  declared  it  to  he  a 
blessing  inalienable, — that  should  remain  among  them  for  ever 
— as  an  inheritance  not  to  be  touched,  and  not  to  be  spoken  of 
with  hard  words.  Fifty  years  ago  the  abolitionists  of  the 
North  differed  only  in  opinion  from  the  slave-owners  of  the 
South  in  hoping  for  a  speedier  end  to  this  stain  upon  the  na- 
tion ;  and  in  thinking  that  some  action  should  be  taken  towards 
the  final  emancipation  of  the  bondsmen.  But  they  also  have 
progressed ;  and  as  the  southern  masters  have  called  the  insti- 
tution blessed,  they  have  called  it  accursed.  Their  numbers 
have  increased,  and  with  their  numbers  their  power  and  their 
violence.  In  this  way  two  parties  have  been  formed  who  could 
not  look  on  each  other  without  hatred.    An  intermediate  doo- 


WASHINGTON  TO   BT.  LOUIS. 


373 


trine  has  been  held  by  men  who  wore  nearer  in  their  sympa- 
thies to  the  slave-owners  than  to  the  abolitionists;  but  who 
were  not  disposed  to  justify  slavery  as  a  thing  apart.  These 
inon  have  been  aware  that  slavery  has  existed  in  accordance 
with  the  constitution  of  their  country,  and  have  been  willing  to 
attach  the  stain  which  accompanies  the  institution  to  the  indi- 
vidual State  which  entertains  it,  and  not  to  the  national  Gov- 
ernment, by  which  the  question  has  been  constitutionally  ig- 
nored. The  men  who  have  participated  in  the  Government 
have  naturally  been  inclined  towards  the  middle  doctrine ;  but 
as  the  two  extremes  have  retreated  further  from  each  other, 
the  power  of  this  middle-class  of  politicians  has  decreased. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  though  he  does  not  now  declare  himself  an  aboli- 
tionist, was  elected  by  the  abolitionists ;  and  when,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  that  election,  secession  was  threatened,  no  step  which 
he  could  have  taken  would  have  satisfied  the  South  which  had 
opposed  him,  and  been  at  the  same  time  true  to  the*  North 
which  had  chosen  him.  But  it  was  possible  that  his  Govern- 
ment might  save  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri. 
As  Radicals  in  England  become  simple  Whigs  when  they  are 
admitted  into  public  oflSces,  so  did  Mr.  Lincoln  with  his  gov- 
ernment become  anti-abolitionist  when  he  entered  on  his  func- 
tions. Had  he  combated  secession  with  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  no  slave  State  would  or  could  have  held  by  the  Union. 
Abolition  for  a  lecturer  may  be  a  telling  subject.  It  is  easy  to 
bring  down  rounds  of  applause  by  tales  of  the  wrongs  of  bond- 
age. But  to  men  in  office,  abolition  was  too  stern  a  reality. 
It  signified  servile  insurrection,  absolute  ruin  to  all  southern 
slave-owners,  and  the  absolute  enmity  of  every  slave  State. 

But  that  task  of  steering  between  the  two  has  been  very 
difficult.  I  fear  that  the  task  of  so  steering  with  success  is  al- 
most impossible.  In  England  it  is  thought  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
might  have  maintained  the  Union  by  compromising  matters 
with  the  South, — or  if  not  so,  that  he  might  have  maintained 
peace  by  yielding  to  the  South.  But  no  such  power  was  in  his 
hands.  While  we  were  blaming  him  for  opposition  to  all  south- 
ern terms,  his  own  friends  in  the  North  were  saying  that  all 
principle  and  truth  was  abandoned  for  the  sake  of  such  States 
as  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  "  Virginia  is  gone ;  Maryland  can- 
not go.  And  slavery  is  endured  and  the  new  virtue  of  Wash- 
ington is  made  to  tamper  with  the  evil  one,  in  order  that  a 
show  of  loyalty  may  be  preserved  in  one  or  two  States  which 
after  all  are  not  truly  loyal!"  That  is  the  accusation  made 
against  the  government  by  the  abolitionists ;  and  that  made  by 


I 


1(1 


I 


WASHINGTON  TO  ST.  LOUIS. 


373 


trine  has  been  held  by  men  who  -wore  nearer  in  their  sympa- 
thies to  the  slave-owners  than  to  the  abolitionists;  but  who 
were  not  disposed  to  justify  slavery  as  a  thing  apart.  These 
inon  have  been  aware  that  slavery  has  existed  in  accordance 
with  the  constitution  of  their  country,  and  have  been  willing  to 
attach  the  stain  which  accompanies  the  institution  to  the  indi- 
vidual State  which  entertains  it,  and  not  to  the  national  Gov- 
ernment, by  which  the  question  has  been  constitutionally  ig- 
nored. The  men  who  have  participated  in  the  Government 
have  naturally  been  inclined  towards  the  middle  doctrine ;  but 
as  the  two  extremes  have  retreated  further  from  each  other, 
the  power  of  this  middle-class  of  politicians  has  decreased. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  though  he  does  not  now  declare  himself  an  aboli- 
tionist, was  elected  by  the  abolitionists ;  and  when,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  that  election,  secession  was  threatened,  no  step  which 
he  could  have  taken  would  have  satisfied  the  South  which  had 
opposed  him,  and  been  at  the  same  time  true  to  the*  North 
which  had  chosen  him.  But  it  was  possible  that  his  Govern- 
ment might  save  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri. 
As  Radicals  in  England  become  simple  Whigs  when  they  are 
admitted  into  public  offices,  so  did  Mr.  Lincoln  with  his  gov- 
ernment become  anti-abolitionist  when  he  entered  on  his  func- 
tions. Had  he  combated  secession  with  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  no  slave  State  would  or  could  have  held  by  the  Union. 
Abolition  for  a  lecturer  may  be  a  telling  subject.  It  is  easy  to 
bring  down  rounds  of  applause  by  tales  of  the  wrongs  of  bond- 
age. But  to  men  in  office,  abolition  was  too  stern  a  reality. 
It  signified  servile  insurrection,  absolute  ruin  to  all  southern 
slave-owners,  and  the  absolute  enmity  of  every  slave  State. 

But  that  task  of  steering  between  the  two  has  been  very 
difficult.  I  fear  that  the  task  of  so  steering  with  success  is  al- 
most impossible.  In  England  it  is  thought  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
might  have  maintained  the  Union  by  compromising  matters 
with  the  South, — or  if  not  so,  that  he  might  have  maintained 
peace  by  yielding  to  the  South.  But  no  such  power  was  in  his 
hands.  While  we  were  blaming  him  for  opposition  to  all  south- 
ern terms,  his  own  friends  in  the  North  were  saying  that  all 
principle  and  truth  was  abandoned  for  the  sake  of  such  States 
as  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  "  Virginia  is  gone ;  Maryland  can- 
not go.  And  slavery  is  endured  and  the  new  virtue  of  Wash- 
ington is  made  to  tamper  with  the  evil  one,  in  order  that  a 
show  of  loyalty  may  be  preserved  in  one  or  two  States  which 
after  all  are  not  truly  loyal!"  That  is  the  accusation  made 
against  the  government  by  the  abolitionists ;  and  that  made  by 


874 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


M 


us  on  the  other  side  is  the  reverse.  I  believe  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  no  alternative  but  to  fight,  and  that  ho  was  right  also  not 
to  fight  with  abolition  as  liis  battlc-crv.  That  he  may  be  forced 
by  his  own  friends  into  that  cry,  is,  I  fear,  still  possible.  Ken- 
tucky  at  any  rate  did  not  secede  in  bulk.  She  still  sent  im- 
senators  to  Congress,  and  allowed  herself  to  be  reckoned  among 
the  stars  in  the  American  firmament.  But  she  could  not  escajtc 
the  presence  of  the  war.  Did  slie  remain  loyal  or  did  she  se- 
cede, that  was  equally  her  fate. 

The  day  before  I  entered  Kentucky  a  battle  was  fought  in 
that  State,  which  gave  to  the  northern  arras  their  first  actual 
victory.  It  was  at  a  place  called  Mill  Spring,  near  Somerset, 
towards  the  south  of  the  State.  General  Zollicoflter,  with  a 
Confederate  army,  numbering,  it  was  supposed,  some  eight 
thousand  men,  had  advanced  upon  a  smaller  Federal  force, 
commanded  by  General  Thomas,  and  had  been  himself  killed, 
while  his  army  was  cut  to  pieces  and  dispersed ;  the  cannon  of 
the  Confederates  were  taken,  and  their  camp  seized  and  de- 
stroyed. Their  rout  was  complete ;  but  in  this  instance  again 
the  advancing  party  had  been  beaten,  as  had,  I  believe,  been 
the  case  in  all  the  actions  hitherto  fought  throughout  the  wtr. 
Here,  however,  had  been  an  actual  victory,  and  it  was  not  sur- 
prising that  in  Kentucky  loyal  men  should  rejoice  greatly,  and 
begin  to  hope  that  the  Confederates  would  be  beaten  out  of  the 
State.  Unfortunately,  however,  General  ZolRcoffer's  army  had 
only  been  an  offshoot  from  the  main  rebel  army  in  Kentucky. 
Buell,  commanding  the  Federal  troops  at  Louisville,  and  Syd- 
ney Johnston,  the  Confederate  General,  at  Bowling  Green,  as 
yet  remained  opposite  to  each  other,  and  the  work  was  still  to 
be  done. 

I  visited  the  little  towns  of  Lexington  and  Frankfort,  in  Ken- 
tucky. At  the  former  I  found  in  the  hotel  to  which  I  went  sev- 
enty-five teamsters  belonging  to  the  army.  They  were  hang' 
ing  about  the  great  hall  when  I  entered,  and  clustering  round 
the  stove  in  the  middle  of  the  chamber ; — a  dirty^  rough,  quaint 
set  of  men,  clothed  in  a  wonderful  variety  of  garbs,  but  not  dis- 
orderly or  loud.  The  landlord  apologized  for  their  presence, 
alleging  that  other  accommodation  could  not  be  found  for  them 
in  the  town.  He  received,  he  said,  a  dollar  a  day  for  feeding 
them,  and  for  supplying  them  with  a  place  in  which  they  could 
lie  down.  It  did  not  pay  him, — but  what  could  he  do?  Such 
an  apology  from  an  American  landlord  was  in  itself  a  surpris- 
ing fact.  Such  high  functionaries  are,  as  a  rule,  men  inclined 
to  tell  a  traveller  that  if  he  does  not  like  the  guests  among 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


375 


whom  ho  finds  himself,  ho  may  go  elsowhcro.  But  this  land- 
lord had  as  yet  filled  the  place  for  not  more  than  two  or  thrco 
weeks,  and  was  unused  to  the  dignity  of  his  position.  'Whilo 
I  was  at  supper,  the  seventy-five  teamsters  were  summoned 
into  the  common  eating-room  by  a  loud  gong,  and  sat  down  to 
their  meal  at  tho  public  table.  They  were  very  dirty ;  I  doubt 
whether  I  ever  saw  dirtier  men ;  but  they  were  orderly  and 
well-behaved,  and  but  for  their  extreme  dirt  might  have  passed 
as  tho  ordinary  occupants  of  a  well-filled  hotel  in  the  West. 
Such  men,  in  the  States,  are  less  clumsy  with  their  knives  and 
forks,  less  astray  in  an  unused  position,  more  intelligent  in 
adapting  themselves  to  a  new  life  than  are  Englishmen  of  tho 
same  rank.  It  is  always  the  same  story.  With  us  there  is  no 
level  of  society.  Men  stand  on  a  long  staircase,  but  the  crowd 
congregates  near  tho  bottom,  and  the  lower  steps  are  very 
broad.  In-America  men  stand  upon  a  common  platform,  but 
the  platform  is  raised  above  the  ground,  though  it  does  not 
approach  in  height  the  top  of  our  staircase.  If  we  take  the 
average  altitude  in  the  two  countries,  we  shall  find  that  tho 
American  heads  are  the  more  elevated  of  tho  two.  I  conceived 
rather  an  affectioa  for  those  dirty  teamsters;  they  answered 
me  civilly  when  I  spoke  to  them,  and  sat  in  quietness,  smoking 
their  pipes,  with  a  dull  and  dirty,  but  orderly  demeanour. 

The  country  about  Lexington  is  called  the  Blue  Grass  Re- 
gion, and  boasts  itself  as  of  peculiar  fecundity  in  the  matter  of 
pasturage.  Why  the  grass  is  called  blue,  and  or  in  what  way 
or  at  what  period  it  becomes  blue,  I  did  not  learn ;  but  the 
country  is  very  lovely  and  very  fertile.  Between  Lexington 
and  Frankfort  a  large  stock  farm,  extending  over  three  thou- 
sand acres,  is  kept  by  a  gentleman,  who  is  very  well  known 
as  a  breeder  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep.  He  has  spent  much 
money  on  it,  and  is  making  for  himself  a  Kentucky  elysium. 
He  was  kind  enough  to  entertain  me  for  a  while,  and  showed 
me  something  of  country  life  in  Kentucky.  A  farm  in  that 
part  of  the  State  depends,  and  must  depend,  chiefly  on  slave- 
labour.  The  slaves  are  a  material  part  of  the  estate,  and  as 
they  are  regarded  by  the  law  as  real  property — being  actually 
adstricti  glebae — an  inheritor  of  land  has  no  alternative  but  to 
keep  them.  A  gentleman  in  Kentucky  does  not  sell  his  slaves. 
To  do  so  is  considered  to  bo  low  and  mean,  and  is  opposed  to 
the  aristocratic  traditions  of  the  country.  A  man  who  does  so 
willingly,  puts  himself  beyond  the  pale  of  good-fellowship  with 
his  neighbours.  A  sale  of  slaves  is  regarded  as  a  sign  almost 
of  bankruptcy.    If  a  man  cannot  pay  his  debts,  his  creditors 


376 


NORTH   AMEKICA. 


can  fitcp  in  and  sell  his  slaves ;  but  he  does  not  himself  make 
the  Halo.  When  a  man  owns  more  slaves  than  he  needs,  Im 
hires  them  out  by  the  year ;  and  when  ho  requires  more  than 
he  owns,  he  takes  them  on  hire  by  the  year.  Care  is  taken  in 
such  hirings  not  to  remove  a  married  man  away  from  his  home. 
The  price  paid  for  a  negro's  labour  at  the  time  of  my  visit  was 
about  a  hundred  dollars,  or  twenty  pounds,  for  the  year ;  but 
this  price  was  then  extremely  low  in  consecpience  of  the  war 
disturbances.  The  usual  price  had  been  about  tifty  or  sixty 
per  cent,  above  this.  The  man  who  takes  the  negro  on  hire 
feeds  him,  clothes  him,  provides  him  with  a  bed,  and  supplies 
him  with  medical  attendance.  I  went  into  some  of  their  cot- 
tages on  the  estate  which  I  visited,  and  was  not  in  the  least 
surprised  to  find  them  preferable  in  size,  furniture,  and  all  ma- 
terial comforts  to  the  dwellings  of  most  of  our  own  agricultur- 
al labourers.  Any  comparison  between  the  material  comfort 
of  a  Kentucky  slave  and  an  English  ditcher  and  delver  would 
be  preposterous.  The  Kentucky  slave  never  wants  for  clothing 
fitted  to  the  weather.  He  eats  meat  twice  a  day,  and  has  three 
good  meals ;  he  knows  no  limit  but  his  own  appetite ;  his  work 
is  light ;  be  has  many  varieties  of  amusement ;  ho  has  instant 
medical  assistance  at  all  periods  of  necessity  for  himself,  his 
wife,  and  his  children.  Of  course  he  pays  no  rent,  fears  no 
baker,  and  Icnows  no  hunger.  I  would  not  have  it  supposed 
that  I  conceive  slavery  with  all  these  comforts  to  be  equal  to 
freedom  without  them ;  nor  do  I  conceive  that  the  negro  can 
be  made  equal  to  the  white  man.  But  in  discussing  the  con- 
dition of  the  negro,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  understand 
what  are  the  advantages  of  which  abolition  would  deprive  him, 
and  in  what  condition  he  has  been  placed  by  the  daily  receipt 
of  such  advantages.  If  a  negro  slave  wants  new  shoes,  he  asks 
for  them,  and  receives  them,  with  the  undoubting  simplicity  of 
a  child.  Such  a  state  of  things  has  its  picturesquely  patriarch- 
al side ;  but  what  would  be  the  state  of  such  a  man  if  he  were 
emancipated  to-morrow  ? 

The  natural  beauty  of  the  place  which  I  was  visiting  was 
very  great.  The  trees  were  fine  and  well-scattered  over  the 
large,  park-like  pastures,  and  the  ground  was  broken  on  every 
side  into  hills.  There  was  perhaps  too  much  timber,  but  my 
friend  seemed  to  think  that  that  fault  would  find  a  natural  rem- 
edy only  too  quickly.  "  I  do  not  like  to  cut  down  trees  if  I 
can  help  it,"  he  said.  After  that  I  need  not  say  that  my  host 
was  quite  as  much  an  Englishman  as  an  American.  To  the 
purely  American  farmer  a  tree  is  simply  an  enemy  to  be  trod- 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


377 


den  under  foot,  and  buried  underground,  or  reduced  to  ashes 
and  tlirown  to  the  winds  with  what  most  economical  despatch 
may  be  possible.  If  water  had  been  added  to  tlie  landscape 
liere  it  would  have  been  perfect,  regarding  it  as  ordinary  En- 
glish park-scenery.  But  the  little  rivers  at  this  place  have  a 
dirty  trick  of  burying  themselves  \mder  the  ground.  They 
go  down  suddenly  into  holes,  disappearing  from  the  upper  air, 
•vnd  then  como  up  again  at  the  distance  of  perhaps  half  a  mile. 
Unfortunately  their  periods  of  seclusion  are  more  prolonged 
than  those  of  their  upper-air  distance.  There  were  three  or  four 
such  ascents  and  descents  about  the  place. 

My  host  was  a  breeder  of  race-horses,  and  had  imported 
fiires  from  England ;  of  sheep  also,  and  had  imported  lamous 
rams ;  of  cattle  too,  and  was  great  in  bulls.  He  was  very  loud 
in  praise  of  Kentucky  and  its  attractions,  if  only  this  war  could 
be  brought  to  an  end.  But  I  could  not  obtain  from  him  an  as- 
surance that  the  speculation  in  which  he  was  engaged  had  been 
profitable.  Ornamental  farming  in  England  is  a  very  pretty 
amusement  for  a  wealthy  man,  but  I  fancy, — without  intending 
any  slight  on  Mr.  Mechi, — that  the  amusement  is  expensive. 
I  belie\  o  that  the  same  thing  may  bo  said  of  it  in  a  slave  State. 

Frankfort  is  the  capital  of  Kentucky,  and  is  as  quietly  dull  a 
little  town  as  I  ever  entered.  It  is  on  the  river  Kentucky,  and 
as  the  [grounds  about  it  on  every  side  rise  in  wooded  hills,  it 
is  a  very  pretty  place.  In  January  it  was  very  pretty,  but  in 
summer  it  must  be  lovely.  I  was  taken  up  to  the  cemetery 
there  by  a  path  along  tlie  river,  and  am  inclined  to  say  that  it 
is  the  sweetest  resting-place  for  the  dead  that  I  have  ever  vis- 
ited. Daniel  Boone  lies  there.  He  M^as  the  first  white  man 
^vho  settled  in  Kentucky ;  or  rather,  perliaps,  the  first  who  en- 
tered Kentucky  with  a  view  to  a  white  man's  settlement. 
Such  frontier  men  as  was  Daniel  Boone  never  remained  long 
contented  with  the  spots  they  opened.  As  soon  as  he  had  left 
his  mark  in  that  territory  he  went  again  further  west  over  the 
big  rivers  into  Missouri,  and  there  he  died.  But  the  men  of 
Kentucky  are  proud  of  Daniel  Boone,  and  so  they  have  buried 
him  in  the  loveliest  spot  they  could  select,  immediately  over 
the  river,  Frankfort  is  worth  a  visit,  if  only  that  this  grave 
and  graveyard  may  be  seen.  The  legislature  of  the  State  was 
not  sitting  when  I  was  there,  and  the  grass  was  growing  in 
the  streets. 

Louisville  is  the  commercial  city  of  the  State,  and  stands  on 
the  Ohio.  It  is  another  great  town,  like  all  the  others,  built 
with  high  stores,  and  great  houses  and  stone-faced  blocks.    I 


,'■'" 


■  '\ 


WASHINGTON  TO   ST.  LOUIS. 


377 


den  under  foot,  and  buried  underground,  or  reduced  to  ashes 
and  tljrown  to  tlie  winds  with  what  most  economical  despatch 
may  be  possible.  If  water  had  been  added  to  the  landscape 
liLTC  it  would  have  been  perfect,  regarding  it  as  ordinary  En- 
glish park-scenery.  But  the  little  rivers  at  this  place  have  a 
dirty  trick  of  burying  themselves  under  the  ground.  They 
go  down  suddenly  into  holes,  disappearing  from  the  upper  air, 
jind  then  como  up  again  at  the  distance  of  perhaps  half  a  mile. 
Unfortunately  their  periods  of  seclusion  are  more  prolonged 
than  those  of  their  upper-air  distance.  There  were  three  or  four 
such  ascents  and  descents  about  the  place. 

My  host  was  a  breeder  of  race-horses,  and  had  imported 
sires  from  England ;  of  sheep  also,  and  had  imported  iamous 
rams ;  of  cattle  too,  and  was  great  in  bulls,  lie  was  very  loud 
in  praise  of  Kentucky  and  its  attractions,  if  only  this  war  could 
be  brought  to  an  end.  But  I  could  not  obtain  from  him  an  as- 
surance that  the  speculation  in  which  he  was  engaged  had  been 
profitable.  Ornamental  farming  in  England  is  a  very  pretty 
amusement  for  a  wealthy  man,  but  I  fancy, — without  intending 
any  slight  on  Mr.  Mechi, — that  the  amusement  is  expensive. 
I  belie  v«j  that  the  same  thing  may  bo  said  of  it  in  a  slave  State. 

Frankfort  is  the  capital  of  Kentucky,  and  is  as  quietly  dull  a 
little  town  as  I  ever  entered.  It  is  on  the  river  Kentucky,  and 
as  the  ixrounds  about  it  on  every  side  rise  in  wooded  hills,  it 
is  a  very  pretty  place.  In  January  it  was  very  pretty,  but  in 
summer  it  must  be  lovely.  I  was  taken  up  to  the  cemetery 
there  by  a  path  along  the  river,  and  am  inclined  to  say  that  it 
is  the  sweetest  resting-place  for  the  dead  that  I  have  ever  vis- 
ited. Daniel  Boone  lies  there.  He  M^as  the  first  white  man 
who  settled  in  Kentucky ;  or  rather,  perliaps,  the  first  who  en- 
tered Kentucky  with  a  view  to  a  white  man's  settlement. 
Such  frontier  men  as  was  Daniel  Boone  never  remained  long 
contented  with  the  spots  they  opened.  As  soon  as  he  had  left 
his  mark  in  that  territory  he  went  again  further  west  over  the 
big  rivers  into  Missouri,  and  there  he  died.  But  the  men  of 
Kentucky  are  proud  of  Daniel  Boone,  and  so  they  have  buried 
him  in  the  loveliest  spot  they  could  select,  immediately  over 
the  river,  Frankfort  is  worth  a  visit,  if  only  that  this  grave 
and  graveyard  may  be  seen.  The  legislature  of  the  State  was 
not  sitting  when  I  was  there,  and  the  grass  was  growing  in 
the  streets. 


ill 


378 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i 


W 


\i 


have  no  doubt  that  all  the  building  speculations  have  been  full, 
ures,  and  that  the  men  engaged  in  thnm  were  all  ruiLed.  But 
there  as  the  result  of  their  labour,  stands  a  fair  great  city  on 
the  southern  banks  of  the  Ohio.  Here  General  Buell  held  his 
head-quarters,  but  his  army  lay  at  a  distance.  On  my  return 
from  the  West  I  visited  one  of  the  camps  of  this  army,  and 
will  speak  of  it  as  I  speak  of  my  backward  journey.  I  had  al- 
ready  at  this  time  begun  to  conceive  an  opinion  that  the  armies 
in  Kentucky  and  ia  Missouri  would  do  at  any  rate  as  much  for 
the  northern  cause,  as  that  of  the  Potomac  of  which  so  much 
more  had  been  heard  in  England. 

WMle  I  was  at  Louisville  the  Ohio  was  flooded.  It  had  be- 
gun to  rise  when  I  was  at  Cincinnati,  and  since  then  had  gone 
on  increasing  hourly,  rising  inch  by  inch  up  into  the  towns 
upon  its  bank.  I  visited  two  suburbs  of  Louisville,  both  of 
which  were  submerged,  as  to  the  streets  and  ground-floors  of 
the  houses.  At  Shipping  Port,  one  of  these  suburbs,  I  saw  the 
women  and  children  clusterin;^  in  the  up-stairs  room,  while  the 
men  were  going  about  in  punts  and  wherries,  collecting  drift 
wood  from  the  river  for  their  winter's  faring.  In  some  places 
bedding  and  furniture  had  been  brought  over  to  the  high 
ground,  and  the  women  were  sitting,  guarding  their  little  prop- 
erty. That  village,  amidst  the  waters,  was  a  sad  sight  to  see; 
but  I  heard  no  complaints.  There  was  no  tearing  of  hair  and 
no  gnashing  of  teeth ;  no  bitter  tears  or  moans  of  sorrow. 
The  men  who  were  not  at  work  in  the  boats  stood  loafing 
about  in  clusters,  looking  at  the  still  rising  river ;  but  each 
seemed  to  be  personally  indifferent  to  the  matter.  When  the 
house  of  an  American  is  carriecl  down  the  river,  he  builds  him- 
self another ; — a.:  he  would  get  himself  a  new  coat  when  his 
old  coat  became  unserviceable.  But  he  never  laments  or 
moans  for  such  a  loss.  Sn^*ely  there  is  no  other  people  so  pas- 
sive 'inder  personal  misfortune ! 

Going  from  Louisville  up  to  St.  Louis,  I  crossed  the  Ohio 
river  and  p«ased  through  parts  of  Indiana  and  of  Illinois,  and 
striking  the  Mississippi  opposite  St.  Louis,  crossed  that  river 
also,  and  then  entered  the  State  of  Missouri.  The  Ohio  was, 
as  I  have  said,  flooded,  and  we  went  over  it  at  night.  The 
boat  had  been  moored  at  some  unaccustomed  place.  There 
was  no  light.  The  road  was  deep  in  mud  up  to  the  axle-tree, 
and  was  crowded  with  waggons  and  carts,  which  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night  seemed  to  have  stuck  there.  But  the  mau 
drove  his  four  horses  through  it  all,  and  into  the  ferry-boat, 
over  its  side.    There  were  three  or  four  such  omnibif^es,  and 


MISSOURI. 


379 


as  many  waggons,  as  to  each  of  which  I  predicted  in  my  own 
mind  some  fatal  catastrophe.  But  they  v/ere  all  driven  on  to 
tlie  boat  in  the  dark,  the  horses  mixing  in  through  each  other 
in  a  chaos  which  would  have  altogether  incapacitated  any  En- 
glish coachman.  And  then  the  vessel  laboured  across  the  flood, 
going  sideways,  and  hardly  keeping  her  own  against  the  stream. 
But  we  did  get  over,  and  were  all  driven  cut  again,  up  to  the 
railway  station  in  safety.  On  reaching  the  Mississippi  about 
the  middle  of  the  next  day,  we  found  it  frozen  over,  or  rather 
covered  from  side  to  side  with  blocks  of  ice  which  had  forced 
its  way  down  the  river,  so  that  the  steam  ferry  could  not  reach 
its  proper  landing.  I  do  not  think  that  we  in  England  would 
have  attempted  the  feat  of  carrying  over  horses  and  carriages 
under  stress  of  such  circumstances.  But  it  was  done  here. 
Huge  plankings  were  laid  down  over  the  ice,  and  omnibuses 
and  waggons  were  driven  on.  In  getting  out  again,  these  ve- 
hicles, each  with  four  horses,  had  to  be  twisted  about,  and 
driven  in  and  across  the  vessel,  and  turned  in  spaces  to  look 
at  which  would  have  broken  the  heart  of  an  English  coachman. 
And  then  with  a  spring  they  were  driven  up  a  bank  as  steep 
as  a  ladder  I  Ah  me !  under  what  mistaken  illusions  have  I 
not  laboured  all  the  days  of  my  youth,  in  supposing  that  no 
man  could  drive  four  horses  well  but  an  English  stage-coach- 
man? I  have  seen  performainces  in  America, — and  in  Italy 
and  France  also,  but  above  all  in  America,  which  would  have 
made  the  hair  of  any  English  professional  driver  stand  on  end. 
And  in  this  way  I  entered  St.  Louis. 


«; 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


MISSOURI. 


Missouri  is  a  slave  State  lying  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi 
and  to  the  north  of  Arkansas.  It  forms  a  portion  of  the  territory 
ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  in  1 803.  Indeed,  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  say  how  large  a  portion  of  the  continent  of  North  Amer- 
ica is  supposed  to  be  included  in  that  territory.  It  contains  the 
States  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  as  also  the 
present  Indian  territory ;  but  it  also  is  said  to  have  contained  all 
the  land  lying  back  from  them  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Utah, 
Nebraska,  and  Dacotah,  and  forms  no  doubt  the  widest  dominion 
ever  ceded  by  one  nationality  to  another. 

Missouri  lies  exactly  north  of  the  old  Missouri  compromise  line, 


380 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


li 


that  is,  36*30  north.  When  the  Missouri  compromise  was  made 
it  was  arranged  that  Missouri  should  be  a  slave  State,  but  that  no 
ether  State  north  of  the  30*30  line  should  ever  become  slave  soil. 
Kentucky  and  Virginia,  as  also  of  course  Maryland  and  Delav^are, 
four  of  the  old  slave  States,  were  already  north  of  that  line ;  but 
the  compromise  was  intended  to  prevent  the  advance  of  slavery  in 
the  north-west.  The  compromise  has  been  since  annulled,  on  the 
ground,  I  believe,  that  Congress  had  not  constitutionally  the  power 
to  declare  that  any  soil  should  be  free,  or  that  any  should  be  slave 
soil.  That  is  a  question  to  be  decided  by  the  States  themselves, 
as  each  individual  State  may  please.  So  the  compromise  was  re- 
pealed. But  slavery  has  not  on  that  account  advanced.  The  bat- 
tle has  been  fought  in  Kansas,  and  after  a  long  and  terrible  strug- 
gle, Kansas  has  come  out  of  the  fight  as  a  free  State.  Kansas  is 
in  the  same  parallel  of  latitude  as  Virginia,  and  stretches  west  as 
far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

When  the  census  of  the  population  of  Missouri  was  taken  in 
1860,  the  slaves  amounted  to  10  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 
In  the  Gulf  States  the  slave  population  is  about  45  per  cent,  of 
the  whole.  In  the  three  border  States  of  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and 
Maryland,  the  slaves  amount  to  30  per  cent,  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion. From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  Missouri,  which  is 
comparatively  a  new  slave  State,  has  not  gone  a-head  with  slavery 
as  the  old  slave  States  have  done,  although  from  its  position  and 
climate,  lying  as  far  south  as  Virginia,  it  might  seem  to  have  had 
the  same  reasons  for  doing  so.  I  think  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  slavery  will  die  out  in  Missouri.  The  institution  is 
not  popular  with  the  people  generally ;  and  as  white  labour  be- 
comes abundant — and  before  the  war  it  was  becoming  abundant 
— men  recognize  the  fact  that  the  white  man's  labour  is  the  more 
profitable.  The  heat  in  this  State,  in  midsummer,  is  very  great, 
especially  in  the  valleys  of  the  rivers.  At  St.  Louis,  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, it  reaches  commonly  to  90,  and  very  frequently  goes  above 
that.  The  nights  moreover  are  nearly  as  hot  as  the  days;  but 
this  great  heat  does  not  last  for  any  very  long  period,  and  it  seems 
that  white  men  are  able  to  work  throughout  the  year.  If  corre- 
spondingly severe  weather  in  winter  affords  any  compensation  to 
the  white  man  for  what  of  heat  he  endures  during  the  summer,  I 
can  testify  that  6\ich  compensation  is  to  be  found  in  Missouri. 
When  1  was  there  we  were  afflicted  with  a  combination  of  snow, 
sleet,  frost,  and  wind,  with  a  mixture  of  ice  and  mud,  that  makes 
me  regard  Missouri  as  the  most  inclement  land  into  which  I  ever 
penetrated. 


MISSOURI. 


381 


9  made 
that  no 
ve  soil, 
lawarc, 
le ;  but 
ivery  in 
1,  on  the 
c  power 
be  slave 
mselves, 
was  re- 
The  bat- 
le  strug- 
Cansas  is 
I  west  as 

taken  in 
number. 
T  cent,  of 
»inia,  and 
[e  popula- 
.  which  is 
th  slavery 
jition  and 
lave  had 
reason  to 
titution  13 
abour  be- 
abundant 
the  more 
ery  great, 
the  Mis- 
roes  above 
days;  but 
d  it  seems 
If  corre- 
nsation  to 
summer,  I 
Missouri. 
.  of  snow, 
[hat  makes 
lich  I  ever 


St.  Louis,  on  the  Mississippi,  is  the  great  town  of  Missouri,  and 
is  considered  by  the  Missourians  to  be  the  star  of  tb?  West.  It  is 
not  to  be  beaten  in  population,  wealth,  or  natural  advantages  by 
any  other  city  so  far  west ;  but  it  has  not  increased  with  such 
rapidity  as  Chicago,  which  is  considerably  to  the  north  of  it  on 
Lake  Michigan.  Of  the  great  western  cities  I  regard  Chicago  as 
the  most  remarkable,  seeing  that  St.  Louis  was  a  large  town  be- 
fore Chicago  had  been  founded. 

The  population  of  St.  Louis  is  170,000.  Of  this  number  only 
2000  are  slaves.  I  was  told  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  slaves 
of  Missouri  are  employed  near  the  Missouri  river  in  breaking  hemp. 
The  growth  of  hemp  is  very  profitably  carried  on  in  that  valley, 
and  the  labour  attached  to  it  is  one  which  white  men  do  not  like 
to  encounter.  Slaves  are  not  generally  employed  in  St.  Louis  for 
domestic  service,  as  is  done  almost  universally  in  the  towns  of 
Kentucky.  This  work  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  Irish  and  Ger- 
mans. Considerably  above  one-third  of  the  population  of  the 
whole  city  is  made  up  of  these  two  nationalities.  So  much  is  con- 
fessed; but  if  I  were  to  form  an  opinion  from  the  language  I  heard 
in  the  streets  of  the  town,  1  should  say  that  nearly  every  man  was 
either  an  Irishman  or  a  German. 

St.  Louis  has  none  of  the  aspects  of  a  slave  city.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  found  it  an  attractive  place,  but  then  I  did  not  visit  it  at  an 
attractive  time.  The  war  had  disturbed  everything,  given  a  special 
colour  of  its  own  to  men's  thoughts  and  words,  and  destroyed  all 
interest  except  that  which  might  proceed  from  itself  The  town 
is  well  built,  with  good  shops,  straight  streets,  never-ending  rows 
of  excellent  houses,  and  every  sign  of  commercial  wealth  and  do- 
mestic comfort, — of  commercial  wealth  and  domestic  comfort  in 
the  past,  for  there  was  no  present  appearance  either  of  comfort  or 
of  wealth.  The  new  hotel  here  was  to  be  bigger  than  all  the  ho- 
tels of  all  other  towns.  It  is  built,  and  is  an  enormous  pile,  and 
would  be  handsome  but  for  a  terribly  ambitious  Grecian  doorway. 
It  is  built,  as  far  as  the  walls  and  roof  are  concerned,  but  in  all 
other  respects  is  unfinished.  I  was  told  that  the  shares  of  the 
original  stockholders  were  now  worth  nothing.  A  shareholder, 
who  so  told  me,  seemed  to  regard  this  as  the  ordinary  course  of 
business. 

The  great  glory  of  the  town  is  the  "  leve'e,"  as  it  is  called,  or 
the  long  river  beach  up  to  which  the  steamers  are  brought  with 
their  bows  to  the  shore.  It  is  an  esplanade  looking  on  to  the 
river,  not  built  with  quays  or  wharves,  as  would  be  the  case  with 
us,  but  with  a  sloping  bank  running  down  to  the  water.     In  the 


aap 


»  '    ' 


382 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


\m: 


V 


good  days  of  peace  a  hundred  vessels  were  to  be  seen  here,  each 
with  its  double  funnels.  The  line  of  them  seemed  to  be  never 
ending  even  when  I  was  there,  but  then  a  very  large  proportion 
of  them  were  lying  idle.  They  resemble  huge  wooden  houses, 
apparently  of  frail  architecture,  floating  upon  the  water.  Each 
has  its  double  row  of  balconies  running  round  it,  and  the  lower  or 
ground  floor  Is  open  throughout.  The  upper  stories  are  propped 
and  supported  on  ugly  sticks  and  ricketty-looking  beams ;  so  that 
the  flrst  appearance  does  not  convk^y  any  great  idea  of  security  to 
a  stranger.  They  are  always  painted  white  and  the  paint  is  al- 
ways very  dirty.  When  they  begin  to  move,  they  moan  and  groan 
in  melancholy  tones  which  are  subversive  of  all  comfort ;  and  as 
they  continue  on  their  courses  they  puff  and  bluster,  and  are  for 
ever  threatening  to  burst  and  shatter  themselves  to  pieces.  There 
they  lie  in  a  continuous  line  nearly  a  mile  in  length  along  the  levee 
of  St.  Louis,  dirty,  dingy,  and  now,  alas,  mute.  They  have  ceased 
to  groan  and  puff,  and  if  this  war  be  continued  for  six  months 
longer,  will  become  rotten  and  useless  as  they  lie. 

They  boast  at  St.  Louis  that  they  command  46,000  miles  of 
navigable  river  water,  counting  the  great  rivers  up  and  down  from 
that  place.  These  rivers  are  chiefly  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri 
and  Ohio  which  fall  into  the  Mississippi  near  St.  Louis,  the  Platte 
and  Kansas  rivers — tributaries  of  the  Missouri,  the  Illinois,  and 
the  Wisconsin.  All  these  are  open  to  steamers,  and  all  of  them 
traverse  regions  rich  in  com,  in  coal,  in  metals,  or  in  timber. 
These  ready-made  highways  of  the  world  centre,  as  it  were,  at  St. 
Louis,  and  make  it  the  depot  of  the  carrying  trade  of  all  that  vast 
country.  Minnesota  is  1500  miles  above  New  Orleans,  but  the 
wheat  of  Minnesota  can  be  brought  down  the  whole  distance  with- 
out change  of  the  vessel  in  which  it  is  first  deposited.  It  would 
seem  to  be  impossible  that  a  country  so  blessed  should  not  become 
rich.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these  rivers  flow  through  lands 
that  have  never  yet  been  surpassed  in  natural  fertility.  Of  all 
countries  in  the  world  one  would  say  that  the  States  of  America 
should  have  been  the  last  to  curse  themselves  with  a  war;  but 
now  the  curse  has  fallen  upon  them  with  a  double  vengeance.  It 
would  seem  that  they  could  never  be  great  in  war:  their  very  in- 
stitutions forbid  it ;  their  enormous  distances  forbid  it ;  the  price 
of  labour  forbids  it ;  and  it  is  forbidden  also  by  the  career  of  in- 
dustry and  expansion  which  has  been  given  to  them.  But  the 
curse  of  fighting  has  come  upon  them,  and  they  are  showing  them- 
selves to  be  as  eager  in  the  works  of  war  as  they  have  shown 
themselves  capable  in  the  works  of  peace.     Men  and  angels  must 


mssouRi. 


383 


weep  as  they  behold  the  things  that  are  being  done,  as  they  watch 
the  ruin  that  has  come  and  is  still  coming,  as  they  look  on  com- 
merce killed  and  agriculture  suspended.     No  sight  so  sad  has  come 
upon  the  earth  in  our  days.     They  were  a  great  people ;  feeding 
the  world,  adding  daily  to  the  mechanical  appliances  of  mankind, 
increasing  in  population  beyond  all  measures  of  such  increase  hith- 
erto known,  and  extending  education  as  fast  as  they  extended  their 
numbers.     Poverty  had  as  yet  found  no  place  among  them,  and 
hunger  was  an  evil  of  which  they  had  read,  but  were  themselves 
ignorant.     Each  man  among  their  crowds  had  a  right  to  be  proud 
of  his  manhood.     To  read  and  write, — I  am  speaking  here  of  the 
North, — was  as  common  as  to  eat  and  drink.     To  work  was  no 
disgrace,  and  the  wages  of  work  were  plentiful.     To  live  without 
woric  was  the  lot  of  none.     What  blessing  above  these  blessings 
was  needed  to  make  a  people  great  and  happy?     And  now  a 
stranger  visiting  them  would  declare  that  they  are  wallowing  in  a 
very  slough  of  despond.     The  only  trade  open  is  the  trade  of  war. 
The  axe  of  the  woodsman  is  at  rest ;  the  plough  is  idle ;  the  artifi- 
cer has  closed  his  shop.     The  roar  of  the  foundry  is  still  heard  be- 
cause cannon  are  needed,  and  the  river  of  molten  iron  comes  out 
as  an  implement  of  death.     The  stone-cutter's  hammer  and  the 
mason's  trowel  are  never  heard.     The  gold  of  the  country  is  hid- 
ing itself  as  though  it  had  returned  to  its  mother  earth,  and  the 
infancy  of  a  paper  currency  has  been  commenced.     Sick  soldiers, 
who  have  never  seen  a  battle-field,  are  dying  by  hundreds  in  the 
squalid  dirt  of  their  unaccustomed  camps.     Men  and  women  talk 
of  war,  and  of  war  only.     Newspapers  full  of  the  war  are  alone 
read.    A  contract  for  war  stores — too  often  a  dishonest  contract 
—is  the  one  path  open  for  commercial  enterprise.     The  young 
man  must  go  to  the  war  or  he  is  disgraced.     The  war  swallows 
everything,  and  as  yet  has  failed  to  produce  even  such  bitter  fruits 
as  victory  or  glory.     Must  it  not  be  said  that  a  curse  has  fallen 
upon  the  land  ? 

And  yet  I  still  hope  that  it  may  ultimately  be  for  good. 
Through  water  and  fire  must  a  nation  be  cleansed  of  its  faults. 
It  has  been  so  with  all  nations,  though  the  phases  of  their  trials 
have  been  different.  It  did  not  seem  to  be  well  with  us  in  Crom- 
well's early  days ;  nor  was  it  well  with  us  afterwards  in  those  dis- 
graceful years  of  the  later  Stuarts.  We  know  how  France  was 
bathed  in  blood  in  her  effort  to  rid  herself  of  her  painted  sepulchi*e 
of  an  ancient  throne ;  how  Germany  was  made  desolate,  in  order 
that  Prussia  might  become  a  nation.  Ireland  was  poor  and  wretch- 
ed, till  her  famine  came.     Men  said  it  was  a  curse,  but  that  curse 


384 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


I 


tn 


has  been  her  greatest  blessing.  And  so  will  it  be  here  in  the  West. 
I  could  not  but  weep  in  spirit  as  I  saw  the  wretchedness  around 
me, — the  squalid  misery  of  the  soldiers,  the  inefficiency  of  their 
officers,  the  bickerings  of  their  rulers,  the  noise  and  threats,  the 
dirt  and  ruin,  the  terrible  dishonesty  of  those  who  were  trusted ! 
These  are  things  which  made  a  man  wish  that  he  were  any- 
where but  there.  But  I  do  believe  that  God  is  still  over  all,  and 
that  everything  is  working  for  good.  These  things  are  the  fire 
and  water  through  which  this  nation  must  pass.  The  course  of 
this  people  had  been  too  straight,  and  their  ways  had  been  too 
pleasant.  That  which  to  others  had  been  ever  difficult  had  been 
made  easy  for  them.  Bread  and  meat  had  come  to  them  as  things 
of  course,  and  they  hardly  remembered  to  be  thankful.  "We 
ourselves  have  done  it,"  they  declared  aloud.  "  We  are  not  as 
other  men.  We  are  gods  upon  the  earth.  Whose  arm  shall  be 
long  enough  to  stay  us,  or  whose  bolt  shall  be  strong  enough  to 
strike  us?" 

Now  they  are  stricken  sore,  and  the  bolt  is  from  their  own 
bow.  Their  own  hands  have  raised  the  barrier  that  has  stayed 
them.  They  have  stumbled  in  their  running,  and  are  lying  hurt 
upon  the  ground ;  while  they  who  have  heard  their  boastings  turn 
upon  them  with  ridicule,  and  laugh  at  them  in  their  discomfiture. 
They  are  rolling  in  the  mire,  and  cannot  take  the  hand  of  any  man 
to  help  them.  Though  the  hand  of  the  bystander  may  be  stretch- 
ed to  them,  his  face  is  scornful  and  his  voice  full  of  reproaches. 
Who  has  not  known  that  hour  of  misery  when  in  the  suUenness 
of  the  heart  all  help  has  been  refused,  and  misfortune  has  been 
made  welcome  to  do  her  worst?  So  is  it  now  with  those  once 
United  States.  The  man  who  can  see  without  inward  tears  the 
self-inflicted  wounds  of  that  American  people  can  hardly  have 
within  his  bosom  the  tenderness  of  an  Englishman's  heart. 

But  the  strong  runner  will  rise  again  to  his  feet,  even  though 
he  be  stunned  by  his  fall.  He  will  rise  again,  and  will  have 
learned  something  by  his  sorrow.  His  anger  will  pass  away,  and 
he  will  again  brace  himself  for  his  work.  What  great  race  has 
ever  been  won  by  any  man,  or  by  any  nation,  without  some  such 
fall  during  its  course  ?  Have  we  not  all  declared  that  some  check 
to  that  career  was  necessary  1  Men  in  their  pursuit  of  intelligence 
had  forgotten  to  be  honest ;  in  struggling  for  greatness  they  had 
discarded  purity.  The  nation  has  been  great,  but  the  statesmen 
of  the  nation  have  been  little.  Men  have  hardly  been  ambitious 
to  govern,  but  they  have  coveted  the  wages  of  governors.  Cor- 
ruption has  crept  into  high  places, — into  places  that  should  have 


MISSOURI. 


385 


been  high, — till  of  all  holes  and  corners  in  the  land  th^y  have  be- 
come the  lowest.  No  public  man  has  been  trusted  for  ordinary 
honesty.  It  is  not  by  foreign  voices,  by  English  newspapers  or  in 
French  pamphlets,  that  the  corruption  of  American  politicians  has 
been  exposed,  but  by  American  voices  and  by  the  American  press. 
It  is  to  be  heard  on  every  side.  Ministers  of  the  cabinet,  senators, 
representatives,  State  legislatures,  officers  of  the  army,  officials  of 
the  navy,  contractors  of  every  grade, — all  who  arc  presumed  to 
touch,  or  to  have  the  power  of  touching  public  money,  are  thus  ac- 
cused. For  years  it  has  been  so.  The  word  politician  has  stunk 
in  men's  nostrils.  When  I  first  visited  New  York,  some  three 
years  since,  I  was  warned  not  to  know  a  man,  because  he  was  a 
"politician."  We  in  England  define  a  man  of  a  certain  class  as 
a  black-leg.  How  has  it  come  about  that  in  American  ears  the 
word  politician  has  come  to  bear  a  similar  signification  ? 

The  material  growth  of  the  States  has  been  so  quick,  that  the 
political  growth  has  not  been  able  to  keep  pace  with  it.  In  com- 
merce, in  education,  in  all  municipal  arrangements,  in  mechanical 
skill,  and  also  in  professional  ability,  the  country  has  stalked  on 
vith  amazing  rapidity;  but  in  the  art  of  governing,  in  all  political 
management  and  detail,  it  has  made  no  advance.  The  merchants 
of  our  country  and  of  that  country  have  for  many  years  met  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality,  but  it  has  never  been  so  with  their  states- 
men and  our  statesmen,  with  their  diplomatists  and  our  diplomat- 
ists. Lombard  Street  and  Wall  Street  can  do  business  with  each 
other  on  equal  footing,  but  it  is  not  so  between  Downing  Street 
and  the  State-office  at  Washington.  The  science  of  statesmanship 
has  yet  to  be  learned  in  the  States, — and  certainly  the  highest  les- 
son of  that  science,  which  teaches  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 

I  trust  that  the  war  will  have  left  such  a  lesson  behind  it.  If 
it  do  so,  let  the  cost  in  money  be  what  it  may,  that  money  will  not 
have  been  wasted.  If  the  American  people  can  learn  the  neces- 
sity of  employing  their  best  men  for  their  highest  work, — if  they 
can  recognize  these  honest  men  and  trust  them  when  they  are  so 
recognized, — then  they  may  become  as  great  in  politics  as  they 
have  become  great  in  commerce  and  in  social  institutions. 

St.  Louis,  and  indeed  the  whole  State  of  Missouri,  was  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  under  martial  law.  General  Halleck  was  in  com- 
mand, holding  his  head-quarters  at  St.  Louis,  and  carrying  out,  at 
any  rate  as  far  as  the  city  was  concerned,  what  orders  he  chose  to 
issue.  I  am  disposed  to  think  that,  situated  as  Missouri  then  was, 
martial  law  was  the  best  law.  No  other  law  could  have  had  force 
in  a  town  surrounded  by  soldiei's,  and  in  which  half  of  the  inhab- 

B 


'-; 


%> 


I' 


W 


im 


r^'i 


386 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


'  ' 


in 


» I 


itants  wore  loyal  to  the  existing  Government,  and  half  of  them 
were  in  favour  of  rebellion.  The  necessity  for  such  power  is  ter- 
rible, and  the  power  itself  in  the  hands  of  one  man  must  be  full  of 
danger ;  but  even  that  is  better  than  anarchy.  I  will  not  accuse 
General  Plalleck  of  abusing  his  power,  seeing  that  it  is  hard  to  do 
termine  what  is  the  abuse  of  such  power  and  what  its  proper  use. 
When  wo  were  at  St.  Louis  a  tax  was  being  gathered  of  100/.  u 
head  from  certain  men  presumed  to  be  secessionists,  and  as  the 
money  was  not  of  course  very  readily  paid,  the  furniture  of  these 
suspected  secessionists  was  being  sold  by  auction.  No  doubt  such 
a  measure  was  by  them  regarded  as  a  great  abuse.  One  gentle- 
man  informed  me  that,  in  addition  to  this,  certain  houses  of  liis 
had  been  taken  by  the  Government  at  a  fixed  rent,  and  that  the 
payment  of  the  rent  was  now  refused  unless  he  would  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance.  He  no  doubt  thought  that  an  abuse  of  power! 
But  the  worst  abuse  of  such  power  comes  not  at  first,  but  with 
long  usage. 

Up  to  the  time  however  at  which  I  was  at  St.  Louis,  martial 
law  had  chiefly  been  used  in  closing  grog-shops  and  administering 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  suspected  secessionists.  Something  also 
had  been  done  in  the  way  of  raising  money  by  selling  the  property 
of  convicted  secessionists  ;  and  while  I  was  there  eight  men  were 
condemned  to  be  shot  for  destroying  railway  bridges.  *'  But  will 
they  be  shot  ?"  I  asked  of  one  of  the  officers.  "  Oh,  yes.  It  will 
be  done  quietly,  and  no  one  will  know  anything  about  it.  We 
shall  get  used  to  that  kind  of  thing  presently."  And  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Missouri  were  becoming  used  to  martial  law.  It  is  sur- 
prising how  quickly  a  people  can  reconcile  themselves  to  altered 
circumstances,  when  the  chang5  comes  upon  them  without  the 
necessity  of  any  expressed  opinion  on  their  own  part.  Personal 
freedom  has  been  considered  as  necessary  to  the  American  of  the 
States  as  the  air  he  breathes.  Had  any  suggestion  been  made  to  j 
him  of  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  habeas  corpus,  of  a  cen- 
sorship of  the  press,  or  of  martial  law,  the  American  would  have  | 
declared  his  willingness  to  die  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives,  and  have  proclaimed  with  ten  million  voices  his  inabil- 
ity to  live  under  circumstances  so  subversive  of  his  rights  as  a  I 
man.  And  he  would  have  thoroughly  believed  the  truth  of  his 
own  assertions.  Had  a  chance  been  given  of  an  argument  on  the 
matter,  of  stump  speeches,  and  caucus  meetings,  these  things  could  j 
never  have  been  done.  But  as  it  is,  Americans  are,  I  think,  rather! 
proud  of  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus.  They  point  willil 
gratification  to  the  uniformly  loyal  tone  of  the  newspapers,  re-I 


MISSOURI. 


387 


rht  men  were 
*'  But  will 
yes.     It  will 
)Out  it.    "^Ve 
i  the  inhabit- 
^r.     It  is  sur- 
ires  to  altered 
without  tk 
rt.     Personal 
aerican  of  the 
been  made  to 
•pus,  of  a  cen- 
,n  would  have  | 
)use  of  Kepre- 
ices  his  inabil- 
lis  rights  as  a  I 
e  truth  of  bis 
guraent  on  tliel 
se  things  could 
Ithinlc,ratbet| 
,ey  point  witlil 
newspapers,  re-l 


marking  that  any  editor  who  should  dare  to  give  even  a  secession 
squeak,  would  immediately  find  himself  shut  up.  And  now  noth- 
incr  but  good  is  spoken  of  martial  law.  I  thought  it  a  nuisance 
wlicn  I  was  prevented  by  soldiers  from  trotting  my  horse  down 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  Washington,  but  I  was  assured  by  Amer- 
icans that  such  restrictions  were  very  serviceable  in  a  community. 
At  St.  Louis  martial  law  was  quite  popular.  Why  should  not 
General  Ualleck  be  as  well  able  to  say  what  was  good  for  the 
people  as  any  law  or  any  lawyer?  He  had  no  interest  in  the  in- 
jury of  the  State,  but  every  interest  in  its  preservation.  "  But 
what,"  I  asked,  *'  would  be  the  effect  were  he  to  tell  you  to  put 
out  all  your  fires  at  eight  o'clock  ?"  '*  If  he  were  so  to  order,  we 
should  do  it;  but  we  know  that  ho  will  not."  But  who  does 
know  to  what  General  Halleck  or  other  generals  may  come ;  or 
how  soon  a  curfew-bell  may  be  ringing  in  American  towns  ?  The 
winning  of  liberty  is  long  and  tedious,  but  the  losing  it  is  a  down- 
hill easy  journey. 

It  was  here,  in  St.  Louis,  that  General  Fremont  had  held  his 
military  court.  He  was  a  great  man  here  during  those  hundred 
(lays  through  ^hich  his  command  lasted.  He  lived  in  a  great 
house,  had  a  body-guard,  was  inaccessible  as  a  great  man  should 
be,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day.  He  fortified  the  city, — or 
rather,  he  began  to  do  so.  He  constructed  barracks  here,  and  in- 
stituted military  prisons.  The  fortifications  have  been  discontin- 
ued as  useless,  but  the  barracks  and  the  prisons  remain.  In  the 
hitter  there  were  1200  secessionist  Foldiers  who  had  been  taken 
ill  the  State  of  Missouri.  "  Why  are  they  not  exchanged  f  I 
asked.  "Because  they  are  not  exactly  soldiers,*'  I  was  informed. 
"The  secessionists  do  not  acknowledge  them."  "Then  would  it 
not  be  cheaper  to  let  them  go  ?"  "  No,"  said  my  informant ;  "  be- 
cause in  that  case  we  should  have  to  catch  them  again."  And  so 
the  1200  remain  in  their  wretched  prison, — thinned  from  week  to 
week  and  from  day  to  day  by  prison  disease  and  prison  death. 

I  went  out  twice  to  Benton  barracks,  as  the  camp  of  wooden 
huts  was  called,  which  General  Fremont  had  erected  near  the  fair- 
ground of  the  city.  This  fair-ground,  I  was  told,  had  been  a  pleas- 
ant place.  It  had  been  constructed  for  the  recreation  of  the  city, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  periodical  agricultural  exhibitions.  There 
is  still  in  it  a  pretty  ornamented  cottage,  and  in  the  little  garden 
a  solitary  Cupid  stood  dismayed  by  the  dirt  and  ruin  around  him. 
In  the  fair-green  are  the  round  buildings  intended  for  show  cattle 
and  agricultural  implements,  but  now  given  up  to  cavalry  horses 
and  Parrott  guns.     But  Benton  barracks  are  outside  the  fair- 


^ 


f 


I,  ii.il 


388 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


n ' 


■  ( 


green.     Hero  on  nn  open  space,  some  half-mile  in  length,  two  lori" 
rows  of  wooden  Hhcd.s  have  been  btiiit,  opposite  to  each  other,  and 
behind  them  are  other  sheds  used  for  stablinp;  and  cookinj^-pjaoo.s. 
Those  in  front  are  divided,  not  into  separate  huts,  but  into  cliani- 
bers  capable  of  containing;  nearly  two  hundred  rnen  each.     Thoy 
were  surrounded  on  the  inside  by  great  wooden  trays,  in  tliroo 
tiers, — and  on  each  tray  four  men  were  supposed  to  sleep.    I  went 
into  one  or  two  while  the  crowd  of  soldiers  was  in  them,  but  found 
it  inexpedient  to  stay  there  long.     The  stench  of  those  places  was 
foul  beyond  description.     Never  in  my  life  before  had  1  been  in  u 
place  so  horrid  to  the  eyes  and  nose  as  1  Jen  ton  barracks.     The 
path  along  the  front  outside  was  deep  in  mud.     The  whole  space 
between  the  two  rows  of  sheds  was  one  field  of  mud,  so  slippery 
that  the  foot  could  not  stand.     Inside  and  outside  every  spot  >vas 
deep  in  mud.     The  soldiers  were  mud-stained  from  foot  to  sole. 
These  volunteer  soldiers  are  in  their  nature  dirty,  as  must  be  all 
men  brought  together  in  numerous  bodies  without  special  nppli- 
ances  for  cleanliness,  or  control  and  discipline  as  to  their  personal 
habits.    But  the  dirt  of  the  men  in  the  IJenton  barracks  surpassed 
any  dirt  that  I  had  hitherto  seen.    "Nor  could  it  have  been  other- 
wise with  them.    They  were  surrounded  by  a  sea  of  mud,  and  the 
foul  hovels  in  which  they  were  made  to  sleep  and  live  were  fetid 
with  stench  and  reeking  with  filth.     I  had  at  this  time  been  join- 
ed by  another  Englishman,  and  we  went  through  this  place  to- 
gether.   When  we  inquired  as  to  the  health  of  the  men,  we  heard 
the  saddest  tales, — of  three  hundred  men  gone  out  of  one  regiment, 
of  whole  companies  that  had  perished,  of  hospitals  crowded  with 
fevered  patients.     Measles  had  been  the  great  scourge  of  the  sol- 
diers here — as  it  had  also  been  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac.    I 
shall  not  soon  forget  my  visits  to  Benton  barracks.     It  may  be 
that  our  own  soldiers  were  as  badly  treated  in  the  Crimea ;  or  that 
French  soldiers  were  treated  worse  on  their  march  into  Russia. 
It  may  be  that  dirt  and  wretchedness,  disease  and  listless  idleness, 
a  descent  from  manhood  to  habits  loNvcr  than  those  of  the  beasts, 
are  necessary  in  warfare.    I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  is  so; 
but  I  am  no  military  critic  and  will  hot  say.     This  I  say, — that 
the  degradation  of  men  to  the  state  in  which  I  saw  the  American 
soldiers  in  Benton  barracks,  is  disgraceful  to  humanity. 

General  Halleck  was  at  this  time  commanding  in  Missouri,  and 
was  himself  stationed  at  St.  Louis ;  but  his  active  measures  against 
the  rebels  were  going  on  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  On  the  left 
shore  of  the  Mississippi,  at  Cairo,  in  Illinois,  a  fleet  of  gun-boats 
was  being  prepared  to  go  down  the  river,  and  on  the  right  an  army 


MISSOURI. 


880 


was  advancing  against  Springfield,  in  the  south-western  district  of 
Missouri,  with  tiic  object  of  dislodging  Price,  the  rebel  guerilla  lead- 
er there,  and,  if  possible,  of  catching  him.  Price  had  been  the  op- 
ponent of  poor  General  Lyon  who  was  killed  at  Wilson's  Creek, 
near  Springfield,  and  of  General  Fremont,  who  during  his  hundred 
cluys  had  failed  to  drive  him  out  of  the  State.  This  duty  had  now 
been  intrusted  to  General  Curtis,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
holding  his  head-quarters  at  Rolla,  halfway  between  St.  Louis  and 
Springfield.  Fremont  had  built  a  fort  at  Kolla,  and  it  had  bccomo 
a  military  station.  Over  10,000  men  had  been  there  at  one  time, 
and  now  General  Curtis  was  to  advance  from  Rollii  against  Price 
with  something  above  that  number  of  men.  Many  of  them,  how- 
ever, had  already  gone  on,  and  others  were  daily  being  sent  up  from 
St.  Louis.  Under  these  circumstances  my  friend  and  I,  fortified 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  General  Curtis,  resolved  to  go  and 
see  the  army  at  Holla. 

On  our  way  down  by  the  railway  we  encountered  a  young  Ger- 
man officer,  an  aide-de-camp  of  the  Federals,  and  under  his  au- 
spices we  saw  Holla  to  advantage.  Our  companions  in  the  railway 
were  chiefly  soldiers  and  teamsters.  The  car  was  crowded  and 
filled  with  tobacco  smoke,  apple  peel,  and  foul  air.  In  these  cars 
(luring  the  winter  there  is  always  a  large  lighted  stove,  a  stove 
that  might  cook  all  the  dinners  for  a  French  hotel,  and  no  window 
is  ever  opened.  Among  our  fellow-travellers  there  was  hero  and 
there  a  west-country  Missouri  farmer  going  down,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  advancing  army,  to  look  after  the  remains  of  his 
chattels, — wild,  dark,  uncouth,  savage-looking  men.  One  such 
hero  I  specially  remember,  as  to  whom  the  only  natural  remark 
would  be  that  one  would  not  like  to  meet  him  alone  on  a  dark 
niglit.  He  was  burly  and  big,  unwashed  and  rough,  with  a  black 
beard,  shorn  some  two  months  since.  He  had  sharp,  angry  eyes, 
and  sat  silent,  picking  his  teeth  with  a  bowie  knife.  I  met  him 
afterwards  at  the  Kolla  hotel,  and  found  that  he  was  a  gentleman 
of  property  near  Springfield.  He  was  mild  and  meek  as  a  sucking 
dove,  asked  my  advice  as  to  the  state  of  his  affairs,  and  merely 
guessed  that  things  had  been  pretty  rough  with  him.  Things  had 
been  pretty  rough  with  him.  The  rebels  had  come  upon  his  land. 
House,  fences,  stock,  and  crop  were  all  gone.  His  homestead  had 
been  made  a  ruin,  and  his  farm  had  been  turned  into  a  wilderness. 
Everything  was  gone.  He  had  carried  his  wife  and  children  off 
to  Illinois,  and  had  now  returned,  hoping  that  he  might  get  on  in 
the  wake  of  the  army  till  he  could  see  the  debris  of  his  property. 
But  even  he  did  not  seem  disturbed.     He  did  not  bemoan  himself 


890 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


1 


I. 


or  curse  liis  fato.     "  Things  wcro  pretty  rough,"  ho  said ;  find  that 
was  all  he  did  nay. 

It  was  dark  when  wo  got  into  Holla.  Everything  had  been  cov- 
ered with  snow,  and  everywhere  the  snow  was  frozen.  We  jiad 
heard  that  there  was  an  hotel,  and  that  possibly  wo  might  got  a 
bedroom  there.  Wo  were  first  taken  to  a  wooden  building,  wlijch 
we  were  told  was  the  head-(iuarter8  of  the  army,  and  in  one  room 
we  found  a  colonel  with  a  lot  of  soldiers  loafmg  about,  and  in  an- 
other a  provost-marshal  attended  by  a  newspaper  correspondent. 
Wo  were  received  with  open  arras,  and  a  suggestion  was  at  once 
mado  that  wo  were  no  doubt  picking  up  news  for  European  news- 
papers.  "  Air  you  a  son  of  the  Mrs.  Trollopc  ?"  said  the  corre- 
spondent. "Then,  iir,  you  arc  an  accession  to  Holla."  Upon 
which  I  was  made  to  sit  down,  and  invited  to  "loaf  about"  at  the 
head-quarters  as  long  as  !  might  remain  at  Kolla.  Shortly,  how- 
ever, there  aimc  on  u  violent  discussion  about  waggons.  A  gen- 
eral had  come  in  and  wanted  all  the  colonel's  waggons,  but  the 
colonel  swore  that  he  had  none,  declared  how  bitterly  he  was  im- 
peded with  sick  men,  and  became  indignant  and  reproachful.  It 
was  Brutus  and  Cassius  again;  and  as  wo  felt  ourselves  in  the 
way,  and  anxious  moreover  to  ascertain  what  might  bo  the  nature 
of  the  Holla  hotel,  wo  took  up  our  heavy  portmanteaux — for  they 
were  heavy — and  with  a  guide  to  show  us  the  way,  started  off 
through  the  dark  and  over  the  hill  up  to  our  inn.  I  shall  never 
forget  that  walk.  It  was  up  hill  and  down  hill,  with  an  occasion- 
al half-frozen  stream  across  it.  My  friend  was  impeded  with  an 
enormous  cloak  lined  with  fur,  which  in  itself  was  a  burden  for  a 
coalheaver.  Our  guide,  who  was  a  clerk  out  of  the  colonel's  of- 
fice, carried  an  umbrella  and  a  small  dressing-bag,  but  we  ourselves 
manfully  shouldered  our  portmanteaux.  Sydney  Smith  declared 
that  an  Englishman  only  wasted  his  time  in  training  himself  for 
gymnastic  aptitudes,  seeing  that  for  a  shilling  he  could  always  hire 
a  porter.  Had  Sydney  Smith  ever  been  at  Holla  he  would  have 
written  differently.  I  could  tell  at  great  length  how  I  fell  on  my 
face  in  the  icy  snow,  how  my  friend  stuck  in  the  frozen  mud  when 
he  essayed  to  jump  the  stream,  and  how  our  guide  walked  on  easily 
in  advance,  encouraging  us  with  his  voice  from  a  distance.  Why 
is  it  that  a  stout  Englishman  bordering  on  fifty  finds  himself  in 
such  a  predicament  as  that  1  No  Frenchman,  no  Italian,  no  Ger- 
man, would  so  place  himself,  unless  under  the  stress  of  insurmount- 
able circumstances.  No  American  would  do  so  under  any  circum- 
stances. As  I  slipped  about  on  the  ice  and  groaned  with  that  ter- 
rible fardel  on  my  back,  burdened  with  a  dozen  shirts,  and  a  suit 


MISSOURI. 


891 


of  ilrc8S  clothcfl,nn(l  three  pair  of  bootf*,  and  four  or  five  thick  vol- 
umes, and  a  set  of  maps,  and  a  box  of  ci^^ars,  and  a  washing-tub,  I 
confessed  to  inyaelf  that  1  was  a  ibol.  What  was  I  doing  in  such 
a  ('alley  as  tlutt  ?  Why  had  1  brouglit  all  that  useless  lumber  down 
to  Kollti  ?  Why  had  1  come  to  KoUa,  with  no  certain  hope  oven 
of  shelter  for  a  night?  But  we  did  reach  the  hotel ;  wo  did  get  a 
room  between  us  with  two  bedsteads.  And,  pondering  over  the 
matter  in  my  mind,  since  that  evening,  I  have  been  inclined  to 
thiiik  that  the  stout  Englishman  is  in  the  right  of  it.  No  Ameri- 
can of  my  ago  and  weight  will  ever  go  through  what  I  went  through 
then ;  but  1  am  not  sure  that  ho  docs  not  in  his  accustomed  career 
go  througli  worse  things  even  than  that.  However,  if  I  go  to  Kolla 
again  during  tho  war,  I  will  at  any  rate  leave  the  books  behind 
mc. 

What  a  night  wo  spent  in  that  inn  I  They  who  know  America 
will  be  aware  that  in  all  hotels  there  is  a  free  admixture  of  difler- 
cnt  classes.  The  traveller  in  Kurope  may  sit  down  to  dinner  with 
liis  tailor  and  shoemaker;  but  if  so,  his  tailor  and  shoemaker  have 
dressed  themselves  as  he  dresses,  and  are  prepared  to  carry  them- 
selves according  to  a  certain  standard,  which  in  exterior  docs  not 
differ  from  his  own.  In  the  large  Eastern  cities  of  the  States,  such 
as  Boston,  Now  York,  and  Washington,  a  similar  practice  of  life 
is  gradually  becoming  prevalent.  There  arc  various  hotels  for  va- 
rious classes,  and  the  ordinary  traveller  does  not  find  himself  at  tho 
same  table  with  a  butcher  fresh  from  tho  shambles.  But  in  tho 
West  there  are  no  distinctions  whatever.  "  A  man's  a  man  for 
a'  that"  in  the  West,  let  the  *'  a  that"  comprise  what  it  may  of 
coarse  attire  and  unsophisticated  manners.  One  soon  gets  used  to 
it.  In  that  inn  at  Rolla  was  a  public  room,  heated  in  the  middle 
by  a  stove,  and  round  that  we  soon  found  ourselves  seated  in  a 
company  of  soldiers,  farmers,  labourers,  and  teamsters.  But  there 
was  among  them  a  general ;  not  a  fighting,  or  would-be  fighting 
generiU  of  the  present  time,  but  one  of  the  old-fashioned  local  gen- 
erals,— men  who  held,  or  had  once  held,  some  fabulous  generalship 
in  tho  State  militia.  There  we  sat,  cheek  by  jowl  with  our  new 
friends,  till  nearly  twelve  o'clock,  talking  politics  and  discussing  tho 
war.  The  General  was  a  stanch  Unionist,  having,  according  to 
Ms  own  showing,  suffered  dreadful  things  from  secessionist  perse- 
cutors since  the  rebellion  commenced.  As  a  matter  of  course 
everybody  present  was  for  the  Union.  In  such  a  place  one  rarely 
encounters  any  difference  of  opinion.  The  General  was  very  eager 
about  the  war,  advocating  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery,  not 
as  a  means  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  Southern  slaves,  but 


« 


*  >( 


■'  I 


■■■^csss: 


392 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


>    '. 


■i 


H  ■ 


I. 


on  the  ground  that  it  would  ruin  the  southern  masters.  "We  all 
sat  by,  edging  in  a  word  now  and  then,  but  the  General  was  the 
talker  of  the  evening.  He  was  very  v;rr.thy,  and  swore  at  every 
other  word.  "  It  was  pretty  well  time,"  he  said, "  to  crush  out  this 
rebellion,  and  by it  must  and  should  be  crushed  out ;  Gener- 
al Jim  Lane  was  the  man  to  do  it,  and  by General  Jim  Lane 

would  do  it !"  and  so  on.  In  all  such  conversations  the  time  for 
action  has  always  just  come,  and  also  the  expected  man.  But  the 
time  passes  by  as  other  weeks  and  months  have  passed  before  it, 
and  the  new  General  is  fouiid  to  be  no  more  successful  than  his 
brethren.  Our  friend  was  very  angry  against  England.  "  When 
we've  polished  oif  these  accursed  rebels,  I  guess  we'll  take  a  turn 
at  you.  You  had  your  turn  when  you  made  us  give  up  Mason  and 
Slidell,  and  we'll  have  our  turn  by-and-by."  But  in  spite  of  his 
dislike  to  our  nation  he  invited  us  warmly  to  come  and  see  him  at 
his  home  on  the  Missouri  river.  It  was,  according  to  his  showing, 
a  new  Eden, — a  Paradise  upon  earth.  He  seemed  to  think  that 
we  might  perl  aps  desire  to  buy  a  location,  and  explained  to  us  how 
readily  we  could  make  our  fortunes.  But  he  admitted  in  the 
course  of  his  eulo  iums  that  it  would  be  as  much  as  his  life  was 
worth  for  him  to  ride  out  five  miles  from  his  own  house.  In  the 
meantime  the  teamstci-s  greased  their  boots,  the  soldiers  snored, 
those  who  were  wet  took  off  their  shoes  and  stockings,  hanging 
them  to  dry  round  the  stove,  and  the  western  farmers  chewed  to- 
bacco in  silence  and  ruminated.  A.t  such  a  house  all  the  guests  go 
in  to  their  meals  together.  A  gong  is  sounded  on  a  sudden,  close 
behind  your  ears ;  accustomed  as  you  may  probably  be  to  the  sound 
you  jump  up  from  your  chair  in  the  agony  of  the  crash,  and  by  the 
lime  that  you  have  collected  your  thoughts  the  whole  crowd  is  oif 
in  a  general  stampede  into  the  eating  room.  You  may  as  well  join 
them  ;  if  you  hesitate  as  to  feeding  with  so  rough  a  lot  of  men,  you 
will  have  to  sit  down  afterwards  with  the  women  and  children  of 
the  family,  and  your  lot  will  then  be  worse.  Among  such  classes 
in  the  western  States  the  men  are  always  better  than  the  women. 
The  men  are  dirty  and  civil,  the  women  are  dirty  and  uncivil. 

On  the  following  day  we  visited  the  camp,  going  out  in  an  am- 
bulance and  returning  on  horseback.  We  were  accompanied  by 
the  General's  aide-de-camp,  and  also,  to  our  great  gratification,  by 
the  General's  daughter.  There  had  been  a  hard  frost  for  some 
nights,  but  though  the  cold  was  very  great  there  was  always  heat 
enough  in  the  middle  of  the  day  to  turn  the  surface  of  the  ground 
into  glutinous  mud ;  consequently  we  had  all  the  roughness  in- 
duced by  frost,  but  none  of  the  usually  attendant  cleanliness.     In- 


m^i 


MISSOURI. 


393 


deed,  it  seemed  that  in  these  parts  nothing  was  so  dirty  as  frost. 
The  mud  stuck  like   paste  and  encompassed  everything.      We 
heard  that  morning  that  from  sixty  to  seventy  baggage-waggons 
had  "  broken  through,"  as  they  called  it,  and  stuck  fast  near  a 
river  in  their  endeavour  to  make  their  way  on  to  Lebanon.     We 
encountered  two  generals  of  brigade,  General  Siegel,  a  German, 
and  General  Ashboth,  an  Hungarian,  both  of  whom  were  waiting 
till  the  weather  should  allow  them  to  advance.     They  were  ex- 
tremely courteous,  and  warmly  invited  us  to  go  on  with  them  to 
Lebanon  and  Springfield,  promising  to  us  such  accommodation  as 
tliey  might  be  able  to  obtain  for  themselves.     I  was  much  tempt- 
ed to  accept  the  offer ;  but  I  found  that  day  after  day  might  pass 
before  any  forward  movement  was  commenced,  and  that  it  might 
be  weeks  before  Springfield  or  even  Lebanon  could  be  reached. 
It  was  my  wish,  moreover,  to  see  what  I  could  of  the  people, 
rather  than  to  scrutinize  the  ways  of  the  armj; .     We  dined  at  the 
tent  of  General  Ashboth,  and  afterwards  rode  his  horses  through 
the  camp  back  to  Rolla.     X  was  greatly  taken  with  this  Hungarian 
gentleman.     He  was  a  tall,  thin,  gaunt  man  of  fifty,  a  pure-blooded 
Magyar  as  I  was  told,  who  had  come  from  his  own  country  with 
Kossuth  to  America.     His  camp  circumstances  were  not  veiy  lux- 
urious, nor  was  his  table  very  richly  spread ;  but  he  received  us 
with  the  ease  and  courtesy  of  a  gentleman.     He  showed  us  his 
sword,  his  rifle,  his  pistols,  his  chargers,  and  daguerreotype  of  a 
friend  he  had  loved  in  his  own  country.     They  were  all  the  treas- 
ures that  he  carried  with  him,— over  and  above  a  chess-board  and 
a  set  of  chessmen  which  sorely  tempted  me  to  a.  company  him  in 
his  march. 

In  my  next  chapter,  which  will,  I  trust,  be  very  short,  I  purport 
to  say  a  few  words  as  to  what  1  saw  of  the  American  army,  and 
therefore  I  will  not  now  describe  the  regiments  which  we  visited. 
The  tents  were  all  encompassed  by  snow,  and  the  ground  on  which. 
they  stood  was  a  bed  of  mud ;  but  yet  the  soldiers  out  here  were 
not  so  wretchedly  forlorn,  or  apparently  so  miserably  uncomfort- 
able, as  those  at  Benton  barracks.  I  did  not  encounter  that  hor- 
rid sickly  stench,  nor  were  the  men  so  pale  and  wobegone.  On 
the  following  day  we  returned  to  St.  Louis,  bringing  back  with  us 
our  friend  the  German  aide-de-camp.  I  stayed  two  days  longer  in 
that  city,  and  then  I  thought  that  I  had  seen  enough  of  Missouri ; 
—enough  of  Missouri  at  any  rate  under  the  present  circumstances 
of  frost  and  secession.  As  regards  the  people  of  the  West,  I 
must  say  that  they  were  not  such  as  I  expected  to  find  them. 
With  the  Northerns  we   are  all   more   or  less  intimately  ac- 

R2 


■waa 


> 


39i 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


-  > 


i'ti 


quainted.     Those  Americans  whom  we  meet  in  our  own  country, 
or  on  the  Continent,  are  generally  from  the  North,  or  if  not  so 
they  have  that  type  of  American  manners  which  has  become  fa- 
miliar to  us.     They  are  talkative,  intelligent,  inclined  to  be  so- 
cial, though  frequently  not  sympathetically  social  v/ith  ourselves ; 
somewhat  soi-disant,  but  almost  invariably  companionable.     As 
the  traveller  goes  southward  into  Maryland  and  Washington,  the 
type  is  not  altered  to  any  great  extent.     The  hard  intelligence  of 
the  Yankee  gives  place  gradually  to  the  softer,  and  perhaps  more 
polished  manner  of  the  Southern.     But  the  change  thus  experi- 
enced  is  not  so  great  as  is  that  between  the  American  of  the  west- 
ern and  the  American  of  the  Atlantic  States.     In  the  "West  I 
found  the  men  gloomy  and  silent, — I  might  almost  say  sullen.    A 
dozen  of  them  will  sit  for  hours  round  a  stove,  speechless.     They 
chew  tobacco  and  ruminate.     They  are  not  offended  if  you  speak 
to  them,  but  they  are  not  pleased.     They  answer  with  monosylla- 
bles, or,  if  it  be  practicable,  with  a  gesture  of  the  head.     They 
care  nothing  for  the  graces, — or  shall  I  say,  for  the  decencies  of 
life  ?     They  are  essentially  a  dirty  people.     Dirt,  untidiness,  and 
noise,  seem  in  nowise  to  afflict  them.     Things  are  constantly  done 
before  your  eyes,  whijch  should  be  done  and  might  be  done  behind 
your  back.     No  doubt  we  daily  come  into  the  closest  contact  with 
matters  which,  if  we  saw  all  that  appertains  to  them,  would  cause 
us  to  shake  and  shudder.     In  other  countries  we  do  not  see  all 
this,  but  in  the  western  States  we  do,     I  have  eaten  in  Bedouin 
tents,  and  have  been  ministered  to  by  Turks  and  Arabs.     I  have 
sojourned  in  the  hotels  of  old  Spain  and  of  Spanish  America.    I 
have  lived  in  Connaught,  and  have  taken  up  my  quarters  with 
monks  of  diffei*ent  nations.     I  have,  as  it  were,  been  educated  to 
dirt,  and  taken  out  my  degree  in  outward  abominations.     But  my 
education  had  not  reached  a  point  which  would  enable  me  to  live 
at  my  ease  in  the  western  States.     A  man  or  woman  who  can  do 
that  may  be  said  to  have  graduated  in  the  highest  honours,  and  to 
have  become  absolutely  invulnerable,  either  through  the  sense  of 
touch,  or  by  the  eye,  or  by  the  nose.     Indifference  to  appearances 
is  there  a  matter  of  pride.     A  foul  shirt  is  a  Hag  of  triumph.    A 
craving  for  soap  and  water  is  as  the  wail  of  the  weak  and  the  con- 
fession of  cowardice.     This  indifference  is  carried  into  all  their 
affairs,  or  rather  this  manifestation  of  indifference.     A  few  pages 
back,  I  spoke  of  a  man  whose  furniture  had  been  sold  to  pay  a 
heavy  tax  raised  on'  him  specially  as  a  secessionist ;  the  same  man 
had  also  been  refused  the  payment  of  rent  due  to  him  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, unless  he  would  take  a  false  oath.     I  may  presume  that 


MISSOURI. 


395 


he  was  ruined  in  his  circumstances  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  North- 
ern army.     But  he  seemed  in  nowise  to  be  unhappy  about  his  ruin. 
He  spoke  with  some  scorn  of  the  martial  law  in  Missouri,  but  I 
felt  that  it  was  esteemed  a  small  matter  by  him  that  his  furniture 
was  seized  and  sold.     No  men  love  money  with  more  eager  love 
than  these  western  men,  but  they  bear  the  loss  of  it  as  an  Indian 
bears  his  torture  at  the  stake.     They  are  energet/c  in  trade,  spec- 
ulating deeply  whenever  speculation  is  possible ;  but  nevertheless 
they  are  slow  in  motion,  loving  to  loaf  about.     Th?.y  are  slow  in 
speech,  preferring  to  sit  in  silence,  with  the  tobacco  between  their 
teeth.     They  drink,  but  are  seldom  drunk  to  the  eye ;  they  begin 
it  early  in  the  morning,  and  take  it  in  a  solemn,  sullen,  ugly  man- 
ner, standing  always  at  a  bar ;  swallowing  their  spirits,  and  say- 
ing nothing  as  they  swallow  it.     They  drink  often,  and  to  great 
excess ;  but  they  carry  it  off  without  noise,  sitting  down  and  ru- 
minating over  it  with  the  everlasting  cud  within  their  jaws.     I 
believe  that  a  stranger  might  go  into  the  West,  and  passing  from 
hotel  to  hotel  through  a  dozen  of  them,  might  sit  for  hours  at  each 
in  the  large  everlasting  public  hall,  and  never  have  a  word  ad- 
dressed to  him.     No  stranger  should  travel  in  the  western  States, 
or  indeed  in  any  of  the  States,  without  letters  of  introduction.    It 
is  the  custom  of  the  country,  and  they  are  easily  procured.    With- 
out them  everything  is  barren ;  for  men  do  not  travel  in  the  States 
of  America  as  they  do  in  Europe,  to  see  scenery  and  visit  the 
marvels  of  old  cities  which  are  open  to  all  the  world.     The  social 
and  political  life  of  the  Americans  must  constitute  the  interest  of 
the  traveller,  and  to  these  he  can  hardly  make  his  way  without 
introductions. 

I  cannot  part  with  the  West  without  saying  in  its  favour  that 
there  is  a  certain  manliness  about  its  men,  which  gives  them  a  dig- 
nity of  their  own.  It  is  shown  in  that  very  indifference  of  which 
I  have  spoken.  Whatever  turns  up  the  man  is  still  there, — still 
unsophisticated  and  still  unbroken.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  no 
race  of  men  requires  less  outward  assistance  than  these  pioneers 
of  civilization.  They  rarely  amuse  themselves.  Food,  newspa- 
pers, and  brandy^-smashes  suffice  for  life ;  and  while  these  last, 
whatever  may  occur,  the  man  is  still  there  in  his  manhood.  The 
fury  of  the  mob  does  not  shake  him,  nor  the  stern  countenance  of 
his  present  martial  tyrant.  Alas !  I  cannot  stick  to  my  text  by 
calling  him  a  just  man.  Intelligence,  energy,  and  endurance  are 
his  virtues.     Dirt,  dishonesty,  and  morning  drinks  are  his  vices. 

All  native  American  women  are  intelligent.  It  seems  to  be 
their  birthright.     In  the  eastern  cities  they  have,  in  their  upper 


I 


M  ! 


396 


NORTII   AMEBIC  A. 


classes,  superadded  womanly  grace  to  this  intelligence,  and  conse- 
quently they  are  charming  as  companions.  They  are  beautiful 
also,  and,  as  I  believe,  lack  nothing  that  a  lover  can  desire  in  his 
love.  But  I  cannot  fancy  myself  much  in  love  with  a  western 
lady,  or  rather  with  a  lady  in  the  "West.  They  are  as  sharp  as 
nails,  but  then  they  are  also  as  hard.  They  know,  doubtless,  all 
that  they  ought  to  know,  but  then  they  know  so  much  more  than 
they  ought  to  know.  They  are  tyrants  to  their  parents,  and 
never  practise  the  virtue  of  obedience  till  they  have  half-grown-up 
daughters  of  their  -own.  They  have  faith  in  the  destiny  of  their 
country,  if  in  nothing  else ;  but  they  believe  that  that  destiny  is  to 
be  worked  out  by  the  spirit  and  talent  of  the  young  women.  I 
confess  that  for  me  Eve  would  have  had  no  charms  had  she  not 
recognized  Adam  as  her  lord.  I  can  forgive  her  in  that  she 
tempted  him  to  eat  the  apple.  Had  she  come  from  the  West 
country  she  would  have  ordered  him  to  make  his  meal,  and  then 
I  could  not  have  forgiven  her. 

St.  Louis  should  be,  and  still  will  be,  a  town  of  great  wealth. 
To  no  city  can  have  been  given  more  means  of  riches.  I  have 
spoken  of  the  enormous  mileage  of  water-communication  of  whidi 
she  is  the  centre.  The  country  around  her  produces  Indian  corn, 
wheat,  grasses,  hemp,  and  tobacco.  Coal  is  dug  even  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  city,  and  iron-mines  are  worked  at  a  distance 
fi'om  it  of  a  hundred  miles.  The  iron  is  so  pure,  that  it  is  broken 
off  in  solid  blocks,  almost  free  from  alloy ;  and  as  the  metal  stands 
up  on  the  earth's  surface  in  the  guise  almost  of  a  gigantic  metal 
pillar,  instead  of  lying  low  within  its  bowels,  it  is  worked  at  a 
cheap  rate,  and  with  great  certainty.  Nevertheless,  at  the  present 
moment,  the  iron  works  of  Pilot  Knob,  as  the  place  is  called,  do 
not  pay.  As  far  as  I  could  learn,  nothing  did  pay,  except  govern- 
ment contracts. 


iu 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CAIRO   AND   CAMP  WOOD. 

To  "whatever  period  of  life  my  days  may  be  prolonged,  I  do 
not  think  that  I  shall  ever  forget  Cairo.  I  do  not  mean  Grand 
Cairo,  w^hich  is  also  memorable  in  its  way,  and  a  place  not  to 
be  forgotten, — but  Cairo  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  by  na- 
tive Americans  is  always  called  Caaro.  An  idea  is  prevalent 
in  the  States,  and  I  think  I  have  heard  the  same  broached  in 
England,  that  a  popular  British  author  had  Cairo,  State  of  Illi- 
nois, in  his  eye  when  under  the  name  of  Eden  he  depicted  a 


CAIRO  AND   CAMP   WOOD. 


307 


chosen,  happy  spot  on  the  Mississippi  river,  and  told  us  how 
certain  English  emigrants  fixed  themselves  in  that  locality,  and 
there  made  light  of  those  little  ills  of  life  which  are  incident  to 
humanity  even  in  the  garden  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
But  I  doubt  whether  that  author  ever  visited  Cairo  in  mid- 
winter, and  I  am  sure  that  he  never  visited  Cairo  when  Cairo 
was  the  seat  of  an  American  army.  Had  he  done  so,  his  love 
of  truth  would  have  forbidden  him  to  presume  that  even  Mark 
Tapley  could  have  enjoyed  himself  in  such  an  Eden. 

I  had  no  wish  myself  to  go  to  Cairo,  having  heard  it  but  in- 
differently spoken  of  by  all  men ;  but  my  friend  with  whom  I 
was  travelling  was  peremptory  in  the  matter.  He  had  heard 
of  gun-boats  and  mortar-boats,  of  forts  built  upon  the  river,  of 
Columbiads,  Dahlgrens,  and  Parrotts,  of  all  the  pomps  and  cir- 
cumstance of  glorious  war,  and  entertained  an  idea  that  Cairo 
was  the  nucleus  or  pivot  of  all  really  strategetic  movements  in 
this  terrible  national  struggle.  Under  such  circumstances  I 
was  as  it  were  forced  to  go  to  Cairo,  and  bore  myself,  under 
the  circumstances,  as  much  like  Mark  Tapley  as  my  nature 
would  permit.  I  was  not  jolly  while  I  was  there  certainly,  but 
I  did  not  absolutely  break  down  and  perish  in  its  mud. 

Cairo  is  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Illinois  central  railway. 
There  is  but  one  daily  arrival  there,  namely,  at  half-past  four  in 
the  morning,  and  but  one  despatch,  which  is  at  half-past  three 
in  the  morning.  Everything  is  thus  done  to  assist  that  view 
of  life  ^  s^hich  Mark  Tapley  took  when  he  resolved  to  ascertain 
under  ivhat  possible  worst  circumstances  of  existence  he  could 
still  maintain  his  jovial  character.  Why  anybody  should  ever 
arrive  at  Cairo  at  half-past  four  a.m.,  I  cannot  understand.  The 
departure  at  any  hour  is  easy  of  comprehension.  The  place  is 
situated  exactly  at  the  point  at  which  the  Ohio  and  the  Missis- 
sippi meet,  and  is,  I  should  say,  merely  guessing  on  the  matter, 
some  ten  or  twelve  feet  lower  than  the  winter  level  of  the  two 
rivers.  This  gives  it  naturally  a  depressed  appearance,  which 
must  have  much  aided  Mark  Tapley  in  his  endeavours.  Who 
were  the  founders  of  Cairo  I  have  never  ascertained.  They  are 
probably  buried  fathoms  deep  in  the  mud,  and  their  names  will 
no  doubt  remain  a  mystery  to  the  latest  ages.  They  were 
brought  thither,  I  presume,  by  the  apparent  water  privileges  of 
the  place ;  but  the  water  privileges  have  been  too  much  for 
them,  and  by  the  excess  of  their  powers  have  succeeded  in 
drowning  all  the  capital  of  the  early  Cairovians,  and  in  throw- 
ing a  wet  blanket  of  thick,  moist,  glutinous  dirt  over  all  their 
energies. 


1 


'i 


B 


mm, 


1 


i 


f' 


398 


NOKTU   AMERICA. 


The  free  State  of  Illinois  runs  down  far  south  between  the 
slave  States  of  Kentucky  to  the  east,  and  of  Missouri  to  the 
west,  and  is  the  most  southern  point  of  the  continuous  free-soil 
territory  of  the  Northern  States.  This  point  of  it  is  a  part  of 
a  district  called  Egypt,  which  is  fertile  as  the  old  country  from 
whence  it  has  borrowed  a  name ;  but  it  suffers  under  those  af- 
flictions which  are  common  to  all  newly-settled  lands  which 
owe  their  fertility  to  the  vicinity  of  great  rivers.  Fever  and 
ague  universally  prevail.  Men  and  women  grow  up  with  their 
lantern  faces  like  spectres.  The  children  are  prematurely  old ; 
and  the  earth  which  is  so  fruitful  is  hideous  in  its  fertility. 
Cairo  and  its  immediate  neighbourhood  must,  I  suppose,  have 
been  subject  to  yearly  inundation  before  it  was  "  settled  up." 
At  present  it  is  guarded  on  the  shores  of  each  river  by  high 
mud  banks,  built  so  as  to  protect  the  point  of  land.  These  are 
called  the  levees,  and  do  perform  their  duty  by  keeping  out  the 
body  of  the  waters.  The  shore  between  the  banks  is,  I  believe, 
never  above  breast  deep  with  the  inundation ;  and  from  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  place,  and  the  soft,  half-liquid  nature  of  the 
soil,  this  inundation  generally  takes  the  shape  of  mud  instead 
of  water. 

Here,  at  the  very  point,  has  been  built  a  town.  Whether  the 
town  existed  during  Mr.  Tapley's  time  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn.  At  the  period  of  my  visit,  it  was  falling  quickly  into 
ruin ;  indeed  I  think  I  may  pronounce  it  to  have  been  on  its 
last  legs.  At  that  moment  a  galvanic  motion  had  been  pumped 
into  it  by  the  war  movements  of  General  Halleck,  but  the  true 
bearings  of  the  town,  as  a  town,  were  not  less  plainly  to  be  read 
on  that  account.  Every  street  was  absolutely  impassable  from 
mud.  I  mean  that  in  walking  down  the  middle  of  any  street 
in  Cairo  a  moderately  frartied  man  would  soon  stick  fast  and 
not  be  able  to  move.  The  houses  are  generally  built  at  con- 
siderable intervals  and  rarely  face  each  other,  and  along  one 
side  of  each  street  a  plank  boarding  was  laid,  on  which  the  mud 
had  accumulated  only  up  to  one's  ankles.  I  walked  all  over 
Cairo  with  big  boots,  and  with  my  trousers  tucked  up  to  my 
knees ;  but  at  the  crossings  I  found  considerable  danger,  and 
occasionally  had  my  doubts  as  to  the  possibility  of  progress.  I 
was  alone  in  my  work,  and  saw  no  one  else  making  any  such 
attempt.  A  few  only  were  moving  about,  and  they  moved  in 
wretched  carts,  each  drawn  by  two  miserable,  floundering 
horses.  These  carts  were  always  empty,  but  were  presumed 
to  be  engaged  in  some  way  on  military  service.  No  faces 
looked  out  at  the  windows  of  the  houses,  no  forms  stood  in  the 


CAIRO   AND   CAMP   WOOD. 


309 


doorways.  A  few  shops  were  open,  but  only  in  the  drinking 
shops  did  I  see  customers.  In  these  silent,  muddy  men  were 
sitting, — not  with  drink  before  them,  as  men  sit  with  us, — but 
with  the  cud  within  their  jaws,  ruminating.  Their  drinking  is 
always  done  on  foot.  They  stand  silent  at  a  bar,  with  two 
small  glasses  before  them.  Out  of  one  they  swallow  the  whisky, 
and  from  the  other  they  take  a  gulp  of  water,  as  though  to  rinse 
their  mouths.  After  that,  they  again  sit  down  and  ruminate. 
It  was  thus  that  men  enjoyed  themselves  at  Cairo. 

I  cannot  tell  what  was  the  existing  population  of  Cairo.  I 
asked  one  resident ;  but  he  only  shook  his  head  and  said  that 
the  place  was  about  "  played  out."  And  a  miserably  play  it 
must  have  been.  I  tried  to  walk  round  the  point  on  the  levees, 
but  I  found  that  the  mud  was  so  deep  and  slippery  on  that 
which  protected  the  town  from  the  Mississippi,  that  I  could 
not  move  on  it.  On  the  other,  which  forms  the  bank  of  the 
Ohio,  the  railway  runs,  and  here  was  gathered  all  the  life  and 
movement  of  the  place.  But  the  life  was  galvanic  in  its  nature, 
created  by  a  war-galvanism  of  which  the  shocks  were  almost 
neutralized  by  mud. 

As  Cairo  is  of  all  towns  in  America  the  most  desolate,  so  is 
its  hotel  the  most  forlorn  and  w^ retched.  Not  that  it  lacked 
custom.  It  was  so  full  that  no  room  was  to  be  had  on  our  first 
entry  from  the  railway  cars  at  five  a.m.,  and  we  were  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  washing  our  hands  and  faces  in  the  public 
wash-room.  When  I  entered  it  the  barber  and  his  assistants 
were  asleep  there,  and  four  or  five  citizens  from  the  railway 
were  busy  at  the  basins.  There  is  a  fixed  resolution  in  these 
places  that  you  shall  be  drenched  with  dirt  and  drowned  in 
abominations,  which  is  overpowering  to  a  mind  less  strong  than 
Mark  Tapley's.  The  filth  is  paraded  and  made  to  go  as  far  as 
possible.  The  stranger  is  spared  none  of  the  elements  of  nasti- 
ness.  I  remember  how  an  old  woman  once  stood  over  me  in 
my  youth,  forcing  me  to  swallow  the  gritty  dregs  of  her  terri- 
ble medicine-cup.  The  treatment  I  received  in  the  hotel  at 
Cairo  reminded  me  of  that  old  woman.  In  that  room  I  did  not 
dare  to  brush  my  teeth  lest  I  should  give  offence ;  and  I  saw 
at  once  that  I  was  regarded  with  suspicion  when  I  used  my  own 
comb  instead  of  that  provided  for  the  public. 

At  length  we  got  a  room,  one  room  for  the  two.  I  had  be- 
come so  depressed  in  spirits  that  I  did  not  dare  to  object  to  this 
arrangement.  My  friend  could  not  complain  much,  even  to  me, 
feeling  that  these  miseries  had  been  produced  by  his  own  ob- 
stinacy.    "  It  is  a  new  phase  of  life,"  he  said.    That,  at  any 


^-'^^''        LJIUW 


400 


NORTU   AMERICA. 


I     i 

II  I    ij 


•    '. 


<    «! 


1    ; 


rate,  was  true.  If  nothing  more  be  necessary  for  pleasurable 
excitement  than  a  new  phase  of  life,  I  would  recommend  all 
who  require  pleasurable  excitement  to  go  to  Cairo.  They  will 
certainly  find  a  new  phase  of  life.  But  do  not  let  them  remain 
too  long,  or  they  may  find  something  beyond  a  new  phase  of  Hfo. 
"Within  a  week  of  that  time  my  friend  was  taking  quinine,  look- 
ing hollow  about  the  eyes,  and  whispering  to  me  of  fever  and 
ague.  To  say  that  there  was  nothing  eatable  or  drinkable  iu 
that  hotel,  would  be  to  tell  that  which  will  be  understood  with- 
out telling.  My  friend,  however,  was  a  cautious  man,  carrying 
with  him  comfortable  tin  pots,  hermetically  sealed,  from  Fort- 
num  &  Mason's ;  and  on  the  second  day  of  our  sojourn  we  were 
invited  by  two  officers  to  join  their  dinner  at  a  Cairo  eating- 
house.  We  ploughed  our  way  gallantly  through  the  mud  to  a 
little  shanty,  at  the  door  of  which  we  were  peremptorily  de- 
manded by  the  landlord  to  scrub  ourselves  before  we  entered 
with  the  stump  of  an  old  broom.  This  we  did,  producing  on 
our  nether  persons  the  appearance  of  bread  which  has  been 
carefully  spread  with  treacle  by  an  economic  housekeeper. 
And  the  proprietor  was  right,  for  had  we  not  done  so,  the 
treacle  would  have  run  off  through  the  whole  house.  But  after 
this  we  fared  royally.  Squirrel  soup  and  prairie  chickens  re- 
galed us.  One  of  our  new  friends  had  laden  his  pockets  with 
champagne  and  brandy ;  the  other  with  glasses  and  a  cork- 
screw ;  and  as  the  bottle  went  round,  I  began  to  feel  some- 
thing of  the  spirit  of  Mark  Tapley  in  my  soul. 

But  our  visit  to  Cairo  had  been  made  rather  with  reference 
to  its  present  warlike  character,  than  with  any  eye  to  the  nat- 
ural beauties  of  the  place.  A  large  force  of  men  had  been  col- 
lected there,  and  also  a  fleet  of  gun-boats.  We  had  come  there 
fortified  with  letters  to  generals  and  commodores,  and  were 
prepared  to  go  through  a  large  amount  of  military  inspection. 
But  the  bird  had  flown  before  our  arrival ;  or  rather  the  body 
and  wings  of  the  bird,  leaving  behind  only  a  draggled  tail  and 
a  few  of  its  feathers.  There  were  only  a  thousand  soldiers  at 
Cairo  when  we  were  there ; — that  is,  a  thousand  stationed  in 
the  Cairo  sheds.  Two  regiments  passed  through  the  place 
during  the  time,  getting  out  of  one  steamer  on  to  another,  or 
passing  from  the  railway  into  boats.  One  of  these  regiments 
passed  before  me  down  the  slope  of  the  river-bank,  and  the 
men  as  a  body  seemed  to  be  healthy.  Very  many  were  drunk, 
and  all  were  mud-clogged  up  to  their  shoulders  and  very  caps. 
In  other  respects  they  appeared  to  be  in  good  order.  It  must 
be  understood  that  these  soldiers,  the  volunteers,  had  never 


CAIRO  AND  CAMP  WOOD. 


401 


3ural)le 
end  all 
»ey  will 
remain 
3  of  life, 
le,  look- 
vcr  and 
cable  in 
)d  witli- 
larrying 
m  Fort- 
WQ  were 
t  eating- 
lud  to  a 
jrily  de- 
entered 
acing  on 
las  been 
lekeeper. 
J  so,  the 
But  after 
ekens  re- 
cets  with 
a  cork- 
;el  some- 


been  made  subject  to  any  dlsciplino  as  to  cleanliness.  They 
wore  their  hair  long.  Their  hata  or  caps,  though  all  made  in 
some  military  form  and  with  some  military  appendancc,  wero 
various  and  ill-assorted.  Thev  all  were  covered  with  loose, 
thick,  blue-gray  great-coats,  which  no  doubt  wcro  warm  and 
wholesome,  but  which  from  their  looseness  and  colour  seemed 
to  bo  peculiarly  susceptible  of  receivmg  and  showing  a  very 
large  amount  of  mud.  Their  boots  were  always  good ;  but  each 
man  was  shod  as  he  liked.  Many  wore  heavy  over-boots  com- 
ing up  at  the  leg ; — boots  of  excellent  manufacture,  and  from 
their  cost,  if  for  no  other  reason,  quite  out  of  the  reach  of  an 
English  soldier  ;  boots  in  which  a  man  would  be  not  at  all  un- 
fortunate to  find  himself  hunting ;  but  from  these,  or  from  their 
highlows,  shoes,  or  whatever  they  might  wear,  the  mud  had 
never  been  even  scraped.  These  men  were  all  warmly  clothed, 
but  clothed  apparently  with  an  endeavour  to  contract  as  much 
mud  as  might  be  possible. 

The  generals  and  commodores  were  gone  up  the  Ohio  river 
and  up  the  Tennessee  in  an  expedition  with  gun-boats,  which 
turned  out  to  be  successful,  and  of  which  we  have  all  read  in 
the  daily  history  of  this  war.  They  had  departed  the  day  be- 
fore our  arrival,  and  though  we  still  found  at  Cairo  a  squadron 
of  gun-boats, — if  gun-boats  go  in  squadrons^ — the  bulk  of  the 
army  had  been  moved.  There  was  left  there  one  regiment  and 
one  colonel,  who  kindly  described  to  us  the  battles  he  had  fought, 
and  gave  us  permission  to  see  everything  that  was  to  be  seen. 
Four  of  these  gun-boats  were  still  lying  in  the  Ohio,  close  un- 
der the  terminus  of  the  railway,  with  their  flat,  ugly  noses 
against  the  muddy  bank,  and  we  were  shown  over  two  of  them. 
They  certainly  seemed  to  be  formidable  weapons  for  river  war- 
fare, and  to  have  been  "  got  up  quite  irrespective  of  expense." 
So  much,  indeed,  may  be  said  for  the  Americans  throughout 
the  war.  They  cannot  be  accused  of  parsimony.  The  largest 
of  these  vessels,  called  the  *  Benton,'  had  cost  36,000?.  These 
boats  are  made  with  sides  sloping  inwards,  at  an  angle  of  45 
degrees.  The  iron  is  two-and-a-half  inches  thick,  and  it  has  not, 
I  believe,  been  calculated  that  this  will  resist  cannon  shot  of 
great  weight,  should  it  be  struck  in  a  direct  line.  But  the  an- 
gle of  the  sides  of  the  boat  makes  it  improbable  that  any  such 
shot  should  strike  them ;  and  the  iron,  bedded  as  it  is  upon  oak, 
is  supposed  to  be  sufficient  to  turn  a  shot  that  does  not  hit  it 
in  a  direct  line.  The  boats  are  also  roofed  in  with  iron,  and  the 
pilots  who  steer  the  vessel  stand  encased,  as  it  were,  under  an 
iron  cupola.    I  imagine  that  these  boats  are  well  calculated  for 


I  ,J 


)     I 


402 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I'. 


^d' 


III  I. 


5   I   . 


the  river  service,  for  which  they  have  been  built.  Six  or  seven 
of  tlicm  had  gone  up  the  Tennessee  river  the  day  before  wo 
reached  Cairo,  and  while  we  were  there  they  succeeded  in 
knocking  down  Fort  Henry,  and  in  carrying  oft'  the  soldiers  sta- 
tioned there  and  the  oflicer  in  command.  One  of  tiio  boats, 
liowever,  had  been  penetrated  by  a  shot  which  made  its  way 
into  the  boiler,  and  the  men  on  deck,  six,  I  think,  in  number, 
were  scalded  to  death  by  the  escaping  steam.  The  two  pilots 
up  in  the  cupola  were  destroyed  m  this  terrible  manner.  As 
they  were  altogether  closed  in  by  the  iron  roof  and  sides,  tlicro 
was  no  escape  for  the  steam.  The  boats,  however,  were  well 
made  and  very  powerfully  armed,  and  will,  probably,  succeed 
in  driving  the  secessionist  armies  away  from  the  great  river 
banks.  By  what  machinery  the  secessionist  armies  are  to  bo 
followed  into  the  interior  is  altogether  another  question. 

But  there  was  also  another  fleet  at  Cairo,  and  we  were  in- 
formed that  wc  were  just  in  time  to  sec  the  first  essay  made  at 
testing  the  utility  of  this  armada.  It  consisted  of  no  less  than 
thirty-eight  mortar-boats,  each  of  which  had  cost  1*700^.  These 
mortar-bofits  were  broad,  flat-bottomed  rails,  each  constructed 
with  a  deck  raised  three  feet  above  the  bottom.  They  were 
protected  by  high  iron  sides,  supposed  to  be  proof  nc^ainst  riflo 
balls,  and  when  supplied  had  been  furnished  each  "v.  ith  a  little 
boat,  a  rope,  and  four  rough  sweeps  or  oars.  They  had  no  oth- 
er furniture  or  belongings,  and  were  to  be  moved  either  by 
steam  tugs  or  by  the  use  of  the  long  oars  which  were  sent  with 
them.  It  was  intended  that  one  13-inch  mortar,  of  enormous 
weight,  should  be  put  upon  each,  that  these  mortars  should  bo 
fired  with  twenty-three  pounds  of  powder,  and  that  the  shell 
thrown  should,  at  a  distance  of  three  miles,  fall  with  absolute 
precision  into  any  devoted  town  which  the  rebels  might  hold 
on  the  river  banks.  The  grandeur  of  the  idea  is  almost  sublime. 
So  large  an  amount  of  powder  had,  I  imagine,  never  then  been 
used  for  the  single  charge  in  any  instrument  of  war ;  and  when 
we  were  told  that  thirty-eight  of  them  were  to  play  at  once  on 
a  city,  and  that  they  could  be  used  with  absolute  precision,  it 
seemed  as  though  the  fate  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  could  not 
be  worse  than  the  fate  of  that  city.  Could  any  city  be  safe 
when  such  implements  of  war  were  about  upon  the  waters  ? 

But  when  w  came  to  inspect  the  mortar-boats,  our  misgiv- 
ings as  to  any  future  destination  for  this  fleet  were  relieved, 
and  our  admiration  was  given  to  the  smartness  of  the  contract- 
or who  had  secured  to  himself  the  job  of  building  them.  In 
the  first  place  they  had  all  leaked  till  the  spaces  between  the 


CAIRO   AND   CAMP   WOOD. 


403 


bottoms  and  the  decks  were  filled  with  water.  Tiiis  space  had 
been  intended  for  ammunition,  but  now  seemed  hardly  to  bo 
fitted  tor  that  purpose.  The  officer  who  was  about  to  test  them 
by  putting  a  mortar  into  one  and  by  firing  it  oft*  with  twenty- 
three  pounds  of  powder,  had  the  water  pumped  out  of  a  select- 
ed ratt,  and  we  were  towed  by  a  steam-tug  from  their  moor- 
ings a  mile  up  the  river,  down  to  the  spot  where  the  mortar 
'  y  ready  to  bo  lifted  in  by  a  derrick.  But  as  wo  turned  on  tho 
liver,  tho  tug-boat  which  had  brought  us  down,  was  unable  to 
hold  us  up  against  tho  force  of  tho  stream.  A  second  tug-boat 
was  at  hand,  and  with  one  on  each  side  wo  were  just  able,  in 
half-an-hour,  to  recover  tho  100  yards  which  we  had  lost  down 
the  river.  Tho  pressure  against  tho  stream  was  so  great,  ow- 
ing partly  to  tho  weight  of  tho  raft,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that 
its  nat  head  buried  itself  in  tho  water,  that  it  was  almost  im- 
moveable against  tho  stream,  although  tho  mortar  was  not  yet 
on  it. 

It  soon  became  manifest  that  no  trial  could  be  made  on  that 
day,  and  so  we  were  obliged  to  leave  Cairo  without  having 
witnessed  tho  firing  of  tho  great  gun.  My  belief  is  that  very 
Httle  evil  to  the  enemy  will  result  from  those  mortar-boats,  and 
that  they  cannot  be  used  with  much  effect.  Since  that  time 
they  have  been  used  on  tho  Mississippi,  but  as  yet  we  do  not 
know  with  what  result.  Island  No.  10  has  been  taken,  but  I 
do  not  know  that  the  mortar-boats  contributed  much  to  that 
success.  The  enormous  cost  of  moving  them  against  the  stream 
of  the  river  is  in  itself  a  barrier  to  their  use.  When  we  saw 
them — and  then  they  were  quite  new — many  of  the  rivets  were 
already  gone.  The  small  boats  had  been  stolen  from  some  of 
them,  and  the  ropes  and  oars  from  others.  There  they  lay, 
thirty-eight  in  number,  up  against  the  mud-banks  of  the  Ohio, 
under  the  boughs  of  the  half-clad,  melancholy  forest  trees,  as 
sad  a  spectacle  of  reckless  prodigality  as  the  eye  ever  beheld. 
But  the  contractor  who  made  them  no  doubt  was  a  smart  man. 

This  armada  was  moored  on  the  Ohio  against  the  low,  reedy 
bank,  a  mile  above  the  levee,  where  the  old  unchanged  forest 
of  nature  came  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  river,  and  mixed 
itself  with  the  shallow  overflowing  waters.  I  am  wrong  in 
saying  that  it  lay  under  the  boughs  of  the  trees,  for  such  trees 
do  not  spread  themselves  out  with  broad  branches.  They  stand 
thickly  together,  broken,  stunted,  spongy  with  rot,  straight  and 
ugly,  with  ragged  tops  and  shattered  arms,  seemingly  decayed, 
but  still  ever  renewing  themselves  with  the  rapid  moist  life  of 
luxuriant  forest  vegetation.    Nothing  to  my  eyes  is  sadder  than 


404 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


V 


i      • 


tlio  monotonous  dc»olation  of  such  scenery.  We,  in  England, 
when  wo  read  and  speak  of  tho  primeval  forests  of  America, 
arc  apt  to  form  pictures  in  our  minds  of  woodland  glades,  with 
spreading  oaks  and  creen  mossy  turf  beneath, — of  scenes  than 
which  nothing  that  God  has  given  us  is  more  charming.  Hul 
these  forests  are  not  after  that  fashion;  tliey  offer  no  allure- 
ment to  the  lover,  no  solaco  to  tho  melancholy  man  of  thoudit. 
The  ground  is  deep  with  mud,  or  overflown  with  water.  The 
soil  and  tho  river  have  no  defined  margins.  Each  tree,  thougli 
full  of  tho  forms  of  life,  lias  all  tho  appearance  of  death.  Even 
to  tho  outward  eye  they  seem  to  bo  laden  with  ague,  fever, 
sudden  chills,  and  pestilential  malaria. 

When  we  first  visited  tho  spot  wo  were  alone,  and  wo  walk- 
ed across  from  tho  railway  lino  to  the  place  at  which  tho  boats 
were  moored.  They  lay  in  treble  rank  along  tho  shore,  and 
immediately  above  them  an  old  steam-boat  was  fastened  against 
the  bank,  ller  back  was  broken,  and  she  was  given  up  to  ruin 
— placed  there  that  sho  might  rot  quietly  into  her  watery  grave. 
It  was  mid-winter,  and  every  tree  was  covered  with  frozen  sleet 
and  small  particles  of  snow  which  had  drizzled  through  tho 
air ;  for  tho  snow  had  not  fallen  in  hearty,  honest  flakes.  The 
ground  beneath  our  feet  was  crisp  with  fros^but  traitorous  in 
its  crispness ;  not  frozen  manfully  so  as  to  bear  a  man's  weight, 
but  ready  at  every  point  to  let  him  through  into  the  fat,  gluti- 
nous mud  below.  1  never  saw  a  sadder  picture,  or  one  which 
did  more  to  awaken  pity  for  those  whose  fate  had  fixed  their 
abodes  in  such  a  locality.  And  vet  there  was  a  beauty  about 
it  too, — a  melancholy,  death-like  beauty.  Tho  disordered  ruin 
and  confused  decay  of  the  forest  was  all  gemmed  with  parti- 
cles of  ice.  The  eye  reaching  through  the  thin  underwood 
could  form  for  itself  picturesque  shapes  and  solitary  bowers  of 
broken  wood,  which  were  bright  with  the  opaque  brightness 
of  the  hoar-frost.  The  great  river  ran  noiselessly  along,  rapid, 
but  still  with  an  apparent  lethargy  in  its  waters.  The  ground 
beneath  our  feet  was  fertile  beyond  compare,  but  as  yet  fertile 
to  death  rather  than  to  life.  Where  wo  then  trod  man  had 
not  yet  come  with  his  axe  and  his  plough ;  but  the  railroad  was 
close  to  us,  and  within  a  mile  of  the  spot  thousands  of  dollars 
had  been  spent  in  raising  a  city  which  was  to  have  been  rich 
with  the  united  wealth  of  the  rivers  and  the  land.  Hitherto 
fever  and  ague,  mud  and  malaria,  had  been  too  strong  for  man, 
and  the  dollars  had  been  spent  in  vain.  The  day,  however, 
will  come  when  this  promontory  between  the  two  great  rivers 
will  be  a  fit  abode  for  industry.    Men  will  settle  there,  wander- 


CAIBO    AMD   CAMP    WOOD. 


405 


in£?  clown  from  the  North  and  East,  and  toil  Radlv,  and  leave 
tlielr  bones  among  the  mud.  Thin,  pale-faced,  joylcs.s  njothers 
will  come  there,  and  grow  old  before  their  time;  and  Hickly 
children  will  be  born,  struggling  up  with  wan  faces  to  their  wad 
life's  labour.  Hut  the  work  will  go  on,  for  it  is  Clod's  work ; 
and  the  earth  will  bo  |n'e))arcd  for  the  peoj)le,  and  the  fat  rot- 
tenness of  the  still  livmg  forest  will  be  made  to  give  forth  its 
riches. 

We  found  that  two  days  at  Cairo  were  quite  enough  for  us. 
Wo  had  seen  the  gun-boats  and  the  niortar-boats,  and  gone 
through  the  Hheds  of  the  soldiers.  The  latter  were  bad,  com- 
i'ortlcss,  damp,  and  cold ;  and  certain  quarters  of  the  ofticers, 
into  which  wo  were  hospitably  taken,  were  wretched  abodes 
enough ;  but  the  sheds  of  Cairo  did  not  stink  like  those  of 
Henton  barracks  at  St.  Louis,  nor  'had  illness  been  prevalent 
there  to  the  same  degree.  I  do  not  know  why  this  should 
have  been  bo,  but  such  was  the  result  of  my  observation.  The 
locality  of  lienton  barracks  must,  ir  »  its  nature,  have  been 
the  more  healtliy,  "but  it  had  becom<  i  y  art  the  foulest  place  I 
ever  visited.  Throughout  the  arm}  seemed  to  bo  the  fact;, 
that  the  m^n  under  canvas  were  more  comfortable,  in  better 
spirits,  and  also  in  better  health  than  those  who  were  lodged 
in  sheds.  We  had  inspected  the  Cairo  army  and  the  Cairo 
navy,  and  had  also  seen  all  that  Cairo  had  to  show  us  of  its 
own.  Wo  were  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  hotel,  and  re- 
tired on  the  second  night  to  bed,  giving  positive  orders  that 
wo  might  bo  called  at  half-past  two,  with  reference  to  that  ter- 
rible start  to  be  made  at  half-past  three.  As  a  matter  of  course 
wo  kept  dozing  and  waking  till  past  one,  in  our  fear  lest  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  watcher  should  entail  on  us  another  day  at 
this  place ;  of  course  we  went  fast  asleep  about  the  time  at 
which  we  should  have  roused  ourselves ;  and  of  course  we  were 
called  just  fifteen  minutes  before  the  train  started.  Everybody 
knows  how  these  things  always  go.  And  then  the  pair  of  us, 
jumping  out  of  bed  in  that  wretched  chamber,  went  through 
the  mockery  of  washing  and  packing  which  always  takes  place 
on  such  occasions ; — a  mockery  indeed  of  washmg,  for  there 
vas  but  one  basin  between  us  I  And  a  mockery  also  of  pack- 
ing, for  I  left  my  hair-brushes  behind  me !  Cairo  was  avenged 
in  that  I  had  declined  to  avail  myself  of  the  privileges  of  free 
citizenship  which  had  been  offered  to  me  in  that  barber's  shop. 
And  then,  while  we  were  in  our  agony,  pulling  at  the  straps 
of  our  portmanteaux  and  swearing  at  the  faithlessness  of  the 
boots,  up  came  the  clerk  of  the  hotel — the  great  man  from 


ESS? 


wmm 


406 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'W 


*      *! 


l\H 


h         i 


behind  the  bar — and  scolded  ns  prodigiously  for  our  delay. 
"  Called !  We  had  been  called  an  hour  ago !"  Which  state- 
ment, however,  was  decidedly  untrue,  as  we  remarked,  not 
with  extreme  patience.  "  We  should  certainly  be  late,"  he 
said ;  "  it  would  take  ub  five  minutes  to  reach  the  train,  and  the 
cars  would  be  off  in  four."  Nobody  who  has  not  experienced 
them  can  understand  the  agonies  of  srch  moments, — of  such 
moments  as  regards  travelling  in  general ;  but  none  who  have 
not  been  at  Cairo  can  understand  the  extreme  agony  produced 
by  the  threat  of  a  prolonged  sojourn  in  that  city.  At  last  we 
were  out  of  the  house,  rushing  through  the  mud,  slush,  and 
half-melted  snow,  along  the  wooden  track  to  the  railway,  laden 
with  bags  and  coats,  and  deafened  by  that  melancholy,  wailing 
sound,  as  though  of  a  huge  polar  she-bear  in  the  pangs  of  trav- 
ail upon  an  iceberg,  which  t)roceeds  from  an  American  railway- 
engine  before  it  commences  its  work.  How  we  slipped  and 
stumbled,  and  splashed  and  swore,  rushing  alo'ig  in  the  dark 
night,  with  buttons  loose,  and  our  clothes  half  on !  And  how 
pitilessly  we  were  treated!  We  gained  our  cars,  and  even 
succeeded  in  bringing  with  ..s  our  luggage ;  but  we  did  not  do 
so  with  the  syntpathy,  but  amidst  the  derision  of  the  bystand- 
ers. And  then  the  seats  were  all  full,  and  we  found  that  there 
was  a  lower  depth  even  in  the  terrible  deep  of  a  railway  train 
in  a  western  State.  There  was  a  second-class  carriage,  pre- 
pared, I  presume,  for  those  who  esteemed  themselves  too  dirty 
for  f.ssociation  with  the  aristocracy  ol  Cairo ;  and  into  this  we 
flung  ourselves.  Even  this  was  a  joy  to  us,  for  we  were  being 
carried  away  from  Eden.  We  had  acknowledged  ourselves  to 
be  no  fitting  colleagues  for  Mark  Tapley,  and  would  have  been 
glad  to  escape  from  Cairo  even  had  we  worked  our  way  out 
of  the  place  as  assistant-stokers  to  the  engine-driver.  Poor 
Cairo !  unfortunate  Cairo  !  "  It  is  about  played  out !"  said  its 
citizen  to  me.  But  in  truth  the  play  was  commenced  a  little 
too  soon.  Those  players  have  played  out ;  but  another  set  will 
yet  have  their  innings,  and  make  a  score  that  shall  perhaps  be 
talked  of  far  and  wide  in  the  western  world. 

We  were  still  bent  upon  army  inspection,  and  with  this  pur- 
pose went  back  from  Cairo  to  Louisville  in  Kentucky.  I  had 
passed  through  Louisville  before,  as  told  in  my  last  chapter, 
but  had  not  gone  south  from  Louisville  towards  the  Green 
River,  and  had  seen  nothing  of  General  Buell's  soldiers.  I 
should  have  mentioned  before  that  when  we  were  at  St.  Louis, 
we  asked  General  Halleck,  the  ofiicer  in  command  of  the  north- 
ern "army  of  Missouri,  whether  he  could  allow  us  to 


CAIRO   AND  CAMP   WOOD. 


407 


'  delay, 
h  state- 
cd,  not 
ite,"  he 
and  the 
Brienced 
-of  such 
^ho  have 
►reduced 
[,  last  we 
ush,  and 
ay,  laden 
,  wailing 
3  of  trav- 
i  railway- 
pped  and 
the  dark 
And  how 
and  even 
lid  not  do 
?,  "bystand- 
thut  there 
Iway  train 
riage,  pre- 
too  dirty 
ito  this  we 
ere  being 
Tselves  to 
have  been 
ir  way  out 

ev.  Pool" 
1"  said  its 
■ed  a  little 
ler  set  will 
lerhaps  be 


through  his  lines  to  the  South,    This  he  assured  us  he  was 
forbidden  to  do,  at  the  same  time  offering  us  every  facility  in 
his  power  for  such  an  expedition  if  we  could  obtain  the  con- 
sent of  Mr.  Seward,  who  at  that  time  had  apparently  succeeded 
in  engrossing  into  his  own  hands,  for  the  moment,  supremo 
authority  in  all  matters  of  Government.    Before  leaving  Wash- 
ington we  had  determined  not  to  ask  Mr.  Seward,  having  but 
little  hope  of  obtaining  his  permission,  and  being  unwilling  to 
encounter  his  refusal.     Before  going  to  General  Halleck  we 
had  considered  the  question  of  visiting  the  land  of  Dixie  with- 
out permission  from  any  of  the  men  in  authority.    I  ascertained 
that  this  might  easily  have  been  done  from  Kentucky  to  Ten- 
nessee, but  that  it  could  only  be  done  on  foot.    There  are  very- 
few  available  roads  running  North  and  South  through  these 
States.    The  railways  came  before  roads ;  and  even  where  the 
railways  are  far  asunder,  almost  all  the  traffic  of  the  country 
takes  itself  to  them,  preferring  a  long  circuitous  conveyance 
with  steam,  to  short  distances  without.     Consequently  such 
roads  as  there  are  run  laterally  to  the  railways,  meeting  them 
at  t'ns  point  or  that,  and  thus  maintaining  the  communication 
of  the  country.    Now  the  railways  were  of  course  in  the  hands 
of  the  armies.    The  few  direct  roads  leading  from  North  to 
South  v/ere  in  the  same  condition,  and  the  bye-roads  were 
impassable  from  mud.     The  frontier  of  the  North  therefore, 
though  very  extended,  was  not  very  easily  to  be  passed,  unless, 
as  I  have  said  before,  by  men  on  foot.    For  myself  I  confess 
that  I  was  anxious  to  go  South ;  but  not  to  do  so  without  my 
coats  and  trousers,  or  shirts  and  pocket-handkerchiefs.    The 
readiest  way  of  getting  across  the  line, — and  the  way  which 
was  I  believe  the  most  frequently  used, — was  from  below  Bal- 
timore in  Maryland  by  boat  across  the  Potomac.    But  in  this 
there  was  a  considerable  danger  of  being  taken,  and  I  had  no 
desire  to  become  a  state-prisoner  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Seward 
under  circumstances  which  would  have  justified  our  Minister 
in  asking  for  my  release  only  as  a  matter  of  favour.    Therefore 
when  at  St.  Louis,  I  gave  up  aU  hopes  of  seeing  "  Dixie"  during 
my  present  stay  in  America.    I  presume  it  to  be  generally 
known  that  Dixie  is  the  negro's  heaven,  and  that  the  southern 
slave  States,  in  which  it  is  presumed  that  they  have  found  a 
Paradise,  have  since  the  beginning  of  the  v^ar  been  so  named. 
We  remained  a  few  days  at  Louisville,  and  were  greatly 
struck  with  the  natural  beauty  of  the  country  around  it.    In- 
deed, as  far  as  I  was  enabled  to  see,  Kentucky  has  superior  at- 
tractions as  a  place  of  rural  residence  for  an  English  gentleman, 


408 


NORTH   AMBBICA. 


iJ' 


to  any  other  State  in  the  Union.    There  is  nothing  of  landscape 
there  equal  to  the  banks  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  or  to  some 
parts  of  the  Hudson  river.    It  has  none  of  the  wild  grandeur 
of  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire,  nor  does  it  break 
itself  into  valleys  equal  to  those  of  the  Alleghanies  in  Pennsyl- 
vania.   But  all  those  are  beauties  for  the  tourist  rather  than 
for  the  resident.    In  Kentucky  the  land  lies  in  knolls  and  soft 
eloping  hills.    The  trees  stand  apart,  forming  forest  openings. 
The  herbai^e  is  rich,  and  the  soil,  though  not  fertile  like  the 
prairies  of  Illinois,  or  the  river  bottoms  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Its  tributaries,  is  good,  steadfast,  wholesome  farming  grcand. 
It  is  a  fine  country  for  a  resident  gentleman  farmer,  and  in  its 
outward  aspect  reminds  me  more  of  England  in  its  rural  as- 
pects, than  any  other  State  which  I  visited.     Round  Louisville 
there  are  beautiful  sites  for  houses,  of  which  advantage  in  some 
instances  has  been  taken.    But,  nevertheless,  Louisville  though 
a  well-built,  handsome  city,  is  not  now  a  thriving  city.    I  liked 
it  because  the  hotel  was  above  par,  and  because  the  country 
round  it  was  good  for  walking ;  but  it  has  not  advanced  as  Cin- 
cinnati and  St.  Louis  have  advanced.    And  yet  its  position  on 
the  Ohio  is  favourable,  and  it  is  well  circumstanced  as  regards 
the  wants  of  its  own  State.    But  it -is  not  a  free-soil  city.    Nor 
indeed  is  St.  Louis ;  but  St.  Louis  is  tending  that  way,  and  has 
but  little  to  do  with  the  "  domestic  institution."    At  the  hotels 
in  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  you  are  served  by  white  men,  and 
are  very  badly  served.    At  Louisville  the  ministration  is  black 
men,  "  bound  to  labour."    The  difference  in  the  comfort  is  very 
great.    The  white  servants  are  noisy,  dirty,  forgetful,  indiffer- 
ent, and  sometimes  impudent.    The  negroes  are  the  very  re- 
verse of  all  this ;  you  cannot  hurry  them ;  but  in  all  other  re- 
spects,— and  perhaps  even  in  that  respect  also, — they  are  good 
servants.    This  is  the  work  for  which  they  seem  to  have  been 
intended.    But  nevertheless  where  they  are,  life  and  energy 
seem  to  languish,  and  prosperity  cannot  make  any  true  advance. 
They  are  symbols  of  the  luxury  of  the  white  men  who  employ 
them,  and  as  such  are  signs  of  decay  and  emblems  of  decreas- 
ing power.    They  are  good  labourers  themselves,  but  their  very 
presence  makes  labour  dishonourable.     That  Kentucky  will 
speedily  r^d  herself  of  the  institution  I  believe  firmly.    When 
she  has  so  done,  the  commercial  city  of  that  State  may  perhaps 
go  a-head  again  like  her  sisters. 

At  this  very  time  the  Federal  army  was  commencing  that 
series  of  active  movements  in  Kentucky  and  through  Tennessee 
which  led  to  such  important  results,  and  gave  to  the  North  the 


CAIRO  AND  CAMP  WOOD. 


400 


first  solid  victories  which  they  had  gained  since  the  contest  be- 
gan. On  the  1 9th  of  January  one  win  ff  of  General  Buell's  army, 
under  General  Thomas,  had  defeated  the  secessionists  near  Som- 
erset, in  the  south-eastern  district  of  Kentucky,  under  General 
Zollicofter,  who  was  there  killed.  But  in  that  action  the  attack 
was  made  by  Zollicoffer  and  the  secessionists.  When  we  were 
at  Louisville  we  heard  of  the  success  of  that  gun-boat  expedi- 
tion up  the  Tennessee  river  by  which  Fort  Henry  was  taken. 
Fort  Henry  had  been  built  by  the  Confederates  on  the  Tennes- 
see,— exactly  on  the  confines  of  the  States  of  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  They  had  also  another  fort,  Fort  Donelson,  on 
the  Cumberland  river,  which  at  that  point  runs  parallel  to  the 
Tennessee,  and  is  there  distant  from  it  but  a  very  few  miles. 
Both  these  rivers  run  into  the  Ohio.  Nashville,  which  is  the 
capital  of  Tennessee,  is  higher  up  on  the  Cumberland ;  and  it  was 
now  intended  to  send  the  gun-boats  down  the  Tennessee  back 
into  the  Ohio,  and  thence  up  the  Cumberland,  there  to  attack 
Fort  Donelson,  and  afterwards  to  assist  General  Buell's  army 
in  making  its  way  down  to  Nashville.  The  gun-boats  were  at- 
tached to  General  Halleck's  army,  and  received  their  directions 
from  St.  Louis.  General  Buell's  head-quarters  were  at  Louis- 
ville, and  his  advanced  position  was  on  the  Green  River,  on  the 
line  of  t'ae  railway  from  Louisville  to  Nashville.  The  seces- 
sionists ]iad  destroyed  the  railway  bridge  over  the  Green  Riv- 
er, and  were  now  lying  at  Bowling  Green,  bet^,  een  the  Green 
River  and  Nashville.  This  place  it  was  understood  that  they 
had  fortified.  ^ 

Matters  were  in  this  position  when  we  got  a  military  pass  to 
go  down  by  the  railway  to  the  army  on  the  Green  River, — for 
the  railway  was  open  to  no  one  without  a  military  pass ; — and 
we  started,  trusting  that  Providence  would  supply  us  with  ra- 
tions and  quarters.  An  officer  attached  to  General  Buell's  staflf, 
with  whom  however  our  acquaintance  was  of  the  very  slight- 
est, had  telegraphed  down  to  say  that  we  were  coming.  I  can- 
not say  that  I  expected  much  from  the  message,  seeing  that  it 
simply  amounted  to  a  very  thin  introduction  to  a  general  officer 
to  whom  we  were  strangers  even  by  name,  from  a  gentleman 
to  whom  we  had  brought  a  note  from  another  gentleman  whose 
acquaintance  we  had  chanced  to  pick  up  on  the  road.  We  man- 
ifestly had  no  right  to  expect  much ;  but  to  us,  expecting  very 
little,  very  much  was  given.  General  Johnson  was  the  officer 
to  whose  care  we  were  confided,  he  being  a  brigadier  under 
General  M'Cook,  who  commanded  the  advance.  We  were  met 
by  an  aide-de-camp  and  saddle-horses,  and  soon  found  ourselves 

S 


ii     i 


# 


fl 


410 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I, ; 
i 


in  the  General's  tent,  or  rather  in  a  shanty  formed  of  solid  up- 
right  wooden  logs,  driven  into  the  ground  with  the  bark  still 
on,  and  having  the  interstices  filled  in  with  clay.    This  was 
roofed  with  canvas,  and  altogether  made  a  very  eligible  mili- 
tary  residence.     The  General  slept  in  a  big  box  about  nine  feet 
long  and  four  broad  which  occupied  one  end  of  the  shanty,  and 
he  seemed  in  all  his  fixings  to  be  as  comfortably  put  up  as  any 
gentleman  might  be  when  out  on  such  a  picnic  as  this.    We 
arrived  in  time  for  dinner,  which  was  brought  in,  table  and  all, 
by  two  negroes.    The  party  was  made  up  by  a  doctor,  who 
carved,  and  two  of  the  staff,  and  a  very  nice  dinner  we  ha  .    In 
half-an-hour  we  were  intimate  with  the  whole  party,  and  as  fa- 
miliar  with  the  things  around  us  as  though  we  had  been  living 
in  tents  all  our  lives.     Indeed  I  had  by  this  time  been  so  often 
in  the  tents  of  the  northern  army,  that  I  almost  felt  entitled  to 
make  myself  at  home.     It  has  seemed  to  me  that  an  English- 
man has  always  been  made  welcome  in  these  camps.    There 
has  been  and  is  at  this  moment  a  terribly  bitter  feeling  among 
Americans  against  England,  and  I  have  heard  this  expressed 
quite  as  loudly  by  men  in  the  army  as  by  civilians ;  but  I  think 
I  may  say  that  this  has  never  been  brought  to  bear  upon  indi- 
vidual intercourse.     Certainly  we  have  said  some  very  sharp 
things  of  them, — words  which,  whether  true  or  false,  whether 
deserved  or  undeserved,  must  have  been  offensive  to  them.   I 
have  known  this  feeling  of  offence  to  amount  almost  to  an  ag- 
ony of  anger.     But  nevertheless  X  have  never  seen  any  falling 
off  in  the  hospitality  and  courtesy  generally  shown  by  a  civil- 
ized people  to  passing  visitors.    I  have  argued  the  matter  of 
England's  course  throughout  the  war,  till  I  have  been  hoarse 
with  asseverating  the  rectitude  of  her  conduct  and  her  national 
unselfishness.     I  have  met  very  strong  opponents  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  have  been  coerced  into  loud  strains  of  voice ;  but  I 
never  yet  met  one  American  who  was  personally  uncivil  to  rae 
as  an  Englishman,  or  who  seemed  to  be  made  personally  angry 
by  my  remarks.    I  found  no  coldness  in  that  hospitality  to 
which  as  a  stranger  I  was  entitled,  because  of  the  nationsd  ill- 
feeling  which  circumstances  have  engendered.    And  while  on 
this  subject  I  will  remark,  that  when  travelling  I  have  found  it 
expedient  to  let  those  with  whom  I  might  chance  to  talk  know 
at  once  that  I  was  an  Englishman.     In  fault  of  such  knowledge 
things  would  be  said  which  could  not  but  be  disagreeable  to 
me ;  but  not  even  from  any  rough  western  enthusiast  in  a  rail- 
way carriage  have  I  ever  heard  a  word  spoken  insolently  to 
England,  s^er  I  had  made  my  nationality  known.     I  have 


CAIRO   AND  CAMP   WOOD. 


411 


solid  up- 

jark  Btill 

rhis  was 

ible  mili- 

nine  feet 

anty,  and 

up  as  any 

his.    We 

Le  and  all, 

ctor,  who 

5  ha  .    In 

and  as  fa- 

(een  living 

in  so  often 

entitled  to 

,n  English- 

ps.    There 

ing  among 
expressed 

but  I  think 
upon  indi- 

very  sharp 

36,  whether 

,0  them.   I 

3t  to  an  ag- 
any  falling 

1  by  a  civil- 

3  matter  of 
leen  hoarse 
^er  national 
on  the  sub- 
oice ;  hut  1 

Incivil  to  me 
,nally  angry 
spitality  to 
national  ill- 
id  while  on 
ave  found  it 
lo  talk  know 
knowledge 
.greeahle  to 
ist  in  a  rail- 
insolently  to 
I  have 


learned  that  Wellington  was  beaten  at  Waterloo ;  that  Lord 
Palmerston  was  so  unpopular  that  he  could  not  walk  alone  in  the 
streets ;  that  the  House  of  Commons  was  an  acknowledged  fail- 
ure ;  that  starvation  was  the  normal  condition  of  the  British 
people,  and  that  the  Queen  was  a  bloodthirsty  tyrant.  But 
these  assertions  were  not  made  with  the  intention  that  they 
should  be  heard  by  an  Englishman.  To  us  as  a  nation  they  are 
at  the  present  moment  unjust  almost  beyond  belief;  but  I  do 
not  think  that  the  feeling  has  ever  taken  the  guise  of  personal 
discourtesy. 

We  spent  two  days  in  the  camp  close  upon  the  Green  River, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  I  enjoyed  any  days  of  my  trip  more 
thoroughly  than  I  did  these.  In  truth  for  the  last  month,  since 
I  had  left  Washington,  my  life  had  not  been  one  of  enjoy- 
ment. I  had  been  rolling  in  mud  and  had  been  damp  with 
filth.  Camp  Wood,  as  they  called  this  military  settlement  on 
the  Green  River,  was  also  muddy ;  but  we  were  excellently 
well-mounted ;  the  weather  was  very  cold,  but  peculiarly  fine, 
and  the  soldiers  around  us,  as  far  as  we  could  judge,  seemed 
to  be  better  off  in  all  respects  than  those  we  had  visited  at  St. 
Louis,  at  Rolla,  or  at  Cairo.  They  were  all  in  tents,  and 
seemed  to  be  light-spirited  and  happy.  Their  rations  were 
excellent, — ^but  so  much  may,  I  think,  be  said  of  the  whole 
northern  army  from  Alexandria  on  the  Potomac  to  Springfield 
in  the  west  of  Missouri.  There  was  very  .little  illness  at  that 
time  in  the  camp  in  Kentucky,  and  the  reports  made  to  us  led 
us  to  think  that  on  the  whole  this  had  been  the  most  healthy 
division  of  the  army.  The  men,  moreover,  were  less  muddy 
than  their  brethren  either  east  or  west  of  them, — at  any  rate 
this  may  be  said  of  them  as  regards  the  infantry. 

But  perhaps  the  gi*eatest  charm  of  the  place  to  me  was  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery.  The  Gfeen  River  at  this  spot  is  as  pic- 
turesque a  stream  as  I  ever  rememberr  to  have  seen  in  such  a 
country.  It  lies  low  down  between  high  banks,  and  curves 
hither  and  thither,  never  keeping  a  straight  line.  Its  banks 
are  wooded ;  but  not,  as  is  so  Gom|non  in  America,  by  continu- 
ous, stunted,  uninteresting  forest,  but  by  large  single  trees 
standing  on  small  patches  of  meadow  by  the  water-side,  with 
the  high  banks  rising  over  them,  with  glades  through  them 
open  for  the  horseman.  The  rides  here  in  summer  must  be 
very  lovely.  Even  in  winter  they  were  so,  and  made  me  in 
love  with  the  place  in  spite  of  that  brown,  dull,  barren  aspect 
which  the  presence  of  an  army  always  creates.  I  have  said 
that  the  railway  bridge  which  crossed  the  Green  River  at  this 


I  J 


-^^Jii^^BmmB 


412 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


,t 

'1 

1 

•V 

i 

.  i 

:   i 

i 

t 

* 

•=l 


I: 


'i. 


spot  had  been  destroyed  by  the  secessionists.    This  had  been 
done  effectually  as  regarded  the  passage  of  trains,  but  only  in 

Eart  as  regarded  the  absolute  fabric  of  the  bridge.  It  had 
eeii,  and  still  was  when  I  saw  it,  a  beautifully  light  construc- 
tion, made  of  iron  and  supported  over  a  valley,  rather  than 
over  a  river,  on  tall  stone  piers.  One  of  these  piers  had  been 
blown  up ;  but  when  we  were  there  the  bridge  had  been  re- 
paired with  beams  and  wooden  shafts.  This  had  just  been 
completed,  and  an  engine  had  passed  over  it.  I  must  confess 
that  it  looked  to  me  most  perilously  insecure ;  but  the  eye  un- 
educated in  such  mysteries  is  a  bad  judge  of  engineering  work. 
I  passed  with  a  horse  backwards  and  forwards  on  it,  and  it  did 
not  tumble  down  then  ;  but  I  confess  that  on  the  first  attempt 
I  was  glad  enough  to  lead  the  horse  by  the  bridle. 

That  bridge  was  certainly  a  beautiful  fabric,  and  built  in  a 
most>  lovely  spot.  Immediately  under  it  there  was  also  a  pon- 
toon bridge.  The  tents  of  General  M'Cook's  division  were  im- 
mediately at  the  northern  end  of  it,  and  the  whole  place  was 
alive  with  soldiers,  nailing  down  planks,  pulling  up  temporary 
rails  at  each  side,  carrying  over  straw  for  the  horses,  and  pre- 
paring for  the  general  advance  of  the  troops.  It  was  a  glo- 
rious day.  There  had  been  heavy  frost  at  night ;  but  the  air 
was  dry,  and  the  sun  though  cold  w^as  bright.  I  do  not  know 
when  I  saw  a  prettier  picture.  It  would  perhaps  have  been 
nothing  without  the  loveliness  of  the  river  scenery ;  but  the 
winding  of  the  stream  at  the  spot,  the  sharp  wooded  hills  on 
each  side,  the  forest  openings,  and  the  busy,  eager,  strange 
life  together  filled  the  place  with  no  common  interest.  The 
officers  of  the  army  at  the  spot  spoke  with  bitterest  condemna- 
tion of  the  vandalism  of  their  enemy  in  destroying  the  bridge. 
The  justice  of  the  indignation  I  ventured  very  strongly  to 
question.  "  Surely  you  would  have  destroyed  their  bridge  ?" 
I  said.  "  But  they  are  rebels,"  was  the  answer.  It  has  been 
BO  throughout  the  contest ;  and  the  same  argument  has  been 
held  by  soldiers  and  by  non-soldiers — by  women  and  by  men. 
"  Grant  that  they  are  rebels,"  I  have  answered.  "  But  when 
rebels  fight  they  cannot  be  expected  to  be  more  scrupulous  in 
their  mode  of  doing  so  than  their  enemies  who  are  not  rebels." 
The  whole  population  of  the  North  has  from  the  beginning  of 
this  war  considered  themselves  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of 
belligerents ;  but  have  called  their  enemies  Goths  and  Vandals 
for  even  claiming  those  piivileges  for  themselves.  The  same 
feeling  was  at  the  bottom  of  their  animosity  against  England. 
Because  the  South  was  in  rebellion,  England  should  have  con- 


CAIRO   AND  CAMP  WOOD. 


413 


built  in  a 
ilso  a  pon- 
n  were  im- 
place  was 
temporary 
s,  and  pre- 
was  a  glo- 
but  the  air 
>  not  biow 
have  been 
y;  but  the 
.ed  hills  on 
er,  strange 
srest.    The 
condemnor 
the  bridge, 
strongly  to 
T  bridge?" 
.t  has  been 
it  has  been 
id  by  men. 
*  But  when 
Irupulous  in 
lOt  rebels." 
'ginning  of 
tivileges  of 
Ind  Vandals 
The  same 
st  England. 
'  have  con- 


sented to  allow  the  North  to  assume  all  the  rights  of  a  bellig- 
erent, and  should  have  denied  all  those  rights  to  the  South ! 
Nobody  has  seemed  to  understand  that  any  privilege  which  a 
belligerent  can  claim  must  depend  on  the  very  fact  of  his  being 
in  encounter  with  some  other  party  having  the  same  privilege. 
Our  pi  ess  has  animadverted  very  strongly  on  the  States  govern- 
ment for  the  apparent  untruthfulness  of  their  arguments  on  this 
matter ;  but  I  profess  that  I  believe  that  Mr.  Seward  and  his 
colleagues, — and  not  they  only  but  the  whole  nation, — have  so 
thoroughly  deceived  themselves  on  this  subject,  have  so  talked 
and  speechified  themselves  into  a  misunderstanding  of  the  mat- 
ter, that  they  have  taught  themselves  to  think  that  the  men  of 
the  South  could  be  entitled  to  no  consideration  from  any  quar- 
ter. To  have  rebelled  against  the  stars  and  stripes  seems  to  a 
northern  man  to  be  a  crime  putting  the  criminal  altoget'-er  out 
of  all  courts, — a  crime  which  should  have  armed  the  hi  .ds  of 
all  men  against  him,  as  the  hands  of  all  men  are  armed  it  a  dog 
that  is  mad,  or  a  tiger  that  has  escaped  from  its  keeper.  It  is 
singular  that  such  a  people,  a  people  that  has  founded  itself  on 
rebellion,  should  have  such  a  horror  of  rebellion ;  but,  as  far  as 
my  observation  may  have  enabled  me  to  read  their  feelings 
rightly,  I  do  believe  that  it  has  been  as  sincere  as  it  is  irra- 
tional. 

We  were  out  riding  early  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day 
of  our  sojourn  in  the  camp,  and  met  the  division  of  General 
Mitchell,  a  detachment  of  General  Buell's  army,  which  had  been 
in  camp  between  the  Green  River  and  Louisville,  going  forward 
to  the  bridge  which  was  then  being  prepared  for  their  passage. 
This  division  consisted  of  about  12,000  men,  and  the  road  was 
crowded  throughout  the  whole  day  with  them  and  their  wag- 
gons. We  first  passed  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  which  appeared 
to  be  endless.  Their  cavalry  regiments  are,  in  general,  more 
numerous  than  those  of  the  infantry,  and  on  this  occasion  wo 
saw,  I  believe,  about  1200  men  pass  by  us.  Their  horses  were 
strong  and  serviceable,  and  the  men  were  stout  and  m  good 
health;  but  the  general  appearance  of  everything  about  them 
was  rough  and  dirty.  The  American  cavalry  have  always 
looked  to  me  like  brigands.  A  party  of  them  would,  I  think, 
make  a  better  picture  than  an  equal  number  of  our  dragoons ; 
but  if  they  are  to  be  regarded  in  any  other  view  than  that  of 
the  picturesque,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  they  have  been 
got  up  successfully.  On  this  occasion  they  were  forming  them- 
selves into  a  picture  for  my  behoof,  and  as  the  picture  was,  as 
a  picture,  very  good,  I  at  least  have  no  reason  to  complain. 


'4 


^i 


, » 


414 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


t  ' 


f    '^ 


We  were  talcen  to  see  one  German  regiment,  a  regiment  of 
which  all  the  privates  were  German  and  all  the  officers  save 
one, — I  think  the  surgeon.     We  saw  the  men  in  their  tents, 
and  the  food  which  they  eat,  and  were  disposed  to  think  that 
hitherto  things  were  going  well  with  them.     In  the  evening 
the  colonel  and  lieutenant-colonel,  both  of  wliom  had  been  in 
the  Prussian  service,  if  I  remember  rightly,  came  up  to  the 
general's  quarters,  and  we  spent  the  evening  together  m  smok- 
ing cigars  and  discussing  slavery  round  the  stove.    I  shall  nev- 
er forget  that  night,  or  the  vehement  abolition  enthusiasm  of 
the  two  German  colonels.     Our  host  had  told  us  that  ho  was  a 
slave-owner ;  and  as  our  wants  were  supplied  b^  two  sable 
ministers,  I  concluded  that  he  had  brought  with  hira  a  portion 
of  his  domestic  institution.     Under  such  circumstances  I  my- 
self should  have  avoided  such  a  subject,  having  been  taught  to 
believe  that  southern  gentlemen  did  not  generally  take  delight 
in  open  discussions  on  the  subject.    But  had  we  been  arguing 
the  question  of  the  population  of  the  planet  Jupiter,  or  the  final 
possibility  of  the  transmutation  of  metals,  the  matter  could  not 
have  been  handled  with  less  personal  feeling.    The  Germans, 
however,  spoke  the  sentiments  of  all  the  Germans  of  the  west- 
ern States, — that  is,  of  all  the  Protestant  Germans,  and  to  them 
is  confined  the  political  influence  held  by  the  German  immi- 
grants.   They  all  regard  slavery  as  an  evil,  holding  on  the  mat- 
ter opinions  quite  as  strong  as  ours  have  ever  been.    And  they 
argue  that  as  slavery  is  an  evil,  it  should  therefore  be  abolished 
at  once.    Their  opinions  are  as  strong  as  ours  have  ever  been, 
and  they  have  not  had  our  West  Indian  experience.    Any  one 
desiring  to  understand  the  present  political  position  of  the 
States  should  realize  the  fact  of  the  present  German  influence 
on  political  questions.    Many  say  that  the  present  President 
was  returned  by  German  voters.    In  one  sense  this  is  true,  for 
he  certainly  could  not  have  been  returned  without  them ;  but 
for  them,  or  for  their  assistance,  Mr.  Breckinridge  would  have 
been  President,  and  this  civil  war  would  not  have  come  to  pass. 
As  abolitionists  they  are  much  more  powerful  than  the  repub- 
licans of  New  England,  and  also  more  in  earnest.    In  New 
England  the  matter  is  discussed  politically ;  in  the  great  west- 
era  towns,  where  the  Germans  congregate  by  thousands,  they 
profess  to  view  it  philosophically.    A  man,  as  a  man,  is  entitled 
to  freedom.    That  is  their  argument,  and  it  is  a  very  old  one. 
When  you  ask  them  what  they  would  propose  to  do  with 
4,000,000  of  enfranchised  slaves  and  with  their  ruined  masters, 
— how  they  would  manage  the  affairs  of  those  12,000,000  of 


TIIE  ARMY   OF  THE  NORTH. 


415 


people,  all  whose  wealth  and  work  and  very  life  have  hithertft 
been  hinged  and  hung  upon  slavery,  they  again  ask  you  wheth- 
er slavery  is  not  in  itself  bad,  and  whether  anything  acknowl- 
edged to  be  bad  should  be  allowed  to  remain. 

But  the  American  Germans  are  in  earnest,  and  I  am  strongly 
of  opinion  that  they  will  so  far  have  their  way,  that  the  coun- 
try which  for  the  future  will  be  their  country,  will  exist  with- 
out the  taint  of  slavery.  In  the  northern  nationality,  which 
will  reform  itself  after  this  war  is  over,  there  will,  I  think,  bo 
no  slave  State.  That  final  battle  of  abolition  will  have  to  be 
fought  among  a  people  apart;  and  I  must  fear  that  while  it 
lasts  their  national  prosperity  will  not  be  great. 


I 


1 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  ABMT  OP  THE  NORTH. 

I  TRUST  that  it  may  not  bo  thought  that  in  this  chapter  I  am 
going  to  take  upon  myself  the  duties  of  a  military  critic.  I  am 
well  aware  that  I  have  no  capacity  for  such  a  task,  and  that  my 
opinion  on  such  matters  would  bo  worth  nothing.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  write  of  the  American  States  as  they  were  when 
I  visited  them,  and  to  leave  that  subject  of  the  American  army 
untouched.  It  was  all  but  impossible  to  remain  for  some 
mouths  hi  the  northern  States  without  visiting  the  army.  It 
was  impossible  to  join  in  any  conversation  in  the  States  with- 
out talking  about  the  army.  It  was  impossible  to  make  inquiry 
as  to  the  present  and  future  condition  of  the  peoplo  without 
basing  such  inquiries  more  or  less  upon  the  doings  of  the  army. 
If  a  stranger  visit  Manchester  with  the  object  of  seeing  what 
sort  of  place  Manchester  is,  he  must  visit  the  cotton  mills  and 
printing  establishments,  though  he  may  have  no  taste  for  cot- 
ton and  no  knowledge  on  the  subject  of  calicoes.  Under  pres- 
sure of  this  kind  I  have  gone  about  from  one  army  to  another, 
looking  at  the  drilling  of  regiments,  of  the  manoeuvres  of  cav- 
alry, at  the  practice  of  artillery,  and  at  the  inner  life  of  the 
camps.  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  in  any  degree  more  fitted  to 
take  the  command  of  a  campaign  than  I  was  before  I  began,  or 
even  more  fitted  to  say  who  can  and  who  cannot  do  so.  But  I 
have  obtained  on  my  own  mind's  eye  a  tolerably  clear  impres- 
sion of  the  outward  appearance  of  the  northern  armjr ;  I  have 
endeavoured  to  learn  something  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
brought  together,  and  of  its  cost  as  it  now  stands  ;  and  I  have 
learned — as  any  man  in  the  States  may  learn,  without  much 


s 


410 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I' 


1, 


trouble  or  personal  investigation — how  terrible  has  boon  tlio 

{)eculation  of  the  contractors  and  ofticora  by  whom  that  army 
jas  been  supplied.  Of  these  things,  writing  of  the  States  at 
this  momentf  I  must  say  something.  In  what  I  shall  say  as  to 
that  matter  of  peculation  I  trust  that  I  may  bo  believed  to  have 
Bpokcn  without  personal  ill-feeling  or  individual  malice. 

While  I  was  travelling  in  the  States  of  New  England  and  in 
the  North-west,  I  came  across  various  camps  at  which  young 
regiments  were  being  drilled  and  new  regiments  were  bcinc; 
formed.    These  lay  in  our  way  as  we  made  our  journeys,  and 
therefore  we  visited  them ;  but  they  were  not  oujects  of  any 
very  great  interest.    The  men  had  not  acquired  even  any  pre- 
tence  of  soldierlike  bearing.    The  officers  for  the  most  part  had 
only  just  been  selected,  having  hardly  as  yet  left  their  civil 
occupations,  and  anything  like  criticism  was  disarmed  by  the 
very  nature  of  the  movement  which  had  called  the  men  togeth- 
er.   I  then  thought,  as  I  still  think,  that  the  men  themselves 
■were  actuated  by  proper  motives,  and  often  by  very  high  mo- 
tives, in  joining  the  regiments.     No  doubt  they  looked  to  the 
pay  offered.    It  is  not  often  that  men  are  able  to  devote  them- 
selves to  patriotism  without  any  reference  to  their  personal  cir- 
cumstances.     A  man  has  got  before  him  the  necessity  of  earn- 
ing his  bread,  and  very  frequently  the  necessity  of  earning  the 
bread  of  others  besides  himself.    This  comes  before  him  not 
only  as  his  first  duty,  but  as  the  very  law  of  his  existence.    His 
wages  are  his  life,  and  when  he  proposes  to  himself  to  serve 
his  country  that  subject  of  payment  comes  uppermost  as  it  does 
when  he  proposes  to  serve  any  other  master.     But  the  wages 
given,  though  very  high  in  comparison  with  those  of  any  other 
army,  have  not  been  of  a  nature  to  draw  together  from  their 
distant  homes  at  so  short  a  notice,  so  vast  a  cloud  of  men,  had 
no  other  influence  been  at  work.    As  far  as  I  can  learn,  the 
average  rate  of  wages  in  the  country  since  the  war  began  has 
been  about  65  cents  a  day  over  and  beyond  the  workmen's  diet. 
I  feel  convinced  that  I  am  putting  this  somewhat  too  low,  tak- 
ing the  average  of  all  the  markets  from  which  the  labour  has 
been  withdrawn.     In  large  cities  labour  has  been  higher  than 
this,  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  army  has  been  taken 
from  large  cities.     But  taking  65  cents  a  day  as  the  average, 
labour  has  been  worth  about  17  dollars  a  month  over  and  above 
the  labourers'  diet.    In  the  army  the  soldier  receives  13  dollars 
a  month,  and  also  receives  his  diet  and  clothes ;  in  addition  to 
this,  in  many  States,  6  dollars  a  month  have  been  paid  by  the 
State  to  the  wives  and  families  of  those  soldiers  who  have  left 


THE  AKMY  OP  THE  NORTH. 


417 


wives  and  families  in  the  States  behind  them.  Thus  for  tho 
married  men  tho  wages  given  by  the  army  have  been  2  dollars 
a  month,  or  less  than  5l.  a  year,  more  than  his  earnings  at  home, 
and  for  the  unmarried  man  they  have  been  4  dollars  a  month, 
or  less  than  10/.  a  year  below  his  earnings  at  home.  But  tho 
army  also  gives  clothing  to  tho  extent  of  3  dollars  a  month. 
Tiws  would  place  tho  unmarried  soldier,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view,  worse  off  by  one  dollar  a  month,  or  21.  10s.  a  year,  than 
he  would  have  been  at  homo ;  and  would  give  tho  married  man 
5  dollars  a  month,  or  121.  a  year  more  than  his  ordinary  wages 
for  absenting  himself  from  his  family.  I  cannot  think  therefore 
that  tho  pecuniary  attractions  have  been  very  great. 

Our  soldiers  in  England  enlist  at  wages  which  are  about  ono 
half  that  paid  in  the  ordinary  labour  market  to  tlie  class  from 
whence  they  come.  But  labour  in  England  is  imcertain,  where- 
as in  the  States  it  is  certain.  In  England  the  soldier  with  his 
shilling  gets  better  food,  than  the  labourer  with  his  two  shil- 
lings ;  and  tho  Englishman  has  no  objection  to  the  rigidity  of 
that  discipline  which  is  so  distasteful  to  ^n  American.  More- 
over, who  in  England  ever  dreamed  of  raising  600,000  new 
troops  in  six  months,  out  of  a  population  of  thirty  million  ?  But 
this  has  been  done  in  the  northern  States  out  of  a  population  of 
eighteen  million.  If  England  were  invaded.  Englishmen  would 
come  forward  in  the  same  way,  actuated,  as  I  believe,  by  the 
same  high  motives.  My  object  here  is  simply  to  show  that  the 
American  soldiers  have  not  been  drawn  together  by  the  pros- 
pect of  high  wages,  as  has  been  often  said  since  the  war  began. 

They  who  inquire  closely  into  the  matter  will  find  that  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  have  joined  the  army  as  privates,  who  in 
doing  so  have  abandoned  all  their  best  worldly  prospects,  and 
have  consented  to  begin  the  game  of  life  again,  believing  that 
their  duty  to  their  country  has  now  required  their  services. 
The  fact  has  been  that  in  the  different  States  a  spirit  of  rivalry 
has  been  excited.  Indiana  has  endeavoured  to  show  that  she 
was  as  forward  as  Illinois ;  Pennsylvania  has  been  unwilling  to 
lag  behind  New  York ;  Massachusetts,  who  has  always  strug- 
gled to  be  foremost  in  peace,  has  desired  to  boast  that  she  was 
Hrst  in  war  also;  the  smaller  States  have  resolved  to  make 
their  names  heard,  and  those  which  at  first  were  backward  in 
sending  troops  have  been  shamed  into  greater  earnestness  by 
the  public  voice.  There  has  been  a  j>eneral  feeling  throughout 
tile  people  that  the  thing  should  be  done ; — that  the  rebellion 
must  be  put  down,  and  that  it  must  be  put  down  by  arms. 
Young  men  have  been  ashamed  to  remain  behind ;  and  their 

S2 


418 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


eldorB,  acting  under  tlmt  glow  of  pfitriotism  wliioh  so  ofien 
"warms  tK  ^  hearts  of  free  m(;n,  but  wliidi  perhaps  <K)t's  not 
often  remain  there  long  in  ail  its  heat,  have  left  their  wives  nnd 
have  gone  also.  It  may  bo  true  that  the  voieo  of  the  majority 
has  been  coercive  on  many ; — that  men  have  enlisted  partly  bo- 
cause  the  public  voice  req^uired  it  of  them,  and  not  entirely 
through  the  promptings  of  individual  spirit.  Such  public  voicu 
in  America  is  '  potent ;  but  it  is  not,  I  think,  true  that  tlio 
army  has  been     .tuered  together  by  the  hope  of  high  wages. 

Such  was  my  opinion  of  the  men  when  I  saw  them  frotn 
State  to  State  clustering  into  their  new  regiments.  They  did 
not  look  like  soldiers ;  nut  I  regarded  them  as  men  earnestly 
intent  on  a  work  which  they  believed  to  be  right.  Afterwards 
when  I  saw  them  in  their  camps,  amidst  all  the  pomps  and  cir- 
cumstances  of  glorious  war,  positively  converted  into  trooj)s, 
armed  with  real  rifles  and  domg  actual  military  service,  I  be- 
lieved the  same  of  them, — but  cannot  say  that  I  then  liked  them 
so  well.  Good  motives  had  brought  them  there.  They  were 
the  same  men,  or  men  of  the  same  class,  that  I  had  seen  before. 
They  were  doing  just  that  which  I  knew  they  would  have  to 
do.  But  still  'bund  that  the  more  I  saw  of  them  the  more  I 
lost  of  that  r  't  for  them  which  I  had  once  felt.  I  think  it 
was  their  dirt  ii.at  chiefly  operated  upon  me.  Then,  too,  they 
bad  hitherto  done  nothing,  and  they  seemed  to  be  so  terribly 
intent  upon  their  rations  I  The  great  boast  of  this  army  was 
that  they  eat  meat  twice  a  day,  and  that  their  daily  supply  of 
bread  was  more  than  they  could  consume. 

When  I  had  been  two  or  three  weeks  in  Washington,  I  went 
over  to  the  army  of  the  Potomac  and  spent  a  few  days  with 
some  of  the  officers.  I  had  on  previous  occasions  ridden  about 
the  camps,  and  had  seen  a  review  at  which  General  Maclellan 
trotted  up  and  down  the  lines  with  all  his  numerous  staff"  at  his 
heels.  I  have  always  believed  reviews  to  be  absurdly  useless 
as  regards  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  avowedly  got  up,— 
that,  namely,  of  military  inspection.  And  I  believed  this  espe- 
cially of  this  review.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  Commander- 
in-chief  ever  learns  much  as  to  the  excellence  or  deficiencies  of 
his  troops  by  watching  their  manoeuvres  on  a  vast  open  space; 
but  I  felt  sure  that  General  Maclellan  had  learned  nothing  on 
this  occasion.  If  before  his  review  he  did  not  know  whether 
his  men  were  good  as  soldiers,  he  did  not  possess  any  such 
knowledge  after  the  review.  If  the  matter  may  be  regarded 
as  a  review  of  the  general ; — if  the  object  was  to  show  him  off 
to  the  men,  that  they  might  know  how  well  he  rode,  and  how 


TlIK    ARMY   or  THE   NOUTII. 


410 


pnind  ho  looked  with  his  stafT  of  forty  or  fifty  officers  at  his 
hcel-s,  then  this  review  must  bo  considered  as  satisfactory. 
General  Maclellan  does  ride  very  well.  So  much  I  learned, 
aiul  no  more. 

It  was  necessary  to  have  a  pass  for  crossing  the  Potomac  ci- 
ther from  one  side  or  from  tno  other,  and  such  a  pass  1  pro- 
cured from  a  friend  in  the  War-office,  j^ood  for  the  whole  pe- 
riod of  my  sojourn  in  Washington.     The  wording  of  the  pass 
was  more  than  ordinarily  long,  as  it  recommended  rao  to  tho 
special  courtesy  of  all  whom^I  might  encounter;  but  in  this  re- 
spect it  was  injurious  to  mo  rather  than  otherwise,  as  every 
])icket  by  whom  I  was  stopped  found  it  necessary  to  read  it  to 
the  cud.    Tho  paper  was  almost  invariably  returned  to  mo 
without  a  word ;  but  tho  musket  which  was  not  unfrcquently 
kept  extended  across  -my  horse's  nose  by  tho  reader's  comrade 
would  bo  withdrawn,  and  then  I  would  ride  on  to  tho  next 
barrier.    It  seemed  to  mo  that  these  passes  were  so  numerous, 
and  were  signed  by  so  many  officers,  that  there  could  have 
been  no  risk  in  forging  them.    Tho  arm}  of  tho  Potomac  into 
which  they  admitted  tno  bearer  lay  in  quarters  which  wore  ex- 
tended over  a  length  of  twenty  miles  up  and  down  on  tho  Vir- 
ginian side  of  the  river,  and  tho  river  could  bo  traversed  at  five 
different  places.     Crowds  of  men  and  women  were  going  over 
daily,  and  no  doubt  all  the  visitors  who  so  went  with  innocent 
purposes  were  provided  with  proper  passports ;  but  any  whoso 
purposes  were  not  innocent,  and  who  were  not  so  provided, 
could  have  passed  the  pickets  with  counterfeited  orders.    This, 
I  have  little  doubt,  was  done  daily.     Washington  was  full  of 
secessionists,  and  eveiy  movement  of  the  Federal  army  was 
communicated  to  tho  (Jonfederates  at  Richmond,  at  which  city 
was  now  established  the  Congress  and  head-quarters  of  the 
Confederacy.    But  no  such  tidings  of  the  Confederate  army 
reached  those  in  command  at  Washington.    There  were  many 
circumstances  in  tho  contest  which  led  to  this  result,  and  I  do 
not  think  that  General  Maclellan  had  any  power  to  prevent  it. 
His  system  of  passes  certainly  did  not  do  so. 

I  never  could  learn  from  any  one  what  was  tho  true  number 
of  this  army  on  the  Potomac.  I  have  been  informed  by  those 
who  professed  to  know  that  it  contained  over  200,000  men, 
and  by  others  who  also  professed  to  know,  that  it  did  not  con- 
tain 100,000.  To  me  the  soldiers  seemed  to  be  innumerable, 
hanging  like  locusts  over  tho  whole  country, — a  swarm  desola- 
ting everything  around  them.  Those  pomps  and  circumstances 
are  not  glorious  in  my  eyes.    They  affect  me  with  a  melancholy 


|v 


420 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'Vv 


t  ! 

i    ' 

I  f 

t 

s  , 


which  I  cannot  avoid.    Soldiers  gathered  together  in  a  camp 
are  uncouth  and  ugly  when  they  are  idle ;  and  when  they  are 
at  work  their  work  is  worse  than  idleness.     When  I  have  seen 
a  thousand  men  together,  moving  their  feet  hither  at  one  sound 
and  thither  at  another,  throwing  their  muskets  about  awkward- 
ly, prodding  at  the  air  with  their  bayonets,  trotting  twenty 
paces  here  and  backing  ten  paces  there,  wheeling  round  in  un- 
even lines,  and  looking,  as  they  did  so,  miserably  conscious  of 
the  absurdity  of  their  own  performances,  I  have  always  been 
inclined  to  think  how  little  the  world  can  "have  advanced  in 
civilization,  while  grown-up  men  are  still  fo/ced  to  spend  their 
days  in  such  grotesque  performances.    Those  to  whom  the 
"pomps  and  circumstances"  are  dear — ^nay,  those  by  whom 
they  are  considered  simply  necessary — will  be  able  to  confute 
me  by  a  thousand  arguments.    I  readily  own  myself  confuted. 
There  must  be  soldiers,  and  soldiers  must  be  taught.    But  not 
the  less  pitiful  is  it  to  see  men  of  thirty  undergoing  the  goose- 
step,  and  tortured  by  orders  as  to  the  proper  mode  of  handling 
a  long  instrument  "'vhich  is  half-gun  and  half-spear.    In  the  days 
of  Hector  and  Ajax,  the  thing  was  done  in  a  more  picturesque 
manner,  and  the  songs  of  battle  should,  I  think,  be  confined  to 
those  ages. 

The  ground  occupied  by  the  divisions  on  the  further,  or 
south-western  side  of  the  Potomac  was,  as  I  have  said,  about 
twenty  miles  in  length  and  perhaps  seven  in  breadth.  Through 
the  whole  of  this  district  the  soldiers  were  everywhere.  The 
tents  of  the  various  brigades  were  clustered  together  in  streets, 
the  regiments  being  divided ;  and  the  divisions,  combining  the 
brigades,  lay  apart  at  some  distance  from  each  other.  But 
everywhere,  at  all  points,  there  were  some  signs  of  military 
life.  The  roads  were  continually  thronged  with  waggons,  and 
tracks  were  opened  for  horses  wherever  a  shorter  way  right 
thus  be  made  available.  On  every  side  the  trees  were  falling, 
or  had  fallen.  In  some  places  whole  woods  had  been  felled 
with  the  express  purpose  of  rendering  the  ground  impractica- 
ble for  troops,  and  firs  and  pines  lay  one  over  the  other,  still 
covered  with  their  dark  rough  foliage,  as  though  a  mig  aty  for- 
est had  grown  there  along  the  ground,  without  any  power  to 
taise  itself  towards  the  heavens.  In  other  places  the  trees 
had  been  chopped  ofiT  from  their  trunks  about  a  yard  from  the 
ground,  so  that  the  soldier  who  cut  it  should  have  no  trouble 
in  stooping,  and  the  tops  had  been  dragged  away  for  firewood, 
or  for  the  erection  of  screens  against  the  wind.  Here  and  there 
in  solitary  places  there  were  outly*  g  tents,  looking  as  though , 


TUB  ARMY  OP  THE  NORTH. 


421 


* 


each  belonged  to  some  military  recluse ;  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  every  division  was  to  be  found  a  photographing-ostab- 
hshraent  upon  wheels,  in  order  that  the  men  might  send  home 
to  their  sweethearts  pictures  of  themselves  in  their  martial 
costumes. 

I  wandered  about  through  these  camps  both  on  foot  and  on 
horseback  day  after  day,  and  every  now  and  then  I  would 
come  upon  a  farm-house  that  was  still  occupied  by  its  old  in- 
habitants. Many  of  such  houses  had  been  deserted,  and  were 
now  "held  by  the  senior  officers  of  the  army ;  but  some  of  the 
old  families  remained,  living  in  the  midst  of  this  scene  of  war 
in  a  condition  most  forlorn.  As  for  any  tillage  of  their  land, 
that  under  such  circumstances  might  be  pronounced  as  hope- 
less. Nor  could  there  exist  encouragement  for  farm-work  of 
any  kind.  Fences  had  been  taken  down  and  burned;  the 
ground  had  been  overrun  in  every  direction.  The  stock  had 
of  course  disappeared ;  it  had  not  been  stolen,  but  had  been 
sold  in  a  hurry  for  what  under  such  circumstances  it  might 
fetch.  What  farmer  could  work  or  have  any  hope  for  his  land 
in  the  middle  of  such  a  crowd  of  soldiers  ?  But  yet  there  were 
the  families.  The  women  were  in  their  houses,  and  the  chil- 
dren playing  at  their  doors,  and  the  men,  with  whom  I  some- 
times spoke,  would  stand  around  with  their  hands  in  their 
pockets.  They  knew  that  they  were  ruined;  they  expected 
no  redress.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  they  were  inimical  in 
spirit  to  the  soldiers  around  them.  And  yet  it  seemed  that 
their  equanimity  was  never  disturbed.  In  a  former  chapter  I 
have  spoken  of  a  certain  general, — not  a  fighting  general  of  the 
army,  but  a  local  farming  general, — who  spoke  loudly  and  with 
many  cu»*ses  of  the  injury  inflicted  on  him  by  the  secessionists. 
With  that  exception,  I  heard  no  loud  complaint  of  personal 
Buffering.  These  Virginian  farmers  must  have  been  deprived 
of  everything, — of  the  very  means  of  earning  bread.  They 
still  hold  by  their  houses,  though  they  were  in  the  very  thick 
of  the  war,  because  there  they  had  shelter  for  their  families, 
and  elsewhere  they  might  seek  it  in  vain.  A  man  cannot  move 
his  wife  and  children  if  he  have  no  place  to  which  to  move 
them,  even  though  his  house  be  in  the  midst  of  disease,  of  pest- 
ilence, or  of  battle.  So  it  was  with  them  then,  but  it  seemed 
as  though  they  were  already  used  to  it. 

But  there  was  a  claps  of  inhabitants  in  that  same  country  to 
whom  fate  had  been  even  more  unkind  than  to  those  whom  I 
saw.  The  lines  of  the  northern  army  extended  perhaps  seven 
or  eight  miles  from  the  Potomac,  and  the  lines  of  the  Confed- 


*: 


422 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


Ui 


I  ', 


II    :    ■, 


erate  ai*ray  were  distant  some  four  miles  from  those  of  their 
enemies.  There  was,  therefore,  an  intervening  space  or  strip 
of  ground  about  four  miles  broad,  which  might  be  said  to  bo 
no  man's  land.  It  was  no  man's  land  as  to  military  possession, 
but  it  was  still  occupied  by  many  of  its  old  inhabitants.  These 
people  were  not  allowed  to  pass  the  lines  either  of  one  army 
or  of  the  other ;  or  if  they  did  so  pass  they  were  not  allowtjd 
ijto  return  to  their  homes.  To  these  homes  they  were  forced 
to  cling,  and  there  they  remained.  They  had  no  market,  no 
shops  at  whv^h  to  make  purchases  even  if  they  had  money  to 
buy ;  no  customers  with  whom  to  deal  even  if  they  had  prod- 
uce to  sell.  They  had  their  cows,  if  they  could  keep  them  from 
the  Confederate  soldiers,  their  pigs  and  their  poultry ;  and  ou 
them  they  were  living- — a  most  forlorn  life.  Any  advance 
made  by  either  party  must  be  over  their  bomesteads.  In  the 
event  of  battle  they  would  be  in  the  midst  of  it ;  and  in  the 
meantime  they  could  see  no  one,  hear  of  nothing,  go  no  whith- 
er beyond  the  limits  of  that  miserable  strip  of  ground ! 

The  earth  was  hard  with  frost  when  I  paid  my  visit  to  the 
camp,  and  the  general  appearance  of  things  around  my  friend's 
quarters  was  on  that  account  cheerful  enough.  It  was  the  mud 
which  made  things  sad  and  wretched.  When  the  frost  came 
it  seemed  as  though  the  array  had  overcome  one  of  its  worst 
enemies.  Unfortunately  cold  weather  did  not  last  long.  I 
have  been  told  in  Washington  that  they  rarely  have  had  so 
open  a  season.  Soon  after  my  departure  that  ten-ible  enemy, 
the  mud,  came  back  upon  them,  but  during  my  stay  the  ground 
was  hard  and  the  weather  very  sharp.  I  slept  in  a  tent,  and 
managed  to  keep  my  body  warm  by  an  enormous  overstructure 
of  blankets  and  coats;  but  I  could  not  keep  my  head  warm. 
Throughout  the  night,  I  had  to  go  down,  like  a  fish  beneath 
the  water,  for  protection,  and  come  up  for  air  at  intervals,  half- 
smothered.  I  had  a  stove  in  my  tent,  but  the  heat  of  that  when 
lighted  was  more  terrible  than  the  severity  of  the  frost. 

The  tents  of  the  brigade  with  which  I  was  staying  had  been 
pitched  not  without  an  eye  to  appearances.  They  were  placed 
in  streets  as  it  were,  each  street  having  its  name,  and  between 
them  screens  had  been  erected  of  fir-poles  and  fir-branches,  so 
as  to  keep  off  the  wind.  The  outside  boundaries  of  the  nearest 
regiment  was  ornamented  with  arches,  crosses,  and  columns 
constructed  in  the  same  way ;  so  that  the  quarters  of  the  men 
were  reached,  as  it  were,  through  gateways.  The  whole  thing 
was  pretty  enough,  and  while  the  ground  was  hard  the  camp 
was  picturesque,  and  a  visit  to  it  was  not  unpleasant.    But  un- 


THE  ARMY   OP  THE  NORTH. 


423 


fortunately  the  ground  was  in  its  nature  soft  and  deep,  com- 
posed of  red  clay,  and  as  the  frost  went  and  the  wet  weather 
came,  mud  became  omnipotent  and  destroyed  all  prettiness. 
And  I  found  that  the  cold  weather,  let  it  be  ever  so  cold,  was 
not  severe  upon  the  men.  It  was  wet  which  they  feared  and 
had  cause  to  fear,  both  for  themselves  and  for  their  horses.  As 
to  the  horses,  but  few  of  them  were  protected  by  any  shelter 
or  covering  whatsoever.  Through  both  frost  and  wet  they 
remained  out,  tied  to  the  wheel  of  a  waggon  or  to  some  tem- 
porary rack  at  which  they  were  fed.  In  England  we  should 
imagine  that  any  horse  so  treated  must  perish ;  but  here  the 
animals  seemed  to  stand  it.  Many  of  them  were  miserable 
enough  in  appearance,  but  nevertheless  they  did  the  work  re- 
quired of  them.  I  have  observed  that  horses  throughout  the 
States  are  treated  in  a  hardier  manner  than  is  usually  the  case 
with  us. 

At  the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking,  January,  1862,  the 
health  of  tha  army  of  the  Potomac  was  not  as  good  as  it  had 
been,  and  was  beginning  to  give  way  under  the  effects  of  the 
winter.  Measles  had  become  very  prevalent,  and  also  small- 
pox— though  not  of  a  virulent  description ;  and  men,  in  many 
instances,  were  sinking  under  fatigue.  I  was  informed  by  va- 
rious officers  that  the  Irish  regiments  were  on  the  whole  the 
most  satisfactory.  Not  that  they  made  the  best  soldiers,  for 
it  was  asserted  that  they  were  worse,  as  soldiers,  than  the 
Americans  or  Germans ;  not  that  they  became  more  easily 
subject  to  rule,  for  it  was  asserted  that  they  were  unruly ; — 
but  because  they  were  rarely  ill.  Diseases  which  seized  the 
American  troops  on  all  sides  seemed  to  spare  them.  The  mor- 
tality was  not  excessive,  but  the  men  became  sick  and  ailing, 
and  fell  under  the  doctor's  hands. 

Mr.  Olmstead,  whose  name  is  well  known  in  England  as  a 
writer  on  the  Southern  States,  was  at  this  time  secretary  to  a 
Sanitary  Commission  on  the  army,  and  published  an  abstract 
of  the  results  of  the  inquiries  made,  on  which  I  believe  perfect 
reliance  may  be  placed.  This  inquiry  was  extended  to  two 
hundred  regiments,  which  were  presumed  to  be  included  in 
the  army  of  the  Potomac ;  but  these  regiments  were  not  all 
located  on  the  Virginian  side  of  the  river,  and  must  not  there- 
fore be  taken  as  beloLging  exclusively  to  the  divisions  of  which 
I  have  been  speaking.  Mr.  Olmstead  says,  "  The  health  of  our 
armies  is  evidently  not  above  the  average  of  armies  in  the  field. 
The  mortality  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  during  the  summer 
months  averaged  3i^  per  cent.,  and  for  the  whole  army  it  is 


#%. 


rr^i 


——SB 


I 


424 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I  I. 


stated  at  5  per  cent."  "  Of  the  camps  inspected,  5  per  cent," 
he  says,  "  were  in  admirable  order ;  44  per  cent,  fairly  clean 
and  well  policed.  The  condition  of  26  per  cent,  was  negligent 
and  slovenly,  and  of  24  per  cent,  decidedly  bad,  filthy,  and  dan- 
gerous." Thus  60  per  cent,  were  either  negligent  and  sloven- 
ly, or  filthy  and  dangerous.  I  wonder  what  the  report  would 
have  been  had  Camp  Benton  at  St.  Louis  been  surveyed !  "  In 
about  80  per  cent,  of  the  regiments  the  ofiicers  claimed  to  give 
systematic  attention  to  the  cleanliness  of  the  men ;  but  it  is  re- 
marked that  they  rarely  enforced  the  washing  of  the  feet,  and 
not  always  of  the  head  and  neck."  I  wish  Mr.  Olmstead  had 
added  that  they  never  enforced  the  cutting  of  the  hair.  No 
single  trait  has  been  so  decidedly  disadvantageous  to  the  ap- 
pearance  of  the  American  army,  as  the  long,  uncombed,  rough 
locks  of  hair  which  the  men  have  appeared  so  loth  to  abandon. 
In  reading  the  above  one  cannot  but  think  of  the  condition  of 
those  other  twenty  regiments  I 

According  to  Mr.  Olmstead  two-thirds  of  the  men  were  na- 
tive-born, and  one-third  was  composed  of  foreigners.  These 
foreigners  are  either  Irish  or  German.  Had  a  similar  report 
been  made  of  the  armies  in  the  West,  I  think  it  would  have 
been  seen  that  the  proportion  of  foreigners  was  still  greater. 
The  average  age  of  the  privates  was  something  under  twenty- 
five,  and  that  of  the  officers  thirty-four.  I  may  here  add,  from 
my  own  observation,  that  an  officer's  rank  could  in  no  degree 
be  predicated  from  his  age.  Generals,  colonels,  majors,  cap- 
tains, and  lieutenants,  had  been  all  appointed  at  the  same  time 
and  without  reference  to  age  or  qualification.  Political  influ- 
ence or  the  power  of  raising  recruits  had  been  the  standard  by 
which  military  rank  was  distributed.  The  old  West  Point  of- 
ficers had  generally  been  chosen  for  high  commands,  but  be- 
yond this  everything  was  necessarily  new.  Young  colonels 
and  ancient  captains  rbounded  without  any  harsh  feeling  as  to 
the  matter  on  either  side.  Indeed  in  this  respect  the  practice 
of  the  country  generally  was  simply  carried  out.  Fathers  and 
mothers  in  America  seem  to  obey  their  sons  and  daughters 
naturally,  and  as  they  grow  old  become  the  slaves  of  their 
grandchildren. 

Mr.  Olmstead  says  that  food  was  found  to  be  universally 
good  and  abundant.  On  this  matter  Mr.  Olmstead  might  have 
spoken  in  stronger  language  without  exaggeration.  The  food 
supplied  to  the  AniPtrican  armies  has  been  extravagantly  good, 
and  certainly  has  been  wastefully  abundant.  Very  much  has 
been  said  of  the  cost  of  the  American  army,  and  it  has  been 


I'i 


THE  ARMY   OP  TUB  NORTH. 


425 


mfido  a  matter  of  boasting  that  no  army  so  costly  has  ever 
been  put  into  the  field  by  any  other  nation.  The  assertion  is, 
I  believe,  at  any  rate  true.  I  have  found  it  impossible  to  as- 
certain what  has  hitherto  been  expended  on  the  army.  I  much 
doubt  whether  even  Mr.  Chase,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasu»*y, 
or  Hr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary-at-War,  know  themselves,  and  I 
do  not  suppose  that  Mr.  Stanton's  predecessor  much  cared. 
Some  approach,  however,  may  be  reached  to  the  amount  actu- 
ally paid  in  wages  and  for  clothes  and  diet,  and  I  give  below  a 
statement  whi^p  I  have  seen  of  the  actual  annual  sum  proposed 
to  be  expended  on  these  heads,  presuming  the  army  to  consist 
of  500,000  men.  The  army  is  stated  to  contain  660,000  men, 
but  the  former  numbers  given  would  probably  be  found  to  bo 
nearer  the  mark. 

Dollars. 

Wages  of  privates,  including  sergeants  and  cor- 
poral     86,640,000 

Salaries  of  regimental  officers 23,784,000 

Extra  wages  of  privates ;  extra  pay  to  mounted 
officers,  and  salary  of  officers  above  the  rank 
of  colonel 17,000,000 

127,424,000 

or 
£25,484,000  sterling. 

To  this  must  be  added  the  cost  of  diet  and  clothing.  The  food 
of  the  men,  I  was  informed,  was  supplied  at  an  average  cost 
of  17  cents  a  day,  which,  for  an  army  of  500,000  men,  would 
amount  to  6,200,000?.  per  annum.  The  clothing  of  the  men  is 
shown  by  the  printed  statement  of  their  war  department  to 
amount  to  3  dollars  a  month  for  a  period  of  five  years.  That, 
at  least,  is  the  amount  allowed  to  a  private  of  infantry  or  artille- 
ry. The  cost  of  the  cavalry  uniforms  and  of  the  dress  of  the  non- 
commissioned officers  is  something  higher,  but  not  sufficiently 
so  to  make  it  necessary  to  make  special  provision  for  the  diffijr- 
ence  in  a  statement  so  rough  as  this.  At  3  dollars  a  month 
the  clothing  of  the  army  would  amount  to  3,600,000?.  The 
actual  annual  cost  would  therefore  be  as  follows : — 

Salaries  and  wages £25,484,400 

Diet  of  the  soldiers 6,200,000 

Clothing  for  the  soldiers 3,600,000 

£35,284,400 

I  believe  that  these  figures  may  be  trusted,  unless  it  be  with 
reference  to  that  sum  of  $17,000,000  or  3,400,000?.,  which  is 
presumed  to  include  the  salaries  of  all  general-oflicers  with  their 
staffs,  and  also  the  extra  wages  paid  to  soldiers  in  certain  cases. 


.J  I 


^^\ 


M 


426 


NOBXn  AMERICA. 


■-'I 


This  is  given  as  an  estimate,  and  may  bo  over  or  under  the 
mark.  The  sura  named  as  the  cost  ot  clothing  would  be  cor- 
rect, or  nearly  so,  if  the  array  remained  in  its  present  force  for 
five  years.  If  it  so  remained  for  only  one  year  the  cost  would 
be  one-fifth  higher.  It  must  of  course  be  remerabered  that  tho 
sura  above  naraed  includes  siraply  the  wages,  clothes,  and  food 
of  the  men.  It  does  not  comprise  the  purchase  of  arms,  horses, 
ammunition,  or  waggons ;  the  forage  of  horses ;  the  transport 
of  troops,  or  any  of  those  incidental  expenses  of  warfare  which 
are  always,  I  presume,  heavier  than  the  absolute  cost  of  tho 
men,  and  which  in  this  war  have  been  probably  heavier  than 
in  any  war  ever  waged  on  the  face  of  God's  earth.  Nor  does 
it  include  that  terrible  item  of  peculation  as  to  which  I  will  say 
a  word  or  two  before  I  finish  this  chapter. 

The  yearly  total  payment  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
armies  is  as  follows.  As  regards  the  officers  it  must  be  under- 
stood  that  this  includes  all  the  allowances  made  to  them,  except 
as  regards  those  on  the  staff.  The  sums  named  apply  only  to 
the  infantry  and  artillery.  The  pay  of  the  cavalry  is  about  ten 
per  cent,  higher. 

Lieutcnant-General.    General  Scott  alone  holds  that  rank  in 

the  States' army £1,850 

Major-General ],150 

Brigadier-General 800 

♦Colonel 630 

♦Lieutenant-Colonel 475 

Major 430 

Captain 300 

First  Lieutenant 265 

Second  Lieutenant 245 

First  Sergeant 48 

Sergeant 40 

Corporal 34 

Private 31 

In  every  grade  named  the  pay  is,  I  believe,  higher  than  that 
given  by  us,  or,  as  I  imagine,  by  any  other  nation.  It  is,  how- 
ever, probable  that  the  extra  allowances  paid  to  some  of  our 
higher  officers  when  on  duty  may  give  to  their  positions  for  a 
time  a  higher  pecuniary  remuneration.  It  will  of  course  be 
understood  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  American  army  answer- 
ing to  our  colonel  of  a  regiment.  With  us  the  officer  so  desig- 
nated holds  a  nominal  command  of  high  dignity  and  emolument 
as  a  reward  for  past  services. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  ray  visits  to  the  camps  of  the  other 
arraies  in  the  field,  that  of  General  Halleck,  who  held  his  head- 

*  A  Colonel  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  are  attached  to  each  regiment. 


THE  ARMY  OP  THE  NORTH. 


427 


quarters  at  St.  Louis,  in  Missouri,  and  that  of  General  Buell, 
who  was  at  Louisville,  in  Kentucky.  There  was  also  a  fourth 
army  under  General  Hunter  in  Kansas,  but  I  did  not  make  my 
way  as  far  west  as  that.  I  do  not  pretend  to  any  military 
knowledge,  and  should  be  foolish  to  attempt  military  criticism ; 
but  as  far  as  I  could  judge  by  appearance,  I  should  say  that 
the  men  in  Buell's  army  were,  of  the  three,  in  the  best  order. 
Tliey  seemed  to  me  to  be  cleaner  than  the  others,  and,  as  far 
as  I  could  learn,  were  in  better  health.  Want  of  discipline  and 
dirt  have,  no  doubt,  been  the  great  faults  of  the  regiments  gen- 
erally, and  the  latter  drawback  may  probably  be  included  in 
the  former.  These  men  have  not  been  accustomed  to  act  under 
the  orders  of  superiors,  and  when  they  entered  on  the  service 
hardly  recognized  the  fact  that  they  would  have  to  do  so  in 
ought  else  than  in  their  actual  drill  and  fighting.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  conceive  any  class  of  men  to  whom  the  necessary  dis- 
cipline of  a  soldier  would  come  with  more  difficulty  than  to  an 
American  citizen.  The  whole  training  of  his  life  has  been 
against  it.  He  has  never  known  respect  for  a  master,  or  rev- 
erence for  men  of  a  higher  rank  than  himself.  He  has  proba- 
bly been  made  to  work  hard  for  his  wages, — harder  than  an 
Englishman  works, — ^but  he  has  been  his  employer's  equal. 
The  language  between  them  has  been  the  language  of  equals, 
and  their  arrangement  as  to  labour  and  wages  has  been  a  con- 
tract between  equals.  If  he  did  not  work  he  would  not  get 
his  money, — and  perhaps  not  if  he  did.  Under  these  circum- 
stances he  has  made  his  fight  with  the  world ;  but  those  cir- 
cumstances have  never  taught  him  that  special  deference  to  a 
superior,  which  is  the  first  essential  of  a  soldier's  duty.  But 
probably  in  no  respect  would  that  difficulty  be  so  severely  felt 
as  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  personal  habits.  Here  at  any 
rate  the  man  would  expect  to  be  still  his  own  master,  acting 
for  himself  and  independent  of  all  outer  control.  Our  English 
Hodge,  when  taken  from  the  plough  to  the  camp,  would,  prob- 
ably, submit  without  a  murmur  to  soap  and  water  and  a  bar- 
ber's shears ;  he  would  have  received  none  of  that  education 
which  would  prompt  him  to  rebel  against  such  ordinances; 
but  the  American  citizen,  who  for  a  while  expects  to  shake 
hands  with  his  captain  whenever  he  sees  him,  and  is  astonished 
when  he  learns  that  he  must  not  offer  him  drinks,  cannot  at 
once  be  brought  to  understand  that  he  is  to  be  treated  hke  a 
child  in  the  nursery ; — that  he  must  change  his  shirt  so  often, 
wash  himself  at  such  and  such  intervals,  and  go  through  a  cer- 
tain process  of  cleansing  his  outward  garments  daily.    I  met 


II,     -1 


1 


428 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


^ 


'I  '■ 


If    ' 


while  travelling  a  sergeant  of  an  old  regular  American  regi. 
ment,  and  he  spoke  of  the  want  of  discipline  among  the  volun- 
teers as  hopeless.     But  even  ho  instanced  it  chiefly  by  their 
want  of  cleanliness.     "  They  wear  their  shirts  till  they  drop  off 
their  backs,"  said  he ;  "  and  what  can  vou  expect  from  such 
men  as  that?"     I  liked  that  sergeant  for  his  zeal  and  intelli- 
gence, and  also  for  his  courtesy  when  he  found  that  I  was  an 
Englishman ;  for  previous  to  his  so  finding  he  had  begun  to 
abuse  the  English  roundly, — but  I  did  not  quite  agree  with 
him  about  the  volunteers.     It  is  very  bad  that  soldiers  should 
be  dirty,  bad  also  that  they  should  treat  their  captains  with 
familiarity  and  desire  to  exchange  drinks  with  the  majors. 
But  even  discipline  is  not  everything ;  and  discipline  will  come 
at  last  even  to  the  American  soldiers,  distasteful  as  it  may  be, 
when  the  necessity  for  it  is  made  apparent.     But  these  volun- 
teers have  great  military  virtues.     They  are  intelligent,  zealous 
in  their  cause,  handy  with  arras,  willing  enough  to  work  at  all 
military  duties,  and  personally  brave.     On  the  other  hand  they 
are  sickly,  and  there  has  been  a  considerable  .amount  of  drunk- 
enness among  them.     No  man  who  has  looked  to  the  subject 
can,  I  think,  doubt  that  a  native  American  has  a  lower  physical 
development  than  an  Irishman,  a  German,  or  an  Englishman. 
They  become  old  sooner,  and  die  at  an  earlier  age.    As  to  that 
matter  of  drink,  I  do  not  think  that  much  need  be  said  against 
them.     English  soldiers  get  drunk  when  they  have  the  means 
of  doing  so,  and  American  soldiers  would  not  get  drunk  if  the 
means  were  taken  away  from  them.    A  little  drunkenness  goes 
a  long  way  in  a  camp,  and  ten  drunkards  will  g^ve  a  bad  name 
to  a  company  of  a  hundred.     Let  any  man  travel  with  twenty 
men  of  whom  four  are  tipsy,  and  on  leaving  them  he  will  tell 
you  that  every  man  of  them  was  a  drunkard. 

I  have  said  that  these  men  are  brave,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  they  are  so.  How  should  it  be  otherwise  with  men  of 
such  a  race  ?  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are  two 
kinds  of  courage,  one  of  which  is  very  common  and  the  other 
very  uncommon.  Of  the  latter  description  of  courage  it  can- 
not be  expected  that  much  should  be  found  among  the  privates 
of  any  army,  and  perhaps  not  very  many  examples  among  the 
officers.  It  is  a  courage  self-sustained,  based  on  a  knowledge 
of  the  right  and  on  a  life-long  calculation  that  any  results  com- 
ing from  adherence  to  the  right  will  be  preferable  to  any  that 
can  be  produced  by  a  departure  from  it.  This  is  the  courage 
which  will  enable  a  man  to  stand  his  ground  in  battle  or  else- 
where, though  broken  \7orlds  should  fall  around  him.    The 


THE   ABMT    OP  THK  NORTH. 


429 


other  courage,  which  is  mainly  an  affair  of  the  heart  or  blood 
and  not  of  the  brain,  always  requires  some  outward  support. 
The  man  who  finds  himself  prominent  in  dfinger  bears  himself 
gullautly,  because  the  eyes  of  many  will  see  him ;  whether  as 
an  old  man  ho  leads  an  army,  or  as  a  young  man  goes  on  a  for- 
lorn hope,  or  as  a  private  carries  his  officer  on  his  back  out  of 
the  fire,  he  is  sustained  by  the  love  of  praise.    And  the  men 
Avlio  arc  not  individually  prominent  in  danger,  who  stand  their 
ground  shoulder  to  shoulder,  bear  themselves  gallantly  also, 
each  trusting  in  the  combined  strength  of  his  comrades.    When 
such  combined  strength  has  been  acquired,  that  useful  courage 
is  engendered  which  we  may  rather  call  confidence,  and  which 
of  all  courage  is  the  most  serviceable  in  the  army.    At  the  bat- 
tle of  Bull's  Run  the  army  of  the  North  became  panic-stricken 
and  fled.     From  this  fact  many  have  been  led  to  believe  that 
tlic  American  soldiers  would  not  fight  well,  and  that  they  could 
not  be  brought  to  stand  their  ground  under  fire.    This  1  thinlc 
has  been  an  unfair  conclusion.     In  the  first  place  the  history  of 
the  battle  of  J^ulPs  Run  has  yet  to  be  written ;  as  yet  the  history 
of  the  flight  only  has  been  given  to  us.     As  far  as  I  can  learn, 
the  northern  soldiers  did  at  first  fight  well ; — so  well,  that  the 
army  of  the  South  believed  itself  to  be  beaten.     But  a  panic 
was  created — at  first,  as  it  seems,  among  the  teamsters  and 
waggons.    A  cry  was  roused,  and  a  rush  was  made  by  hund- 
reds of  drivers  with  their  carts  and  horses ;  and  then  men  who 
had  never  seen  war  before,  who  had  not  yet  had  three  months* 
drilling  as  soldiers,  to  whom  the  turmoil  of  that  day  must  have 
seemed  as  though  hell  were  opening  upon  them,  joined  them- 
selves to  the  general  clamour,  and  fled  to  Washington,  believ- 
ing that  all  was  lost.     But  at  the  same  time  the  regiments  of 
the  enemy  were  going  through  the  same  farce  in  the  other  di- 
rection !    It  was  a  battle  between  troops  who  knew  nothing 
of  battles ;  of  soldiers  who  were  not  yet  soldiers.     That  indi- 
vidual high-minded  courage,  which  would  have  given  to  each 
individual  recruit  the  self-sustained  power  against  a  panic, 
which  is  to  be  looked  for  in  a  general,  was  not  to  be  looked  for 
in  them.    Of  the  other  courage  of  which  I  have  spoken,  there 
was  as  much  as  the  circumstances  of  the  battle  would  allow. 

On  subsequent  occasions  the  men  have  fought  well.  We 
should,  I  think,  admit  that  they  have  fought  very  well  when 
we  consider  how  short  has  been  their  practice  at  such  work. 
At  Somerset,  at  Fort  Henry,  at  Fort  Donelson,  at  Corinth,  the 
men  behaved  with  courage,  standing  well  to  their  arms,  though 
at  each  place  the  slaughter  among  them  was  great.    They  have 


",'■■>  .     ts 


\ 


I  ' 


1 


430 


NORTH   AMEniCA. 


I 


11    * 


always  cone  well  into  fire,  and  have  generally  borne  themselves 
well  under  fire.  I  am  convinced  that  we  in  England  can  make 
no  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that  the  Americans  as  sol> 
diers  are  deficient  in  courage. 

But  now  I  must  come  to  a  matter  in  which  a  terrible  defi- 
ciency has  been  shown,  not  by  the  soldiers,  but  by  those  whoso 
duty  it  has  been  to  provide  for  the  soldiers.    It  is  impossible 
to  speak  of  tlie  army  of  the  North  and  to  leave  untouched  that 
hideous  subject  of  army  contracts.    And  I  think  myself  the 
more  specially  bound  to  allude  to  it  because  I  feel  that  the  in- 
iquities  which  have  prevailed,  prove  with  terrible  earnestness 
the  demoralizing  pow3r  of  that  dishonesty  among  men  in  high 
places,  which  is  the  one  great  evil  of  the  American  States.    It 
IS  there  that  the  deficiency  exists,  which  must  be  supplied  be- 
fore the  public  men  of  the  nation  can  take  a  high  rank  among 
other  public  men.     There  is  the  gangrene,  which  must  be  cut 
out  before  the  government,  as  a  government,  can  be  great.    To 
make  money  is  the  one  thing  needful,  and  men  have  been  anx- 
ious to  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  government,  because  there 
might  money  be  made  with  the  greatest  ease.    "Make  money," 
the  Roman  satj-ist  said ;  "  make  it  honestly  if  you  can,  but  at 
any  rate  make  money."    That  first  counsel  would  be  consid- 
ered futile  and  altogether  vain  by  those  who  ha\    lately  dealt 
with  the  public  wants  of  the  American  States. 

This  is  bad  in  a  most  fatal  degree,  not  mainly  because  men 
in  high  places  have  been  dishonest,  or  because  the  government 
has  been  badly  served  by  its  own  paid  oflScers.  That  men  in 
high  places  should  be  dishonest,  and  that  the  people  should  be 
cheated  by  their  rulers  is  very  bad.  But  there  is  worse  than 
this.  The  thing  becomes  so  common,  and  so  notorious,  that 
the  American  world  at  large  is  taught  to  believe  that  dishon- 
esty is  in  itself  good.  "  It  behoves  a  man  to  be  smart,  sir  I" 
Till  the  opposite  doctrine  to  that  be  learned ;  till  men  in  Amer- 
ica,— ay,  and  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, — can  learn  that  it 
specially  behoves  a  man  not  to  be  smart,  they  will  have  learned 
little  of  their  duty  towards  God,  .and  nothing  of  their  duty  to- 
wards their  neighbour. 

In  the  instances  of  fraud  against  the  States'  government  to 
which  I  am  about  to  allude,  1  shall  take  all  my  facts  from  the 
report  made  to  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington 
by  a  Committee  of  that  House  in  December,  1861.  "Mr. 
Washburne,  from  the  Select  Committee  to  inquire  into  the 
Contracts  of  the  Government,  made  the  following  Report." 
That  is  the  heading  of  the  pamphlet.    The  Committee  was 


TUB  ABMT  OF  THE  NOBTU. 


431 


iblo  defi- 
je  whoso 
apossiblo 
shed  that 
yself  the 
it  the  iii- 
^rnestnesa 
in  in  high 
itatea.    It 
pplied  be- 
nk  among 
ust  be  cut 
great.   To 
I  been  anx- 
iause  there 
to  money," 
can,  but  at 
be  consid- 
lately  dealt 


known  as  the  Van  Wyck  Committee,  a  gentleman  of  that  name 
having  acted  as  chairman. 

The  Committee  first  went  to  Now  York,  and  began  their 
inquiries  with  reterenco  to  the  purchase  of  a  steam-boat  called 
the  *  Catiline.*  In  this  case  a  certain  Captain  Comstock  had 
been  designated  from  Washington  as  the  agent  to  bo  trusted 
in  the  charter  or  purchase  of  the  vessel.  He  agreed  on  behalf 
of  the  Government  to  hire  that  special  boat  for  2000/.  a  month 
for  three  months,  having  given  information  to  friends  of  his 
on  the  matter,  which  enabled  them  to  purchase  it  out-and-out 
for  less  than  4000/.  These  friends  were  not  connected  with 
shipping  matters,  but  were  lawyers  and  hotel  proprietors.  The 
Committee  conclude  "that  the  vessel  was  chartered  to  the 
Government  at  an  unconscionable  price ;  and  that  Captain 
Comstock  by  whom  this  was  effected,  while  enjoving  the  pecul- 
iar conscience  of  the  Government^  was  acting  for  and  in  con- 
cert with  the  parties  who  chartered  the  vessel,  and  was  in  fact 
their  agent."  But  the  report  does  not  explain  why  Captain 
Comstock  was  selected  for  this  work  by  authority  from  Wash- 
ington, nor  does  it  recommend  that  he  be  punished.  It  does 
not  appear  that  Captain  Comstock  had  ever  been  in  the  regu- 
lar service  of  tho  Government ;  but  that  ho  had  been  master 
of  a  steamer. 

In  the  next  place  one  Starbuck  is  employed  to  buy  ships.  As 
a  government  agent  he  buys  two  for  1300/.,  and  sells  them  to 
the  government  for  2900/.  The  vessels  themselves,  when  de- 
livered at  the  Navy  Yard,  were  found  to  be  totally  unfit  for 
the  service  for  which  they  had  been  purchased.  But  why  was 
Starbuck  employed,  when,  as  appears  over  and  over  again  in 
the  report,  New  York  was  full  of  paid  government  servants 
ready  and  fit  to  do  the  work  ?  Starbuck  was  merely  an  agent, 
and  who  will  believe  that  he  was  allowed  to  pocket  the  whole 
difference  of  1600/.?  The  greater  part  of  the  plunder  was, 
however,  in  this  case  refunded. 

Then  we  come  to  the  case  of  Mr.  George  D.  Morgan,  brother- 
in-law  of  Mr.  Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  I  have  spoken 
of  this  gentleman  before,  and  of  his  singular  prosperity.  He 
amassed  a  large  fortune  in  five  months,  as  a  government  agent 
for  the  purchase  of  vessels,  he  having  been  a  wholesale  grocer 
hy  trade.  This  gentleman  had  had  no  experience  whatsoever 
with  reference  to  ships.  It  is  shown  by  the  evidence  that  ho  had 
none  of  the  requisite  knowledge,  and  that  there  were  special 
servants  of  the  government  in  New  York  at  that  time,  sCiit 
there  specially  for  such  services  as  these,  who  were  in  every 


•I 

! 


432 


NORTH   AMEBIOA. 


^i     ^ 


m 


way  trustworthy,  and  who  had  the  rcquisito  knowledge.    Yet 
Mr.  Morgan  was  phiccd  in  this  position  by  his  brother-in-luw 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  m  that  capacity  made  about 
20,000/.  in  live  months,  all  of  which  was  paid  by  the  govern- 
ment,  as  is  well  shown  to  have  been  the  fact  in  the  report  be- 
fore me.     One  result  of  such  a  mode  of  agency  is  given ; — one 
other  result,  I  mean,  besides  the  20,000/.  put  into  the  i)ocket 
of  the  brother  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.   A  ship  called  the 
*  Stars  and  Stripes*  was  bought  by  Mr.  Morgan  lor  11,000/., 
which  had  been  built  some  months  before  for  7000/.    This  ves- 
sel was  bought  from  a  company  which  was  blessed  with  a  Pres- 
ident.   The  President  made  the  bargain  with  the  government 
agent,  but  insisted  on  keeping  back  from  his  own  company 
2000/.  out  of  the  11,000/.  for  expenses  incident  to  the  pur- 
chase.   The  company  did  not  like  being  mulcted  of  its  prey, 
and  growled  heavily ;  but  their  President  declared  that  such 
bargains  were  not  got  at  Washington  for  nothing.    Members 
of  Congress  had  to  bo  paid  to  assist  in  such  things.    At  least 
lie  could  not  reduce  his  little  private  bill  for  such  assistance 
"below  1600/.    He  had,  he  said,  positivelv  paid  out  so  much  to 
those  venal  Members  of  Congress,  and  had  made  nothing  for 
himself  to  compensate  him  for  his  own  exertions.    When  this 
President  came  to  be  examined,  he  admitted  that  he  had  really 
made  no  payments  to  Members  of  Congress.    His  own  capacity 
had  been  so  great  that  no  such  assistance  had  been  found  nec- 
essary.   But  he  justified  his  charge  on  the  ground  that  the  sum 
taken  by  him  was  no  more  than  the  company  might  have  ex- 
pected him  to  lay  out  on  Members  of  Congress,  or  on  ex-Mera- 
bers  who  are  specially  mentioned,  had  he  not  himself  carried 
on  the  business  with  such  consummate  discretion !     It  seems 
to  me  that  the  Members  or  ex-Members  of  Congress  were 
shamefully  robbed  in  this  matter. 

The  report  deals  manfully  with  Mr.  Morgan,  showing  that 
for  five  months'  work, — which  work  he  did  not  do  and  did  not 
know  how  to  do, — he  received  as  large  a  sum  as  the  Presi- 
dent's salary  for  the  whole  Presidential  term  of  four  years.  So 
much  better  is  it  to  be  an  agent  of  government  than  simply  an 
officer  I  And  the  Committee  adds,  that  they  "  do  not  find  in 
this  transaction  the  less  to  censure  in  the  fact  that  this  arrange- 
ment between  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  Mr.  Morgan  was 
one  between  brothers-in-law."  After  that  w^ho  will  believe 
that  Mr.  Morgan  had  the  whole  of  that  20,000/.  for  himself? 
And  yet  Mr.  Welles  still  remains  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and 
has  justified  the  whole  transaction  in  an  explanation  admitting 


TIIK  AltMY   OF   TIIU  NOBTII. 


483 


0.    Yet 
sr-'in-lsvw 

0  about 
govcni- 

jpovt  be- 
;n ; — ono 
0  pocket 
;allcd  tho 

11,000/., 
Tbifl  vcs- 
ib  a  Tics- 
ivcrnmcnt 

company 
»  ibo  pur- 
f  its  prey, 
,  tbat  such 

Members 
.    At  least 

assistance 
80  much  to 
noibing  for 

Wbeii  this 
c  had  really 
wn  capacity 

1  found  nee- 
iiat  tbo  sum 
rbt  bavo  ex- 
Ion  ex-Mera- 
iself  carried 

1    It  seems 
igress  were 


everything,  and  which  is  considorcd  by  his  friends  to  bo  an  able 
Slato  pai)or.  "  It  behoves  a  man  to  bo  smart,  sir."  Mr.  Mor- 
gan and  Secretary  Welles  will  no  doubt  bo  considered  by  their 
own  party  to  have  done  their  duty  well  as  high  trading  public 
functionaries.  The  faults  of  Mr.  Morgan  and  of  Secretary 
Welles  are  nothing  to  us  in  England ;  but  tho  light  in  which 
such  faults  may  bo  regarded  by  tho  American  people  is  much 
to  us. 

I  will  now  go  on  to  tho  case  of  a  Mr.  Cummings.  Mr.  Cum- 
mings,  it  appears,  had' been  for  many  years  the  editor  of  a  news- 
paper in  Philadelphia,  and  had  been  an  intimate  political  friend 
and  ally  of  Mr.  Cameron.  Now  at  tho  time  of  which  I  am 
writing,  April,  1801,  Mr.  Cameron  was  Secretary-at-War,  and 
could  be  very  useful  to  an  old  political  ally  living  in  his  own 
State.  The  upshot  of  the  present  case  will  teach  us  to  think 
well  of  Mr.  Cameron's  gratitude. 

In  April,  1861,  stores  were  wanted  for  the  army  at  Washing- 
ton, and  Mr.  Cameron  gave  an  order  to  his  old  friend  Cum- 
mings to  expend  2,000,000  dollars,  pretty  much  according  to 
his  fancy,  in  buying  stores.  Governor  Morgan,  the  Governor 
of  New  York  State  and  a  relative  of  our  other  friend  Morgan, 
was  joined  with  Mr.  Cummings  in  this  commission,  Mr.  Cam- 
eron no  doubt  having  felt  himself  bound  to  give  the  friends  of 
his  colleague  at  the  Navy  a  chance.  Governor  Morgan  at  onco 
made  over  his  right  to  his  relative;  but  better  things  soon 
came  in  Mr.  Morgan's  way,  and  he  relinquished  his  share  in 
this  partnership  at  an  early  date.  In  this  transaction  he  did 
not  himself  handle  above  25,000  dollars.  Then  the  whole  job 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Cameron's  old  political  friend. 

The  2,000,000  of  dollars,  or  400,000/.,  were  paid  into  the 
hands  of  certain  government  treasurers  at  New  York,  but  they 
had  orders  to  honour  the  draft  of  the  political  friend  of  the 
Secretary-at-War,  and  consequently  60,000/.  was  immediately 
withdrawn  by  Mr.  Cummings,  and  with  this  he  went  to  work. 
It  is  shown  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  business ;  that  he  em- 
ployed a  clerk  from  Albany  whom  he  did  not  know,  and  con- 
fided to  this  clerk  the  duty  of  buying  such  stores  as  were 
bought;  that  this  clerk  was  recommended  to  him  by  Mr. 
Weed,  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  at  Albany,  who  is  known 
in  the  States  as  the  special  political  friend  of  Mr.  Seward,  the 
Secretary  of  State ;  and  that  in  this  way  he  spent  32,000/.  He 
bought  linen  pantaloons  and  straw  hats  to  the  amount  of  4200/., 
because  he  thought  the  soldiers  looked  hot  in  the  warm  weath- 
er; but  he  afterwards  learned  that  they  were  of  no  use.    He 

T 


^91SS 


1 


434 


NOBTH  .aMEKICA. 


■  j 


r 


'  I  • 


't 


/ 


(, 


bought  groceries  of  a  hardware  dealer  at  Albany,  named  David- 
son, that  town  whence  came  Mr.  Weed's  clerk.  He  did  not 
know  what  was  Davidson's  trade,  nor  did  he  know  exactly  what 
he  was  going  to  buy ;  but  Davidson  proposed  to  sell  him  some- 
thing which  Mr.  Cummings  believed  to  be  some  kind  of  pro- 
visions, and  he  bought  it.  He  did  not  know  for  how  much, — 
whether  over  2000/.  or  not.  He  never  saw  the  articles  and 
had  no  knowledge  of  their  quality.  It  was  out  of  the  question 
that  he  should  have  such  knowledge,  as  he  naively  remarks. 
His  clerk  Humphreys  saw  the  articles.  He  presumed  they 
were  brought  from  Albany,  but  did  not  know.  He  after- 
wards bought  a  ship, — or  two  or  three  ships.  He  inspected 
one  ship  "  by  a  mere  casual  visit :"  that  is  to  say,  he  did  not 
examine  her  boilers ;  he  did  not  know  her  tonnage,  but  he  took 
the  word  of  the  seller  for  everything.  He  could  not  state  the 
terms  of  the  charter,  or  give  the  substance  of  it.  He  had  had 
no  former  experience  in  buying  or  chartering  ships.  He  also 
bought  75,000  pair  of  shoes  at  only  25  cents,  or  one  shilling  a 
pair,  more  than  their  proper  price.  He  bought  them  of  a  Mr, 
Hall,  who  declares  that  he  paid  Mr.  Cummings  nothing  for  the 
job,  but  regarded  it  as  a  return  for  certain  previous  favours 
conferred  by  him  on  Mr.  Cummings  in  the  occasional  loans  of 
100/.  or  200/. 

At  the  end  of  the  examination  it  appears  that  Mr.  Cummings 
still  held  in  his  hand  a  slight  balance  of  28,000/.,  of  which  he 
had  forgotten  to  make  mention  in  the  body  of  his  own  evidence. 
"This  item  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  by  him  in  his  tes- 
timony," says  the  report.  And  when  the  report  was  made 
nothing  had  yet  been  learned  of  the  destiny  of  this  small  bal- 
ance. 

Then  the  report  gives  a  list  of  the  army  supplies  miscellane- 
ously pm'chased  by  Mr.  Cummings: — 280  dozen  pints  of  ale  at 
Qs.  Qd.  a  viozen ;  a  lot  of  codfish  and  herrings ;  200  boxes  of 
cheeses  ?.T>d  a  large  assortment  of  butter;  some  tongues ;  straw 
h^s  and  linea  "  pants ;"  23  barrels  of  pickles ;  26  casks  of 
j^cotch  ale,  price  not  stated ;  a  lot  of  London  porter,  price  not 
stat*^d  ;  and  some  Hall  carbines  of  which  I  must  say  a  word 
more  further  on.  It  should  be  remembered  that  no  requisition 
had  come  from  the  army  for  any  of  the  articles  na.ned ;  thai 
the  purchase  of  herrings  and  straw  hats  was  dictated  solely  hj 
the  discretion  of  Cummings  and  his  man  Humphreys, — or,  as 
is  more  probable,  by  the  fact  that  some  other  person  had  such 
articles  by  him  for  sale;  and  that  the  gO;  ernment  bad  its  own 
established  officers  for  the  supply  of  things  properly  ordered 


THE  AR5fY   OP  THE  NORTH. 


435 


David- 
lid  not 
iy  what 
II  some- 
of  pvo- 
auch, — 
sles  and 
[question 
:eniavks. 
led  they 
le  after- 
nspected 
5  did  not 
t  he  took 
state  the 
5  had  had 
He  also 
shillincj  a 
1  of  a  Mr. 
ng  for  the 
lis  favours 
ad  loans  of 


by  military  requisition.  These  very  same  articles  also  were 
apparently  procured,  in  the  first  place,  as  a  private  speculation, 
and  were  made  over  to  the  government  on  the  failure  of  that 
speculation.  "  Some  of  the  above  articles,"  says  the  report, 
"  were  shipped  by  the  '  Catiline,'  which  were  probably  loaded 
uH  private  account,  and  not  being  able  to  obtain  a  clearance 
Avas  in  some  way,  through  Mr.  Cummings,  transferred  over  to 
the  government, — Scotch  ale^  London  porter^  selected  herrings^ 
and  all."  The  italics  as  well  as  the  words  are  taken  from  the 
report. 

This  was  the  confidential  political  friend  of  the  Secret  .ry-at- 
War,  by  whom  he  was  intrusted  with  400,000^.  of  public 
money !  28,000^  had  not  been  accounted  for  when  the  report 
was  made,  and  the  army  supplies  were  bought  after  the  fash- 
ion above  named.  That  Secretary-at-War,  Mr.  Cameron,  has 
since  left  the  Cabinet ;  but  he  has  not  been  turned  out  in  dis- 
grace ;  he  has  been  nominated  as  minister  to  Russia,  and  the 
world  has  been  told  that  there  was  some  difference  of  opinion 
between  him  and  his  colleagues  respecting  slavery !  Mr.  Cam- 
eron in  some  speech  or  paper  declared  on  his  leaving  the  Cabi- 
net that  he  had  not  intended  to  remain  long  as  Secretary-at- 
War.    This  assertion,  I  should  think,  must  have  been  true. 

And  now  about  the  Hall  oarbines,  as  to  which  the  gentle- 
men on  this  Committee  tell  their  tale  witli  an  evident  delight 
in  the  richness  of  its  incidents  which  at  once  puts  all  their  read- 
ers in  accord  with  them.  There  were  altogether  some  five 
thousand  of  these,  all  of  which  the  government  sold  to  a  Mr. 
Eastman  in  June,  1861,  for  145.  each,  as  perfectly  useless,  and 
afterwards  bought  in  August  for  Al.  85.  each,  about  4s.  a  car- 
bine having  been  expended  in  their  repair  in  the  mean  time. 
But  as  regards  790  of  these  now  famous  weapons,  it  must  be 
explained  they  had  been  sold  by  the  government  as  perfectly 
useless,  and  at  a  nominal  price,  previously  to  this  second  sale 
made  by  the  government  to  Mr.  Eastman.  They  had  been  so 
sold,  and  then,  in  April,  1861,  they  had  been  bought  again  for 
the  government  by  the  indefatigable  Cummings  for  3/.  each. 
Then  they  were  again  sold  as  useless  for  14s.  each  to  Eastman, 
and  instantly  rebought  on  behalf  of  the  government  for  U.  8s. 
each.  Useless  for  war  purposes  they  may  have  been,  but  as 
articles  of  commerce  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  were  very 
serviceable. 

This  lagt  purchase  was  made  by  a  man  named  Stevens  on  be- 
half of  General  Fremont,  who  at  that  time  commanded  the 
army  of  the  United  States  in  Missouri.     Stevens  had  been  em- 


,v 


436 


NORTH   AMEBICA. 


.^ 


i. 


ployed  by  General  Fremont  as  an  agent  on  the  behalf  of  gov. 
ernment,  as  is  shown  with  clearness  in  the  report,  and  on  hear- 
ing of  these  muskets  telegraphed  to  the  General  at  once.    "  I 
have  6000  Hall's  rifled  cast-steel  muskets,  breech-loading,  new 
at  22  dollars."    General  Fremont  telegraphed  back  instantly, 
"  I  will  take  the  whole  5000  carbines  ...    I  will  pay  all  extra 
charges  .  .  .  ."    And  so  the  purchase  was  make.    The  mus- 
kets, it  seems,  were  not  absolutely  useless  even  as  weapons  of 
war.     "  Considering  the  emergency  of  the  times,"  a  competent 
witness  considered  them  to  be  worth  "  10  or  12  dollars."    The 
government  had  been 'as  much  cheated  in  selling  them  as  it  had 
in  buying  them.    But  the  nature  of  the  latter  transaction  is 
shown  by  the  facts  that  Stevens  was  employed,  though  irre- 
sponsibly employed,  as  a  government  agent  by  General  Fre- 
mont; that  he  bought  the  muskets  in  that  character  himself, 
making  on  the  transaction  ll.  IBs.  on  each  musket;  and  that 
the  same  man  afterwards  appeared  as  an  aide-de-camp  on  Gen- 
eral Fremont's  staff.    General  Fremont  had  no  authority  him- 
self to  make  such  a  purchase,  and  when  the  money  was  paid 
for  the  first  instalment  of  the  arms,  it  was  so  paid  by  the  spe- 
cial order  of  General  Fremont  himself  out  of  moneys  intended 
to  be  applied  to  other  purposes.    The  money  was  actually  paid 
to  a  gentleman  known  at  Fremont's  head-quarters  as  his  spe- 
cial  friend,  and  was  then  paid  in  that  irregular  way  because  this 
friend  desired  that  that  special  bill  should  receive  immediate 
payment.    After  that  who  can  believe  that  Stevens  was  him- 
self allowed  to  pocket  the  whole  amount  of  the  plunder  ? 

There  is  a  nice  little  story  of  a  clergyman  in  New  York  who 
sold  for  40^.  and  certain  further  contingencies,  the  right  to  fur- 
nish 200  cavalry  horses ;  but  I  should  make  this  too  long  if  I 
told  all  the  nice  little  stories.  As  the  frauds  at  St.  Louis  were, 
if  not  in  fact  the  most  monstrous,  at  any  rate  the  most  mon- 
strous which  have  as  yet  been  brought  to  the  light,  I  cannot 
finish  this  account  without  explaining  something  of  what  was 
going  on  at  that  western  Paradise  in  those  halcyon  days  of 
General  Fremont. 

General  Fremont,  soon  after  reaching  St.  Louis,  undertook  to 
build  ten  forts  for  the  protection  of  that  city.  These  forts  have 
since  been  pronounced  as  useless,  and  the  whole  measure  h 
been  treated  with  derision  by  ofiicers  of  his  own  army.  But 
the  judgment  displayed  in  the  matter  is  a  military  question 
with  which  I  do  not  presume  to  meddle.  Even  if  a  general  be 
wrong  in  such  a  matter,  his  character  as  a  man  is  not  disgraced 
by  such  error.    But  the  manner  of  building  them  was  the  aflair 


THE  ARMY  OP  THE  NORTH. 


437 


ig,  new, 
istantly, 
all  extra 
lie  mus- 
ipons  of 
)inpetent 
8."  ^  The 

as  it  had 
jaction  is 
,ugli  irre- 
leral  Fre- 
>r  himself, 
^  and  that 
p  on  Gen- 
lority  him- 
r  was  paid 
by  the  spe- 
^s  'itended 
jtually  paid 

as  his  spe- 
lecause  this 

immediate 

s  was  him- 

ider? 
York  "who 
,ght  to  fui;- 
,o  long  it  1 
louis  were, 
most  men- 
it,  I  cannot 
,f  what  was 
on  days  of 


with  which  Mr.  Van  Wyck's  committee  had  to  deal.    It  seems 
that  five  of  the  forts,  the  five  largest,  were  made  under  the  or- 
ders of  a  certain  Major  Kappner  at  a  cost  of  12,000/.,  and  that 
the  other  five  could  have  been  built  at  least  for  the  same  sum. 
Major  Kappner  seems  to  have  been  a  good  and  honest  public 
servant,  and  therefore  quite  unfit  for  the  superintendence  of 
such  work  at  St.  Louis.    The  other  five  smaller  forts  were  also 
in  progress.    The  works  on  them  having  been  continued  from 
1st  September  to  25th  September,  1861 ;  but  on  the  25th  Sep- 
tember General  Fremont  himself  gave  special  orders  that  a 
contract  should  be  made  with  a  man  named  Beard,  a  Californi- 
an,  who  had  followed  him  from  California  to  St.  Louis.    This 
contract  is  dated  the  25th  of  September.    But  nevertheless  the 
work  specified  in  that  contract  was  done  previous  to  that  date, 
and  most  of  the  money  paid  was  paid  previous  to  that  date. 
The  contract  did  not  specify  any  lump  sum,  but  agreed  that  the 
work  should  be  paid  for  by  the  yard  and  by  the  square  foot. 
No  less  a  sum  was  paid  to  Beard  for  this  work — the  cormorant 
Beard,  as  the  report  calls  him — than  24,200/.,  the  last  payment 
only,  amounting  to  4000/.,  having  been  made  suhsequent  to  the 
date  of  the  contract.    20,200/.  was  paid  to  Beard  before  the 
date  of  the  contract !    The  amounts  were  paid  at  five  times, 
and  the  last  four  payments  wer.e  made  on  the  personal  order 
of  General  Fremont.    This  Beard  was  under  no  bond,  and  none 
of  the  oflicers  of  the  government  knew  anything  of  the  terms 
nuder  which  he  was  working.     On  the  14th  of  October  Gen- 
eral Fremont  was  ordered  to  discontinue  these  works,  and  to 
abstain  from  making  any  further  payments  on  their  account. 
But,  disobeying  this  order,  he  directed  his  Quartermaster  to 
pay  a  further  sum  of  4000/.  to  Beard  out  of  the  first  sums  he 
should  receive  from  Washington,  he  then  being  out  of  money. 
This  however  was  not  paid.     "It  must  be  understood,"  says 
the  report,  "  that  every  dollar  ordered  to  be  paid  by  General 
Fremont  on  account  of  these  works  was  diverted  from  a  fund 
specially  appropriated  for  another  purpose."    And  then  again, 
"The  money  appropriated  by  Congress  to  subsist  and  clothe 
and  transport  our  armies  was  then,  in  utter  contempt  of  all  law 
and  of  the  army  regulations,  as  well  as  in  defiance  of  superior 
authority,  ordered  to  be  diverted  from  its  lawful  purpose  and 
turned  over  to  the  cormorant  Beard.    While  he  had  received 
UOjOOO  dollars  (24,200/^  from  the  Government,  it  will  be  seen 
from  the  testimony  of  Mlajor  Kappner  that  there  had  only  been 
paid  to  the  honest  German  labourers,  who  did  the  work  on  the 
first  five  forts  built  under  his  directions,  the  sum  of  15,500  dol- 


'*•       \ 


m 


■1 


438 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'I 


\\i 


111 


.  * 


lars  (3100^.),  leaving  from  40,000  to  60,000  dollarsJSOOO^.  to 
10,000/.)  still  due;  and  while  these  labourers,  whose  families 
were  clamoring  for  bread,  were  besieging  the  Quartermaster's 
department  for  their  pay,  this  infamous  contractor  Beard  is 
found  following  up  the  army  and  in  the  confidence  of  the  Major- 
General,  who  gives  him  orders  for  large  purchases,  which  could 
only  have  been  legally  made  through  the  Quartermaster's  cle- 
_partment."  After  that,  who  will  believe  that  all  the  money 
went  into  Beard's  pocket  ?  Why  should  General  Fremont  have 
committed  every  conceivable  breach  of  order  against  his  govern- 
ment, merely  with  the  view  of  favouring  such  a  man  as  Beard  ? 

The  collusion  of  the  Quartermaster  M'Instry  with  fraudulent 
knaves  in  the  purchase  of  horses  is  then  proved.    M'Instry  was 
at  this  time  Fremont's  Quartermaster  at  St.  Louis.    I  cannot 
go  through  all  these.    A  man  of  the  name  of  Jim  Neil  comes 
out  in  beautiful  pre-eminence.    No  dealer  in  horses  could  get 
to  the  Quartermaster  except  through  Jim  Neil,  or  some  such 
go-between.     The  Quartermaster  contracted  with  Neil  and 
Neil  with  the  owners  of  horses ;  Neil  at  the  time  bemg  also 
military  inspector  of  horses  for  the  Quartermaster.    He  bought 
horses  as  cavalry  horses  for  241.  or  less,  and  passed  them  him- 
self as  artillery  horses  for  30l.    In  other  cases  the  military  in- 
spectors were  paid  by  the  sellers  to  pass  horses.    All  this  was 
done  under  Quartermaster  M'Instry,  who  would  himself  deal 
with  none  but  such  as  Neil.    In  one  instance,  one  Elleard  got 
a  contract  from  M'Instry,  the  profit  of  which  was  8000/.    But 
there  was  a  man  named  Brady.    Now  Brady  was  a  friend  of 
M'Instry's,  who  scenting  the  carrion  afar  off,  had  come  from 
Detroit,  in  Michigan,  to  St.  Louis.     M'Instry  himself  had  also 
come  from  Detroit.    In  this  case  Elleard  was  simply  directed 
by  M'Instry  to  share  his  profits  with  Brady,  and  consequently 
paid  to  Brady  4000/.,  although  Brady  gave  to  the  business  nei- 
ther capital  nor  labour.    He  simply  took  the  4000/.  as  the  Quar- 
termaster's friend.    This  Elleard,  it  seems,  also  gave  a  carriage 
and  horses  to  Mrs.  Fremont.    Indeed  Elleard  seems  to  have 
been  a  civil  and  generous  fellow.    Then  there  is  a  man  named 
Thompson,  whose  case  is  very  amusing.     Of  him  the  Commit- 
tee thus  speaks : — "  It  must  be  said  that  Thompson  was  not  for- 
getful of  the  obligations  of  gratitude,  for,  after  he  got  through 
with  the  contract,  he  presented  the  son  of  Major  M'Instry 
with  a  riding  pony.    That  was  the  only  mark  of  respect,"  to 
use  his  own  words,  "  that  he  showed  to  the  family  of  Major 
M'Instry." 

General  Fremont  himself  desired  that  a  contract  should  be 


THE  ABMY  OF  THE  NORTH. 


439 


BOOOZ.  to 
families 
rmaster's 
Beard  is 
[\e  Major- 
lich  could 
ister's  de- 
10  money 
nont  have 
lis  govern- 
as  Beard? 
fraudulent 
[nstry  was 
I  cannot 
^eil  comes 
,  could  get 
some  such 
i  Neil  and 
being  also 
He  bought 
L  them  him- 
iniUtary  in- 
All  this  was 
aimself  deal 
Elleard  got 
8000Z.    But 
a  friend  of 
.  come  from 
^elf  had  also 
ply  directed 
ionsequently 
Dusiuess  nei- 
as  the  Quar- 
e  a  carriage 
,ms  to  have   I 
man  named 
,he  Commit- 
was  not  for- 
got through 
iSr  M'lnstry 
respect,"  to 
ily  of  Major 

let  should  he 


made  with  one  Augustus  Sacchi  for  a  thousand  Canadian 
horses.  It  turned  out  that  Sacchi  was  "  nobody :  a  man  of 
Btraw  living  in  a  garret  in  New  York  whom  nobody  knew,  a 
man  who  was  brought  out  there" — to  St.  Louis — "  as  a  good 
person  through  whom  to  work."  "  It  will  hardly  be  believed," 
says  the  report,  "  that  the  name  of  this  same  man  Sacchi  ap- 
pears in  the  newspapers  as  being  on  the  staff  of  General  Fre- 
mont, at  Springfield,  with  the  rank  of  captain." 

I  do  not  know  that  any  good  would  result  from  my  pursu- 
ing further  the  details  of  this  wonderful  report.  The  remain- 
ing portion  of  it  refers  solely  to  the  command  held  by  General 
Fremont  in  Missouri,  and  adds  proof  upon  proof  of  the  gross 
robberies  inflicted  upon  the  government  of  the  States  by  the 
very  persons  set  in  high  authority  to  protect  the  government. 
We  learn  how  all  utensils  for  the  camp,  kettles,  blankets,  shoes, 
mess-pans,  &c.,  were  supplied  by  one  firm,  without  a  contract, 
at  an  enormous  price,  and  of  a  quality  so  bad  as  to  be  almost 
useless,  because  the  Quartermaster  was  under  obligations  to  the 
partners.  We  learn  that  one  partner  in  that  firm  gave  40/. 
towards  n  service  of  plate  for  the  Quartermaster,  and  60/.  to- 
wards a  carriage  for  Mrs.  Fremont.  We  learn  how  futile  were 
the  efibrts  of  any  honest  tradesman  to  supply  good  shoes  to 
soldiers  who  were  shoeless,  and  the  history  of  one  special  pair 
of  shoes  which  was  thrust  under  the  nose  of  the  Quartermaster 
is  very  amusing.  We  learn  that  a  certain  paymaster  properly 
refused  to  settle  an  account  for  matters  with  which  he  had  no 
concern,  and  that  General  Fremont  at  once  sent  down  soldiers 
to  arrest  him  unless  he  made  the  illegal  payment.  In  October 
1000/.  was  expended  in  ice,  all  which  ice  was  wasted.  Regi- 
ments were  sent  hither  and  thither  with  no  military  purpose, 
merely  because  certain  officers,  calling  themselves  generals, 
desired  to  make  up  brigades  for  themselves.  Indeed  every 
description  of  fraud  was  perpetrated,  and  this  was  done  not 
through  the  negligence  of  those  in  high  command,  but  by  their 
connivance  and  often  with  their  express  authority. 

It  will  be  said  that  the  conduct  of  General  Fremont  during 
the  days  of  his  command  in  Missouri  is  not  a  matter  of  much 
moment  to  us  in  England ;  that  it  has  been  properly  handled 
by  the  Committee  of  Representatives  appointed  by  the  Amer- 
ican Congress  to  inquire  into  the  matter ;  and  that  after  the 
publication  of  such  a  report  by  them,  it  is  ungenerous  in  a 
writer  from  another  nation  to  speak  upon  the  subject.  This 
would  be  so  if  the  inquiries  made  by  that  Committee  and  their 
report  had  resulted  in  any  general  condemnation  of  the  men 


'     t* 


i      . 


U\' 


440 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


whose  misdeeds  and  peculations  have  been  exposed.  This, 
however,  is  by  no  means  the  case.  Those  who  were  hereto- 
fore opposed  to  General  F^remont  on  political  principles  are  op- 
posed to  him  still ;  but  those  who  heretofore  supported  him 
are  ready  to  support  him  again.*  He  has  not  been  placed  be- 
yond the  pale  of  public  favour  by  the  record  which  has  been 
made  of  his  public  misdeeds.  He  is  decried  by  the  democrats 
because  he  is  a  republican,  and  by  the  anti-abolitionists  because 
he  is  an  abolitionist;  but  he  is  not  decried  because  he  has  shown 
himself  to  be  dishonest  in  the  service  of  his  government.  He 
was  dismissed  from  his  command  in  the  West,  but  men  on  his 
side  of  the  question  declare  that  he  was  so  dismissed  because 
his  political  opp  )nents  had  prevailed.  Now,  at  the  moment 
that  I  am  writing  this,  men  are  saying  that  the  President  must 
give  him  another  command.  He  is  still  a  major-general  in  the 
army  of  the  State,  and  is  as  probable  a  candidate  as  any  other 
that  I  could  name  for  the  next  Presidency. 

The  same  argument  must  be  used  with  reference  to  the  other 
gentlemen  named.  Mr.  Welles  is  still  s,  Cabinet  Minister  and 
Secretary  for  the  Navy.  It  has  been  found  impossible  to  keep 
Mr.  Cameron  in  the  Cabinet,  but  he  was  named  as  the  Minister 
of  the  States'  government  to  Russia  after  the  publication  of  tlie 
Van  Wyck  report,  when  the  result  of  his  old  political  friend- 
ship with  Mr.  Alexander  Cummings  was  well  known  to  the 
President  who  appointed  him  and  to  the  Senate  who  sanctioned 
his  appointment.  The  individual  corruption  of  any  one  man— 
of  any  ten  men — ^is  not  much.  It  should  not  be  insisted  on 
loudly  by  any  foreigner  in  making  up  a  balance-sheet  of  the 
virtues  and  vices  of  the  good  and  bad  qualities  of  any  nation. 
But  the  light  in  which  such  corruption  is  viewed  by  the  people 
whom  it  most  nearly  concerns  is  very  much.  I  am  far  from 
saying  that  democracy  has  failed  in  America.  Democracy 
there  has  done  great  things  for  a  numerous  people,  and  will 
yet,  as  I  think,  be  successful.  But  that  doctrine  as  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  smartness  must  be  eschewed  before  a  verdict  in  fa- 
vour of  American  democracy  can  be  pronounced.  "  It  behoves 
a  man  to  be  smart,  sir."    In  those  words  are  contained  the 

*  Since  this  was  written  Greneral  Fremont  has  been  restored  to  high  mili- 
tary command,  and  now  holds  equal  rank  and  equal  authority  with  MaclellRn 
and  Halleck.  In  fact,  the  charges  made  against  him  by  the  Committee  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  have  not  been  allowed  to  stand  in  his  way.  He 
is  politically  popular  with  a  large  section  of  the  nation,  and  therefore  ii  has 
been  thought  well  to  promote  him  to  high  place.  Whether  he  be  fit  for  such 
place,  either  as  regards  capability  or  integrity,  seoms  to  be  considered  of  no 
moment. 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


441 


This, 
bereto- 
are  op- 
ted him 
aced  be- 
las  been 
jmocrats 
\  because 
as  shown 
ent.    He 
en  on  his 
I  because 
j  Tnoment 
lent  must 
jral  in  the 
any  other 

3  the  other 
inister  and 
ole  to  keep 
ae  Minister 
ition  of  the 
Acal  friend- 
»\vn  to  the 
sanctioned 
one  man— 
linsisted  on 
^eet  of  the 
any  nation. 
the  people 
a  far  from 
[Democracy 
le,  and  will 
is  to  the  ne- 
>rdict  in  fa- 
it It  behoves 
[ntained  the 

L  to  high  mili- 
ivith  Maclellan 
[committee  of 

this  way.  "•'' 
Iherefore  it  has 
1  be  fit  for  such 
Insideredofno 


curse  nnder  which  the  States'  government  has  been  suffering 
for  the  last  thirty  years.  Let  us  hope  that  the  people  will  find 
a  mode  of  ridding  themselves  of  that  curse.  I,  for  one,  believe 
that  they  will  do  so. 


CHAPTER  XXVm. 

BACK   TO   BOSTON. 

From  Louisville  we  returned  to  Cincinnati,  in  making  which 
journey  we  were  taken  to  a  place  called  Seymour  in  Indiana, 
at  which  spot  we  were  to  "  make  connection"  with  the  train 
running  on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  line  from  St.  Louis  to  Cin- 
cinnati.   We  did  make  the  connection,  but  were  called  upon 
to  remain  four  hours  at  Seymour  in  consequence  of  some  acci- 
dent on  the  line.    In  the  same  way,  when  going  eastwards 
from  Cincinnati  to  Baltimore  a  few  days  later,  I  was  detained 
another  four  hours  at  a  place  called  Crossline,  in  Ohio.    On 
both  occasions  I  spent  ray  time  in  realizing,  as  far  as  that  might 
be  possible,  the  sort  of  life  which  men  lead  who  settle  them- 
selves at  such  localities.    Both  these  towns, — for  they  call 
themselves  towns,-— had  been  created  by  the  railways.    Indeed 
this  has  been  the  case  with  almost  every  place  at  which  a  few 
hundred  inhabitants  have  been  drawji  together  in  the  Western 
States.  With  the  exception  of  such  cities  as  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
and  Cincinnati,  settlers  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  chosen  their 
own  localities.    These  have  been  chosen  for  them  by  the  orig- 
inators of  the  different  lines  of  railway.    And  there  is  nothing 
in  Europe  in  any  way  like  to  these  western  railway  settlements. 
In  the  first  place  the  line  of  the  rails  runs  through  the  main 
street  of  the  town,  and  forms  not  unfrequently  the  only  road. 
At  Seymour  I  could  find  no  way  of  getting  away  from  the  rails 
unless  I  went  into  the  fields.    At  Crossline,  which  is  a  larger 
place,  I  did  find  a  street  in  which  there  was  no  railroad,  but  it 
was  deserted,  and  manifestly  out  of  favour  with  the  inhabitants. 
As  there  were  railway  junctions  at  both  these  posts,  there  were 
of  course  cross-streets,  and  the  houses  extended  themselves  from 
the  centre  thus  made  along  the  lines,  houses  being  added  to 
houses  at  short  intervals  as  new  comers  settled  themselves 
down.    The  panting  and  groaning,  and  whistling  of  engines  is 
continual;  for  at  such  places  freight  trains  are  always  kept 
waiting  for  passenger  trains,  and  the  slower  freight  trains  for 
those  which  are  called  fast.    This  is  the  life  of  the  town ;  and 
indeed  as  the  whole  place  is  dependent  on  the  railway,  so  is  the 

T2 


]'\ 


M 


442 


KOBTII   AMERICA. 


I 


I 


1  r^:^ 


railway  held  in  favour  and  beloved.    The  noise  of  the  engines 
is  not  disliked,  nor  are  its  puffings  and  groanings  held  to  be 
unmusical.     With  us  a  locomotive  steam-engine  is  still,  as  it 
were,  a  beast  of  prey,  against  which  one  has  to  be  on  one's 
guard, — in  respect  to  which  one  specially  warns  the  children. 
Sut  there,  in  the  Western  States,  it  has  been  taken  to  the 
bosoms  of  them  all  as  a  domestic  animal ;  no  one  fears  it,  and 
the  little  children  run  about  almost  among  its  wheels.    It  is 
petted  and  made  much  of  on  all  sides, — and,  as  far  as  I  know, 
It  seldom  bites  or  tears.     I  have  not  heard  of  children  being 
destroyed  wholesale  in  the  streets,  or  of  drunken  men  beconi- 
ing  frequent  sacrifices.     But  had  I  been  consulted  beforehand 
as  to  the  natural  effects  of  such  an  arrangement,  I  should  have 
said  that  no  child  could  have  been  reared  in  such  a  town,  and 
that  any  continuance  of  population  under  such  circumstances 
must  have  been  impracticable. 

Such  places,  however,  do  thrive  and  prosper  with  a  prosper- 
ity especially  their  own,  and  the  boys  and  girls  increase  and 
multiply  in  spite  of  all  dangers.  With  us  in  England,  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  realize  the  importance  which  is  attached  to  a  railway 
in  the  States,  and  the  results  which  a  railway  creates.  We 
have  roads  everywhere,  and  our  country  had  been  cultivated 
throughout,  with  more  or  less  care,  before  our  system  of  rail- 
ways had  been  commenced ;  but  in  America,  especially  in  the 
North,  the  railways  have  been  the  precursors  of  cultivation. 
They  have  been  carried  hither  and  thither,  through  primeval 
forests  and  over  prairies,  with  small  hope  of  other  traffic  than 
that  which  they  themselves  would  make  by  their  own  influ- 
ences. The  people  settling  on  their  edges  have  had  the  very 
best  of  all  roads  at  their  service ;  but  they  have  had  no  other 
roads.  The  face  of  the  country  between  one  settlement  and 
another  is  still  in  many  cases  utterly  unknown ;  but  there  is 
the  connecting  road  by  which  produce  is  carried  away,  and 
new  comers  are  brought  in.  The  town  that  is  distant  a  hund- 
red miles  by  the  rail  is  so  near  that  its  inhabitants  are  neigh- 
bours ;  but  a  settlement  twenty  miles  distant  across  the  unclear- 
ed country  is  unknown,  unvisited,  and  probably  unheard  of  by 
the  women  and  children.  Under  such  circumstances  the  rail- 
way is  everything.  It  is  the  first  necessity  of  life,  and  gives 
the  only  hope  of  wealth.  It  is  the  backbone  of  existence  from 
whence  spring,  and  by  which  are  protected,  all  the  vital  organs 
and  functions  of  the  community.  It  is  the  right  arm  of  civili- 
zation for  the  people,  and  the  discoverer  of  the  fertility  of  the 
land.     It  is  all  in  all  to  those  people,  and  to  those  regions.    It 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


443 


engines 
Id  to  l)e 
till,  as  it 
on  one's 
cliiMvcn. 
ill  to  the 
rs  it,  and 
lis.    It  is 
B  I  know, 
ren  being 
jn  Toecom- 
eforehand 
lould  have 
town,  and 
[umstances 

a  prosper- 
crease  and 
ad,  it  is  dif- 
0  a  railway 
eates.    We 
a  cultivated 
tem  of  rail- 
dally  in  the 
cultivation, 
rli  primeval 
^traffic  than 
;  own  influ- 
ad  the  very 
ad  no  other 
tlement  and 
but  there  is 
I  away,  and 
tant  a  hund- 
;s  are  neigh- 
the  uncleav- 
iheard  of  hy 
ices  the  rail- 
■e,  and  gives 
istence  from 
.vital  organs 
arm  of  civiji- 
srtilityofthc 
regions-    1'' 


L* 


has  supplied  the  wants  of  frontier  life  with  all  the  substantial 
comfort  of  the  cities,  and  carried  education,  progress,  and  so- 
cial habits  into  the  wilderness.  To  the  eye  oif  the  stranger  such 
places  as  Seymour  and  Crossline  are  desolate  and  dreary. 
There  is  nothing  of  beauty  in  them,  given  either  by  nature  or 
hy  art.  The  railway  itself  is  ugly,  and  its  numerous  sidings 
and  branches  form  a  mass  of  iron  road  which  is  bewildering, 
and,  according  to  my  ideas,  in  itself  disagreeable.  The  wood- 
en houses  open  down  upon  the  line,  and  have  no  gardens  to  re- 
lieve them.  A  foreigner,  when  first  surveying  such  a  spot,  will 
certainly  record  within  himself  a  verdict  against  it ;  but  in  do- 
ing so  ho  probably  commits  the  error  of  judging  it  by  a  wrong 
standard.  He  should  compare  it  with  the  new  settlements 
which  men  have  opened  up  in  spots  where  no  railway  has  as- 
sisted them,  and  not  with  old  towns  in  which  wealth  -.^s  long 
heen  congregated.  The  traveller  may  see  what  is  the  place 
with  the  railway ;  then  let  him  consider  how  it  might  have 
thriven  without  the  railway. 

I  confess  that  I  became  tired  of  my  sojourn  at  both  the 
places  I  have  named.    At  each  I  think  that  I  saw  every  house 
in  the  place,  although  my  visit  to  Seymour  was  made  in  the 
night;  and  at  both  I  was  lamentably  at  a  loss  for  something  to 
do.    At  Crossline  I  was  all  alone,  and  began  to  feel  that  the 
hours  which  I  knew  must  pass  before  the  missing  train  could 
come,  would  never  make  away  with  themselves.    There  were 
many  others  stationed  there  as  I  was,  but  to  them  had  been 
given  a  capability  for  loafing  which  niggardly  Nature  has  de- 
nied to  me.    An  American  has  the  power  of  seating  himself 
in  the  close  vicinity  of  a  hot  stove  and  feeding  in  silence  on  his 
own  thoughts  by  the  hour  together.    It  may  be  that  he  will 
smoke ;  but  after  a  while  his  cigar  will  come  to  an  end.    He 
sits  on,  however,  certainly  patient,  and  apparently  contented. 
It  may  be  that  he  chews,  but  if  so,  he  does  it  with  motionless 
jaws,  and  so  slow  a  mastication  of  the  pabulum  on  which  he 
feeds,  that  his  employment  in  this  respect  only  disturbs  the  ab- 
solute quiet  of  the  circle  when,  at  certain  long,  distant  inter- 
vals, he  deposits  the  secretion  of  his  tobacco  in  an  ornamental 
ntensil  which  may  probably  be  placed  in  the  furthest  corner 
of  the  hall.    But  during  all  this  time  he  is  happy.    It  does  not 
fret  him  to  sit  there  and  think  and  do  nothing.    He  is  by  no 
means  an  idle  man, — probably  one  much  given  to  commercial 
enterprise.    Idle  men  out  there  in  the  West  we  may  say  there 
are  none.    How  should  any  idle  man  live  in  such  a  country  ? 
All  who  ware  sitting  hour  after  hour  in  that  circle  round  the 


^ik; 


E-".' 


'  1 


444 


NOETU   AMERICA. 


i 


•   i 


I: 


Stove  of  the  Crosslino  Hotel  hall, — sitting  there  hour  after  hour 
in  Rilence,  as  I  could  not  sit, — were  men  who  earned  their  bread 
by  labour.    They  were  farmers,  mechanics,  storekeepers ;  there 
was  a  lawyer  or  two,  and  one  clergyman.     Sufficient  conversa- 
tion took  place  at  first  to  indicate  the  professions  of  many  of 
them.     One  may  conclude  that  there  could  not  be  place  there 
for  an  idle  man.     But  they  all  of  them  had  a  capacity  for  a 
prolonged  state  of  doing  nothing,  whicli  is  to  me  unintelligible, 
and  which  is  very  much  to  bo  envied.     They  are  patient  as 
cows,  which  from  hour  to  hour  lie  on  the  grass  chewing  their 
cud.     An  Englishman,  if  ho  be  kept  waiting  by  a  train  in  some 
forlorn  station  in  which  he  can  find  no  employment,  curses  his 
fate  and  all  that  has  led  to  his  present  misfortune  with  an  en- 
ergy which  tells  the  story  of  his  deep  and  thorough  misery. 
Such,  I  confess,  is  my  state  of  existence  under  such  circum- 
stances.   But  a  Western  American  gives  himself  up  to  "  loaf- 
ing," and  is  quite  happy.     He  balances  himself  on  the  back 
legs  of  an  arm-chair,  and  remains  so,  without  speaking,  drink- 
ing, or  smoking,  for  an  hour  at  a  stretch ;  and  while  he  is  do- 
ing so  he  looks  as  though  he  had  all  that  he  desired.    I  believe 
that  he  is  happy,  and  that  he  has  all  that  he  wants  for  such  an 
occasion ; — an  arm-chair  in  which  to  bH,  and  a  stove  on  which 
he  can  put  his  feet,  and  by  which  he  can  make  himself  warm. 
Such  was  not  the  phase  of  character  which  I  had  expected 
to  find  among  the  people  of  the  West.    Of  all  virtues,  patience 
would  have  been  the  last  which  I  should  have  thought  of  at- 
tributing to  them.     I  should  have  expected  to  see  them  angiy 
when  robbed  of  their  time,  and  irritable  under  the  stress  of 
such  grievances  as  railway  delays ;  but  they  are  never  irritable 
under  such  circumstances  as  I  have  attempted  to  describe,  nor, 
indeed,  are  they  a  people  prone  to  irritation  under  any  griev- 
ances.   Even  in  political  matters  they  are  long-enduring,  and 
do  not  form  themselves  into  mobs  for  the  expression  of  hot 
opinion.     We  in  England  thought  that  masses  of  the  people 
would  rise  in  anger  if  Mr.  Lincoln's  government  should  consent 
to  give  up  Slidell  and  Mason ;  but  the  people  bore  it  without 
any  rising.    The  habeas  corpus  has  been  suspended,  the  liberty 
of  the  press  has  been  destroyed  for  a  time,  the  telegraph  wires 
have  been  taken  up  by  the  government  into  their  own  hands; 
but  nevertheless  the  people  have  said  nothing.    There  has  been 
no  rising  of  a  mob,  and  not  even  an  expression  of  an  adverse 
opinion.    The  people  require  to  be  allowed  to  vote  periodical- 
ly, and  having  acquired  that  privilege  permit  other  matters  to 
go  by  the  board.    In  this  respect  we  have,  I  think,  in  some  de- 


BACK  TO  BOSTON. 


445 


[Y  breud 

i;  there 

jnversa- 

nany  of 

cc  tliero 

ty  for  a 

elligiblc, 

atient  us 

ing  their 

I  in  Bomo 

curses  hia 

th  an  cn- 

h  misery. 

h  circum- 

•  to  "  loat- 
tho  hack 

lug,  clviuk. 

3  he  is  do- 
I  believe 

for  such  an 

6  on  which 

elf  warm. 

d  expected 

BS,  patience 

lUght  of  at- 
hem  angry 

[e  stress  of 
er  irritable 
sscribe,  nor, 
any  griev- 
juring,  and 
ision  of  hot 
the  people 
luld  consent 
,  it  without 
',  the  liberty 
graph  wires 
[own  hands; 
sre  has  been 
an  adverse 
periodical- 
matters  to 
in  some  de- 


prco  misundorstood  thoir  character.  They  have  all  been  taught 
to  rcveniiice  tlio  nature  of  tliat  form  of  government  under  which 
tlioy  live,  but  they  arc  not  specially  addicted  to  hot  j)oHtical 
I'eriiiontation.  They  have  learned  to  understand  that  demo- 
cratic institutions  have  given  them  liberty,  and  on  that  subject 
they  entertain  a  strong  conviction  which  is  universal.  But  they 
have  not  habitually  interested  themselves  deeply  in  the  doings 
of  their  legislators  or  of  their  government.  On  the  subject  of 
slavery  there  have  been  and  are  diflferent  opinions,  held  with 
great  tenacity,  and  maintained  occasionally  with  violence ;  but 
on  o*hQv  subjects  of  daily  policy  the  American  people  have  not, 
I  *)\a  been  eager  politicians.  Leading  men  in  public  life 
\  n  much  less  trammelled  by  popular  will  than  amon^ 
.ndeed  with  us  tlie  most  conspicuous  of  our  statesmen  and 


Ub. 


lcgiB.ators  do  not  lead,  but  are  led.  In  the  States  the  noted 
politicians  of  the  day  have  been  the  leaders,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  the  coercers  of  opinion.  Seeing  this,  I  claim  for  En- 
gland a  broader  freedom  in  political  matters  than  the  States 
have  as  yet  achieved.  In  speaking  of  the  American  form  of 
government,  I  wilL  endeavour  to  explain  more  clearly  the  ideas 
which  I  have  come  to  hold  on  this  matter. 

I  survived  my  delay  at  Seymour,  Jil'ter  which  I  passed  again 
through  Cincinnati,  and  then  survived  my  subsequent  delay  at 
Crossline.    As  to  Cincinnati,  I  must  put  on  record  the  result 
of  a  country  walk  which  I  took  there, — or  rather  on  which  I 
was  taken  by  my  friend.     lie  professed  to  know  the  beauties 
of  the  neighbourhood,  and  to  be  well  acquainted  with  all  that 
was  attractive  in  its  vicinity.     Cincinnati  is  built  on  the  Ohio, 
and  is  closely  surrounded  by  picturesque  hills  which  overhang 
the  suburbs  of  the  city.    Over  these  I  was  taken,  ploughing  my 
way  through  a  depth  of  mud  which  cannot  be  understood  by 
any  ordinary  Englishman.     But  the  depth  of  mud  was  not  the 
only  impediment,  nor  the  worst  which  we  encountered.    As  we 
hegan  to  ascend  from  the  level  of  the  outskirts  of  the  town  we 
were  greeted  by  a  rising  flavour  in  the  air,  which  soon  grew 
into  a  strong  odour,  and  at  last  developed  itself  into  a  stench 
that  surpassed  in  offensiveness  anything  that  my  nose  had  ever 
hitherto  suffered.    When  we  were  at  the  worst  we  hardly  knew 
whether  to  descend  or  to  proceed.    It  had  so  increased  in  vir- 
ulence, that  at  one  time  I  felt  sure  that  it  arose  from  some  mat- 
ter buried  in  the  ground  beneath  my  feet.    But  my  friend,  who 
declared  himself  to  be  quite  at  home  in  Cincinnati  matters,  and 
to  understand  the  details  of  the  great  Cincinnati  trade,  declared 
against  this  opinion  of  mine.    Hogs,  he  said,  were  at  the  bot- 


%i 


440 


KOKTII   AMERICA. 


hi 


torn  of  it.    It  was  the  odour  of  hojcfs  goinj?  up  to  the  Oliio 
licavens ; — of  hogs  in  a  state  of  transit  from  hoggish  nature  to 
clotlicH-bruslics,  saddles,  sausages,  and  lard.     He  spoke  with  an 
authority  that  constrained  belief;  but  I  can  never  forgive  liim 
in  that  he  took  me  over  those  hills,  knowing  all  that  he  profess- 
ed to  know.     Let  the  visitors  to  Cincinnati  keep  themselves 
within  the  city,  and  not  wander  forth  among  the  mountaiiiH. 
It  is  well  that  the  odour  of  hogs  should  ascend  to  heaven  and 
not  hang  heavy  over  the  streets;  but  it  is  not  well  to  intercept 
that  odour  in  its  ascent.     My  friend  became  ill  with  fever,  and 
had  to  betake  himself  to  the  care  of  nursing  friends  ;  so  that  I 
parted  company  with  him  at  Cincinnati.     I  did  not  tell  him 
that  his  illness  was  deserved  as  well  as  natural,  but  such  was 
my  feeling  on  the  matter.     I  myself  happily  escaped  the  evil 
consequences  which  his  imprudence  might  have  entailed  on  me. 
I  passed  again  through  Pittsburg,  and  over  tlie  Alleghany 
mountains  by  Altoona,  and  down  to  Baltimore, — back  into  civ- 
ilization,  secession,  conversation,  and  gastronomy.    I  never  had 
secessionist  sympathies  and  never  expressed  them.     I  always 
believed  in  the  North  as  a  people, — discrediting,  however,  to 
the  utmost  the  existing  northern  Government,  or,  as  I  should 
more  properly  say,  the  existing  northern  Cabinet ;  but  never- 
theless, with  such  feelings  and  such  belief,  I  found  myself  very 
happy  at  Baltimore.     Putting  aside  Boston,  which  must,  I 
thmK,  be  generally  preferred  by  Englishmen  to  any  other  city 
in  the  States,  I  should  choose  Baltimore  as  my  residence  if  I 
were  called  upon  to  live  in  America.    I  am  not  led  to  this 
opinion,  if  I  know  myself,  solely  by  the  canvas-back  ducks ;  and 
as  to  the  terrapins,  1  throw  them  to  the  winds.    The  madeira, 
which  is  still  kept  there  with  a  reverence  which  I  should  call 
superstitious  were  it  not  that  its  free  circulation  among  outside 
worshippers  prohibits  the  just  use  of  such  a  word,  may  have 
something  to  do  with  it ;  as  may  also  the  beauty  of  the  wom- 
en,— to  some  small  extent.    Trifles  do  bear  upon  our  happiness 
in  a  manner  that  we  do  not  ourselves  understand,  and  of  which 
we  are  unconscious.    But  there  was  an  English  look  about  the 
streets  and  houses  which  I  think  had  as  much  to  do  with  it  as 
either  the  wine,  the  women,  or  the  ducks ;  and  it  seemed  to  me 
as  though  the  raanneid  of  the  people  of  Maryland  were  more 
English  than  those  of  other  Americans.    I  do  not  say  that  they 
were  on  this  account  better.    My  English  hat  is,  I  am  well 
aware,  less  graceful,  and  I  believe  less  comfortable,  than  a  Turk- 
ish fez   and  turban;  nevertheless  I  prefer  my  English  hat. 
New  York  I  regard  as  the  most  thoroughly  American  of  all 


BACK   TO   BOSTOJ^. 


447 


Amoric.in  oitioH.  It  is  by  no  nicaiiH  tlio  one  in  which  I  Hhould 
lind  niyBclt'  the  happiest,  but  I  do  not  on  that  account  con- 
demn it. 

I  have  said  tliat  in  returning  to  l^altimorc  I  found  niyRclf 
among  secossioniHts.  In  so  Haying,  I  intend  to  speak  of  a  cer- 
tiiin  net  whoso  influence  depends  perliaps  more  on  their  wealth, 
position,  and  education  than  on  their  numbers.  I  do  not  think 
that  the  population  of  the  city  was  then  in  favour  of  secession, 
even  if  it  had  ever  been  so.  I  believe  that  the  mob  of  Balti- 
more is  probably  the  roughest  mob  in  the  States, — is  more  akin 
to  a  Paris  mob,  and  I  may,  perhaps,  also  say  to  a  Manchester 
mob,  than  that  of  any  other  American  city.  There  arc  more 
roughs  in  Baltimore  than  elsewhere,  and  the  roughs  there  are 
rougher.  In  those  early  days  of  secession,  when  the  troops 
were  being  first  hurried  down  from  New  England  for  the  pro- 
tection of  Washington,  this  mob  was  vehemently  opposed  to 
il3  progress.  Men  had  been  taught  to  think  that  the  rights  of 
the  State  of  Maryland  'were  being  invaded  by  the  passage  of 
the  soldiers;  and  they  Jilso  Avere  undoubtedly  imbued  with  a 
strong  prepossession  for  the  southern  cause.  The  two  ideas 
had  then  gone  together.  But  the  mob  of  Baltimore  had  ceased 
to  be  secessionists  within  twelve  mouths  of  their  first  exploit. 
In  April,  1861,  they  had  refused  to  allow  Massachusetts  sol- 
diers to  pass  through  the  town  on  their  way  to  Washington ; 
and  in  February,  1862,  they  were  nailing  Union  flags  on  tho 
door-posts  of  those  who  refused  to  display  such  banners  as  signs 
of  triumph  at  the  northern  victories! 

That  Maryland  can  ever  go  with  the  South,  even  in  the 
event  of  the  South  succeeding  in  secession,  no  Marylander  can 
believe.  It  is  not  pretended  that  there  is  any  struggle  now 
going  on  with  such  an  object.  No  such  result  has  been  ex- 
pected, certainly  since  the  possession  of  Washington  was  se- 
cured to  the  North  by  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  By  few,  I 
believe,  was  such  a  result  expected  even  when  Washington  was 
insecure.  And  yet  the  feeling  for  secession  among  a  certain 
class  in  Baltimore  is  as  strong  now  as  ever  it  was.  And  it  is 
equally  strong  in  certain  districts  of  the  State, — in  those  dis- 
tricts which  are  most  akin  to  Virginia  in  their  habits,  modes 
of  thought,  and  ties  of  friendship.  These  men,  and  these  wom- 
en also,  pray  for  the  South  if  they  be  pious,  give  their  money 
to  the  South  if  they  be  generous,  work  for  the  South  if  they  be 
industrious,  fight  for  the  South  if  they  be  young,  and  talk  for 
the  South  mornmg,  noon,  and  night  in  spite  of  General  Dix 
and  his  columbiads  on  Federal  Hill.    It  is  in  vain  to  say  that 


l# 


1,  , 


448 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


such  men  and  women  have  no  strong  feeling  on  the  matter, 
and  that  they  are  prayhig,  working,  fighting,  and  talking  under 
dictation.  Their  hearts  are  in  it.  And  judging  IVoiii  them, 
even  though  there  were  no  other  evidence  liom  which  to  judge, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  a  similar  feeling  is  strong  through  all 
the  seceding  States.  On  this  subject  the  North,  I  think,  de- 
ceives itself  in  supposing  that  the  southern  rebellion  has  boen 
carried  on  without  any  strong  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
southern  people.  Whether  the  mob  of  Charleston  be  like  the 
mob  of  Baltimore  I  cannot  tell ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  as  to  the 
gentry  of  Charleston  ana  the  gentry  of  Baltimore  being  in  ac- 
cord on  the  subject. 

In  what  way,  then,  when  the  question  has  been  settled  by 
the  force  of  arms,  will  these  classes  find  themselves  obliged  to 
act  ?  In  Virginia  and  Maryland  they  comprise,  as  a  rule,  the 
highest  and  best  educated  of  the  people.  As  to  parts  of  Ken- 
tucky the  same  thing  may  be  said,  and  probably  as  to  the 
whole  of  Tennessee.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  is  not 
as  though  certain  aristocratic  families  in  a  few  English  counties 
should  find  themselves  divided  off  from  the  politics  and  nation- 
al aspirations  of  their  countrymen, — as  was  the  case  long  since 
with  reference  to  the  Roman  Catholic  adherents  of  the  Stuarts, 
and  as  has  been  the  case  since  then  in  a  lesser  degree  with  the 
firmest  of  the  old  Tories  who  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  de- 
ceived by  Sir  Robert  Peel.  In  each  of  these  cases  the  minor- 
ity ctf  dissentients  was  so  small  that  the  nation  suffered  noth- 
ing, though  individuals  were  all  but  robbed  of  their  nationality. 
But  as  regards  America  it  must  be  remembered  that  each  State 
has  in  itself  a  governing  power,  and  is  in  fact  a  separate  peo- 
ple. Each  has  its  own  legislature,  and  must  have  its  own  line 
of  politics. 

The  secessionists  of  Maryland  and  of  Virginia  may  consent  to 
live  in  obscurity;  but  it  this  be  so,  who  is  to  rule  in  those 
States  ?  From  whence  are  to  come  the  senators  and  the  mem- 
bers of  Congress ;  the  governors  and  attorney-generals  ?  From 
whence  is  to  come  the  national  spirit  of  the  tw  o  States,  and  the 
salt  that  shall  preserve  their  political  life  ?  I  have  never  be- 
lieved that  these  States  would  succeed  in  secession.  I  have  al- 
ways felt  that  they  would  be  held  within  the  Union,  whatever 
might  be  their  own  wishes.  But  I  think  that  they  will  be  so 
held  in  a  manner  and  after  a  fashion  that  will  render  any  polit- 
ical vitality  almost  impc  jsible  till  a  new  generation  shall  have 
sprung  up.  In  the  meantime  life  goes  on  pleasantly  enough  in 
Baltimore,  and  ladies  meet  together,  knitting  stockings  and 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


449 


sewing  shirts  for  the  southern  soldiers,  while  the  gentlemen 
talk  southern  politics  and  drink  the  health  of  the  (southern) 
President  in  ambiguous  terras  as  our  Cavaliers  used  to  drink 
the  health  of  the  king. 

During  my  second  visit  to  Baltimore  I  went  over  to  Wash- 
ington for  a  day  or  two,  and  found  the  capital  still  under  the 
empire  of  King  Mud.     How  the  elite  of  a  nation — for  the  in- 
habitants of  Washington  consider  themselves  to  be  the  elite — 
can  consent  to  live  in  such  a  state  of  thraldom,  a  foreigner  can- 
not understand.     Were  I  to  say  that  it  was  intended  to  be 
typical  of  the  condition  of  the  government,  I  might  be  cons'd- 
eied  cynical ;  but  undoubtedly  the  sloughs  of  despond  which 
were  deepest  in  their  despondency  were  to  be  found  in  locnU- 
ties  which  gave  an  appearance  of  truth  to  such  a  surmise.    The 
g<.cretary  of  State's  office  in  which  Mr.  Seward  was  stin  reign- 
ing, though  with  diminished  glory,  was  divided  from  the  Head- 
Quarters  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  which  are  immediately 
opposite  to  it,  bj  an  opaque  river  which  admitted  of  no  transit. 
These  buildings  stand  at  the  corner  of  President  Square,  and  it 
had  b-en  long  understood  that  any  close  intercourse  between 
iiiem  had  not  been  considered  desirable  by  the  occupants  of 
the  military  side  of  the  causeway.     But  the  Secretary  of  State's 
oiHce  was  altogether  unapproachable  without  a  long  circuit  and 
begrimed  legs.    The  Secretary-at-Wars  department  was,  if  pos- 
sible, in  a  worse  condition.    This  is  situated  on  the  other  side 
of  the  P''esident's  house,  and  the  mud  lay,  if  possible,  thicker  in 
this  quarter  than  it  did  round  Mr.  Seward's  chambers.    The 
passage  over  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  immediately  in  front  of  the 
War  Office,  was  a  thinr*  not  to  be  attempted  in  those  days. 
Mr.  Cameron,  it  is  true,  had  gone,  and  Mr.  Stanton  was  installed ; 
but  the  labour  of  cleansing  the  interior  of  that  estabUshment 
had  hitherto  allowed  no  time  for  a  glance  at  the  exterior  dirt, 
and  Mr.  Stanton  should,  perhaps,  be  held  as  excused.     That  the 
Navy  Office  should  be  buried  in  mud,  and  quite  debarred  from 
approach,  was  to  be  expected.    The  soace  immediately  in  front 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  own  residence  was  still  kept  fairly  clean,  and  I 
am  happy  to  be  able  to  give  testimony  to  this  effect.     Long 
may  it  remain  so.     I  could  not,  however,  but  think  that  an  en- 
ergetic and  careful  President  would  have  seen  to  the  removal 
of  the  dirt  from  his  own  immediate  neighbourhood.     It  was 
something  that  his  own  shoes  should  remain  unpolluted ;  but 
the  foul  mud  always  clinging  to  the  boots  and  leggings  of  those 
W  whom  he  was  daily  surrounded  must,  I  should  think,  have 
been  offensive  to  him.    The  entrance  to  the  Treasury  was  dif- 


P1 


450 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I    ' 


'  J 


,  'r> 


II 


It 


ficult  to  achieve  by  those  who  had  not  learned  by  practice  the 
ways  of  the  place ;  but  I  must  confess  that  a  tolerably  clear 
passage  was  maintained  on  that  side  which  led  immediately 
down  to  the  halls  of  Congress.  Up  at  the  Capitol  the  mud 
was  again  triumphant  in  the  front  of  the  building ;  this  how- 
ever was  not  of  great  importance,  as  the  legislative  chambers 
of  the  States  are  always  readied  by  the  back-door.  I,  on  this 
occasion,  attempted  to  leave  the  building  by  the  grand  entrance, 
but  I  soon  became  entangled  among  rivers  of  mud  and  mazes 
of  shifting  sand.  With  difficulty  I  recovered  my  steps,  and 
finding  my  way  back  to  the  building  was  forced  to  content  my- 
self  by  an  exit  among  the  crowd  of  senators  and  representa- 
tives who  were  thronging  down  the  back-stairs. 

Of  dirt  of  all  kinds  it  behoves  Washington  and  those  con- 
cerned in  Washington  to  make  themselves  free.    It  is  the  Au- 
gean stables  through  which  some  American  Hercules  must  turn 
a  purifying  river  before  the  American  people  can  justly  boast 
either  of  their  capital  or  of  their  p:overnment.     As  to  the  ma- 
terial mud,  enough  has  been  said.    The  presence  of  the  army 
perhaps  caused  it,  and  the  excessive  quantity  of  rain  which  had 
fallen  may  also  be  taken  as  a  fair  plea.     But  what  excuse  shall 
we  find  for  that  other  dirt  ?    It  also  had  been  caused  by  tue 
presence  of  the  army,  and  by  that  long-continued  down-pour- 
ing of  contracts  which  had  fallen  like  Danae's  golden  shower 
into  the  laps  of  those  who  understood  how  to  avail  themselves 
of  such  heavenly  waters.    The  leaders  of  the  rebellion  are  hated 
in  the  North.    The  names  of  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Cobb,  Toombs, 
and  Floyd  are  mentioned  with  execration  by  the  very  children. 
This  has  sprung  from  a  true  and  noble  feeling ;  from  a  patriot- 
ic love  of  national  greatness  and  a  hatred  of  those  who,  for 
small  party  purposes,  have  been  willing  to  lessen  the  name  of 
the  United  States.     I  have  reverenced  the  feeling  even  when  I 
have  not  shared  it.     But,  in  addition  to  this,  the  names  of  those 
also  should  be  execrated  who  have  robbed  their  country  when 
pretending  to  serve  it ;  who  have  taken  its  wages  in  the  days 
of  its  great  struggle,  and  at  the  same  time  have  filched  from 
its  coffers ;  who  have  undertaken  the  task  of  steering  the  ship 
through  the  storm  in  order  that  their  hands  might  be  deep  in 
the  meal-tub  and  the  bread-basket,  and  that  they  might  stuff 
their  own  sacks  with  the  ship's  provisions.    These  are  the  men 
who  must  be  loathed  by  the  nation, — whose  fate  must  be  held 
up  as  a  warning  to  others  before  good  can  come !     Northern 
men  and  women  talk  of  hanging  Davis  and  his  accomplices.   I 
myself  trust  that  there  will  be  no  hanging  when  the  war  is 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


451 


over.  I  believe  there  will  be  none,  for  the  Americans  are  not  a 
blood-thirsty  people.  But  if  jmnishment  of  any  kind  be  meted 
out,  the  men  of  the  North  should  understand  that  they  have 
worse  offenders  among  thera  than  Davis  and  Floyd. 

At  the  period  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  there  had  come 
a  change  over  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet.  Mr.  Seward 
was  still  his  Secretary  of  State,  but  he  was,  as  far  as  outside 
observers  could  judge,  no  longer  his  Prime  Minister.  In  the 
e.irly  days  of  the  war,  and  uji  to  the  departure  of  Mr.  Cameron 
from  out  of  the  cabinet,  Mr.  Seward  had  been  the  Minister  of 
the  nation.  In  his  despatches  he  talks  ever  of  We  or  of  I.  In 
every  word  of  his  official  writings,  of  which  a  large  volume  has 
been  published,  he  shows  plainly  that  he  intends  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  man  of  the  day, — as  the  hero  who  is  to  bring  the 
States  through  their  difficulties.  Mr.  Lincoln  may  be  King, 
but  Mr.  Seward  is  Mayor  of  the  Palace  and  carries  the  King  in 
his  pocket.  From  the  depth  of  his  own  wisdom  he  undertakes 
to  teach  his  ministers  in  all  parts  of  the  Avorld,  not  only  their 
duties,  but  their  proper  aspiration.  He  is  equally  kind  to  for- 
eign statesmen,  and  sends  to  them  messages  as  though  from  an 
altitude  which  no  European  politician  had  ever  reached.  At 
home  he  has  affected  the  Prime  Minister  in  everything,  drop- 
ping the  We  and  using  the  I  in  a  manner  that  has  hardly  made 
up  by  its  audacity  for  its  deficiency  in  discretion.  It  is  of  course 
known  everywhere  that  he  had  run  Mr.  Lincoln  very  hard  for 
the  position  of  republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Mr. 
Lincoln  beat  him,  and  Mr.  Seward  is  well  aware  that  in  the 
States  a  man  has  never  a  second  chance  for  the  Presidential 
chair.  Hence  has  arisen  his  ambition  to  make  for  himself  a 
new  place  in  the  annals  of  American  politics.  Hitherto  there 
has  been  no  Prime  Minister  known  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Seward  has  attempted  a  revolution  in  that 
matter,  and  has  essayed  to  fill  the  situation.  For  awhile  it  al- 
most seemed  that  he  was  successful.  He  interfered  with  the 
army,  and  his  interferences  were  endured.  He  took  upon  him- 
self the  business  of  the  police,  and  arrested  men  at  his  own  will 
and  pleasure.  The  habeas  corpus  was  in  his  hand,  and  his 
name  was  current  through  the  States  as  a  covering  authority 
for  every  outrage  on  the  old  laws.  Sufficient  craft,  or  perhaps 
cleverness,  he  possessed  to  organize  a  position  which  should 
give  him  a  power  greater  than  the  power  of  the  President;  but 
he  had  not  the  genius  which  would  enable  him  to  hold  it.  He 
made  foolish  prophecies  about  the  war,  and  talked  of  the  tri- 
umphs Avhich  he  would  win.    He  wrote  state  papers  on  mat- 


452 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I 


ters  which  he  did  not  understand,  and  gave  himself  the  airs  of 
diplomatic  learning  while  he  showed  himself  to  be  sadly  igno- 
rant  of  the  very  rudiments  of  diplomacy.  He  tried  to  joke  as 
Lord  Palmerston  jokes,  and  nobody  liked  his  joking.  He  was 
greedy  after  the  little  appanages  of  power,  taking  from  others 
who  loved  them  as  well  as  he  did,  privileges  with  which  he 
might  have  dispensed.  And  then,  lastly,  he  was  successful  in 
nothing.  He  had  given  himself  out  as  the  commander  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief;  but  then  under  his  command  nothing 
got  itself  done.  For  a  month  or  two  some  men  had  really  be- 
lieved in  Mr.  Seward.  The  policemen  of  the  country  had  come 
to  have  an  absolute  trust  in  him,  and  the  underlings  of  the 
public  offices  were  beginning  to  think  that  he  might  be  a  great 
man.  But  then,  as  is  ever  the  case  with  such  men,  there  came 
suddenly  a  downfall.  Mr.  Cameron  went  from  the  cabinet,  and 
everybody  knew  that  Mr.  Seward  would  be  no  longer  com- 
mander of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  His  prime  ministership 
was  gone  from  him,  and  he  sank  down  into  the  comparatively 
humble  position  of  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  itis  lettres 
de  cachet  no  longer  ran.  His  passport  system  was  repealed. 
His  prisoners  were  released.  And  though  it  is  too  much  to 
say  that  writs  of  habeas  corpus  were  no  longer  suspended,  the 
effect  and  very  meaning  of  the  suspension  was  at  once  altered. 
When  I  first  left  Washington  Mr.  Seward  was  the  only  minis- 
ter of  the  cabinet  whose  name  was  ever  mentioned  with  refer- 
ence to  any  great  political  measure.  When  I  returned  to 
Washington  Mr.  Stanton  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  leading  minister, 
and,  as  Secretary-at-War,  had  practically  the  management  of 
the  army  and  of  the  internal  police. 

I  have  spoken  ^cre  of  Mr.  Seward  by  name,  and  in  my  pre- 
ceding paragraphs  I  have  alluded  with  some  asperity  to  the 
dishonesty  of  certain  men  who  had  obtained  political  power 
under  Mr.  Lincoln  and  used  it  for  their  own  dishonest  purposes. 
I  trust  that  I  may  not  be  understood  as  bringing  any  such 
charges  against  Mr.  Seward.  That  such  dishonesty  has  been 
frightfully  prevalent  all  men  know  who  knew  any  thing  of 
Washington  during  the  year  1861.  In  a  former  chapter  I  have 
alluded  to  this  more  at  length,  stating  circumstances  and  in 
some  cases  giving  the  names  of  the  persons  charged  with  of- 
fences. Whenever  I  have  done  so,  I  have  based  my  statements 
on  the  Van  Wyck  Report,  and  the  evidence  therein  given. 
This  is  the  published  report  of  a  Committee  appointed  by  thv 
House  of  Representatives ;  and  as  it  has  been  before  the  world 
for  some  months  without  refutation,  I  think  that  I  have  a  right 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


463 


del*  of  the 
d  nothing 
.  really  be- 
'  had  come 
ngs  of  the 
be  a  great 
there  came 
!abmet,and 
Dnger  com- 
ttinistership 
mparatively 
His  lettres 
as  repealed. 
,00  much  to 
ipended,  the 
mce  altered. 
:  only  minis- 
I  with  refer- 
returned  to 
..g  minister, 
agement  of 


to  presume  it  to  be  true.*  On  no  less  authority  than  this  would 
I  consider  myself  justified  in  bringing  any  such  charge.  Of 
Mr.  Seward's  incompetency  I  have  heard  very  much  among 
American  politicians  ;  mncfi  also  of  his  ambition.  With  worse 
offences  than  these  I  have  not  heard  him  charged. 

At  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing,  February,  1862,  the 
long  list  of  military  successes  which  attended  the  northern 
army  through  the  late  winter  and  early  spring  had  commenced. 
Fort  Henry,  on  the  Tennessee  river,  had  first  been  taken,  and 
after  that.  Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cumberland  river,  also  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee.     Price  had  been  driven  out  of  Missouri 
into  Arkansas  by  General  Curtis,  acting  under  General  Ilal- 
leck's  orders.     The  chief  body  of  the  Confederate  army  in  the 
West  had  abandoned  the  fortified  position  which  they  had 
long  held  at  Bowling  Green,  in  the  south-western  district  of 
Kentucky.    Roanoke  Island,  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina, 
had  been  taken  by  General  Burnside's  expedition,  and  a  belief 
had  begun  to  manifest  itself  in  Washington  that  the  army  of 
the  Potomac  was  really  about  to  advance.     It  is  impossible  to 
explain  in  what  way  the  renewed  confidence  of  the  northern 
party  showed  itself,  or  how  one  learned  that  the  hopes  of  tho 
secessionists  were  waxing  dim;  but  it  was  so;  and  even  a 
stranger  became  aware  of  the  general  feeling  as  clearly  as 
though  it  were  a  .defined  and  established  fact.     In  the  early 
part  of  the  winter,  when  I  reached  Washington,  the  feeling 
ran  all  the  other  way.     Northern  men  did  not  say  that  they 
were  despondent ;  they  did  not  with  spoken  words  express 
diffidence  as  to  their  success;  but  their  looks  betrayed  diffi- 
dence, and  the  moderation  of  their  self-assurance  almost  amount- 
ed (0  desp%idency.    In  the  capital  the  parties  were  very  much 
divided.    The  old  inhabitants  were  either  secessionists  or  in- 
fluenced by  "secession  proclivities,"  as  the  word  went;  bat 
the  men  of  the  government  and  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress 
were,  with  a  few  exceptions,  of  course  northern.    It  should  be 
understood  that  these  parties  were  at  variance  with  each  other 
on  almost  every  point  as  to  which  men  can  disagree.     In  our 
civil  war  it  may  be  presumed  that  all  Englishmen  were  at  any 
rate  anxious  for  England.    They  desired  and  fought  for  difter- 


?- 


*  I  ought  perhaps  to  state  that  General  Fremont  has  published  an  answer 
to  the  charges  preferred  against  him.  That  answer  refers  chiefly  to  matters 
of  mihtary  capacity  or  incapacity,  as  to  which  I  have  expressed  no  opinion. 
General  Fremont  does  allude  to  the  accusations  made  against  him  regarding 
the  building  of  the  forts ; — but  in  doing  so  he  seems  to  me  rather  to  admit 
than  to  deny  the  facts  as  stated  by  the  Committee. 


11  " 

(•  f 

J( 

I,' 


li: 


I. 


464 


NORTH   AMEllICA. 


ent  modes  of  government ;  but  each  party  was  equally  English 
in  its  ambition.     In  the  States  there  is  the  hatred  of  a  difteient 
nationality  added  to  the  rancour  of  different  politics.     The 
Southerners  desire  to  be  a  people  of  themselves, — to  divide 
themselves  by  every  possible  mark  of  division  from  New  En- 
gland ;  to  be  as  little  akin  to  New  York  as  they  are  to  Lon- 
don, — or  if  possible  less  so.    Their  habits,  they  say,  are  differ- 
ent ;  their  education,  their  beliefs,  their  propensities,  their  very 
virtues  and  vices  are  not  the  education,  or  the  beliefs,  or  the 
propensities,  or  the  virtues  and  vices  of  the  North.    The  bond 
that  ties  them  to  the  North  is  to  them  a  Mezentian  marriage, 
and  they  hate  their  northern  spouses  with  a  Mezentian  hatred. 
They  would  be  anything  sooner  than  citizens  of  the  United 
States.    They  see  to  what  Mexico  has  come,  and  the  republics 
of  Central  America ;  but  the  prospect  of  even  that  degradation 
is  less  bitter  to  them  than  a  share  in  the  glory  of  the  stars  and 
stripes.     Better,  with  them,  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heav- 
en!    It  is  not  '^nly  in  politics  that  they  will  be  beaten,  if  they 
be  beaten, — as  one  party  with  us  may  be  beaten  by  another; 
but  they  will  be  beaten  as  we  should  be  beaten  if  France  an- 
nexed us,  and  directed  that  we  should  live  under  French  rule. 
Let  an  Englishman  digest  and  realize  that  idea,  and  he  will 
comprehend  the  feelings  of  a  southern  gentleman  as  he  con- 
templates the  probability  that  his  State  will  be  brought  back 
into  the  Union.     And  the  northern  feeling  is  as  strong.    The 
northern  man  has  founded  his  national  ambition  on  the  territo- 
rial greatness  of  his  nation.     He  has  panted  for  new  lands,  and 
for  still  extended  boundaries.     The  western  world  has  opened 
her  arms  to  him,  and  has  seemed  to  welcome  him  as  her  only 
lord.     British  America  has  tempted  him  towardsUhe  north, 
and  Mexico  has  been  as  a  prey  to  him  on  the  south.    He  has 
made  maps  of  his  empire,  including  all  the  continent,  and  has 
preached  the  Monroe  doctrine  as  though  it  had  been  decreed 
by  the  gods.     He  has  told  the  world  of  his  increasing  millions, 
and  has  never  yet  known  his  store  to  diminish.     He  has  pawed 
in  the  valley,  and  rejoiced  in  his  strength.     He  has  said  among 
the  trumpets.  Ha,  ha !     He  has  boasted  aloud  in  his  pride,  and 
called  on  all  men  to  look  at  his  glory.     And  now  shall  he  he 
divided  and  shorn  ?     Shall  he  be  hemmed  in  from  his  ocean 
and  shut  off  from  his  rivers  ?     Shall  he  have  a  hook  run  into 
his  nostrils,  and  a  thorn  driven  into  his  jaw  ?     Shall  men  say 
that  his  day  is  over,  when  he  has  hardly  yet  tasted  the  full  cup 
of  his  success  ?     Has  his  young  life  been  a  dream,  and  not  a 
truth  ?    Shall  he  never  reach  that  giant  manhood  which  the 


BACK  TO   BOSTON. 


455 


growth  of  his  boyisli  years  has  promised  liim  ?  If  the  South 
goes  from  him,  he  will  be  divided,  shorn,  and  hemmed  in. 
The  hook  will  have  pierced  his  nose,  and  the  thorn  will  fester 
in  his  jaw.  Men  will  taunt  him  with  his  former  boastings, 
and  he  will  awake  to  find  himself  but  a  mortal  among  mortals. 

Such  is  the  light  in  which  the  struggle  is  regarded  by  the 
two  parties,  and  such  the  hopes  and  feelings  which  have  been 
engendered.  It  may  therefore  be  surmised  with  what  amount 
of  neighbourly  love  secessionist  and  northern  neighbours  re- 
garded each  other  in  such  towns  as  Baltimore  and  Washing- 
ton. Of  course  there  was  hatred  of  the  deepest  dye ;  of  course 
there  were  muttered  curses,  or  curses  which  sometimes  were 
not  simply  muttered.  Of  course  there  were  wretchedness, 
heart-burnings,  and  fearful  divisions  in  families.  That,  perhaps, 
was  the  worst  of  all.  The  daughter's  husband  would  be  in 
the  northern  ranks,  while  the  son  was  fighting  in  the  South ; 
or  two  sons  would  hold  equal  rank  in  the  two  armies,  some- 
times sending  to  each  other  frightful  threats  of  personal  venge- 
ance. Old  friends  would  meet  each  other  in  the  street,  pass- 
ing without  speaking ;  or,  worse  still,  would  utter  words  of  in- 
sult for  which  payment  is  to  be  demanded  when  a  southern 
gentleman  may  again  be  allowed  to  quarrel  in  his  own  defence. 

And  yet  society  went  on.  Women  still  smiled,  and  men 
were  happy  to  whom  such  smiles  were  given.  Cakes  and  file 
were  going,  and  ginger  was  still  hot  in  the  mouth.  When 
many  were  together  no  words  of  uuhappiness  were  heard.  It 
was  at  those  small  meetings  of  two  or  three  that  women  would 
weep  instead  of  smiling,  and  that  men  would  run  their  kands 
through  their  hair  and  sit  in  silence,  thinking  of  their  ruined 
hopes  and  divided  children. 

I  have  spoken  of  southern  hopes  and  northern  fears,  and  have 
endeavoured  to  explain  the  feelings  of  each  party.  For  myself 
I  think  that  the  Southerners  have  been  wrong  in  their  hopes, 
and  that  those  of  the  North  have  been  wrong  in  their  fears.  It 
is  not  better  to  rule  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven.  Of  course  a 
southern  gentleman  will  not  admit  the  premises  which  are  here 
by  me  taken  for  granted.  The  hell  to  which  I  allude  is,  the  sad 
position  of  a  low  and  debased  nation.  Such,  I  think,  will  be  the 
iate  of  the  Gulf  States,  if  they  succeed  in  obtaining  secession, — 
of  a  low  and  debased  nation,  or,  worse  still,  of  many  low  and 
i  debased  nations.  They  will  have  lost  their  cotton  monopoly 
by  the  competition  created  during  the  period  of  the  war,  and 
will  have  no  material  of  greatness  on  which  either  to  found 
themselves  or  to  flourish.    That  they  had  much  to  bear  when 


1 1 


I 


'  ,1 


n  . 


•    -i 


456 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


linked  with  the  North,  much  to  cnduro  on  account  of  that 
slavery  from  which  it  was  all  but  impossible  that  they  should 
disentangle  themselves,  may  probably  be  true.  But  so  have  jiH 
political  parties  among  all  free  nations  much  to  bear  from  polit- 
ical opponents,  and  yet  other  free  nations  do  not  go  to  pieces. 
Had  it  been  possible  that  the  slave-owners  and  slave  properties 
should  have  been  scattered  in  parts  through  all  the  States  and 
not  congregated  in  the  South,  the  slave  party  would  have  main- 
tained itself  as  other  parties  do  ;  but  in  such  case,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  it  would  not  have  thought  of  secession.  It  has  been 
the  close  vicinity  of  slave-owners  to  each  other,  the  fact  that 
their  lands  have  been  coterminous,  that  theirs  was  especially  a 
cotton  district,  which  has  tempted  them  to  secession.  They 
have  been  tempted  to  secession,  and  will,  as  I  think,  still  achieve 
it  in  those  Gulf  States, — much  to  their  misfortune. 

And  the  fears  of  the  North  are,  I  think,  equally  wrong.  That 
they  will  be  deceived  as  to  that  Monroe  doctrine  is  no  doubt 
more  than  probable.  That  ambition  for  an  entire  continent 
under  one  rule  will  not,  I  should  say,  be  gratified.  But  not  on 
that  account  need  the  nation  be  less  great,  or  its  civilization  less 
extensive.  That  hook  in  its  nose  and  that  thorn  in  its  jaw  will, 
after  all,  be  but  a  hook  of  the  imagination  and  an  ideal  thorn, 
Do  not  all  great  men  suffer  such  ere  their  greatness  be  estab- 
lished and  acknowledged  ?  There  is  scope  enough  for  all  that 
manhood  can  do  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  even 
though  those  hot,  swampy  cotton-fields  be  taken  away :  even 
though  the  snows  of  the  British  provinces  be  denied  to  them. 
And  as  for  those  rivers  and  that  sea-board,  the  Americans  of 
the  North  will  have  lost  much  of  their  old  energy  and  usual 
force  of  will,  if  any  southern  Confederacy  be  allowed  to  deny 
their  right  of  way  or  to  stop  their  commercial  enterprises.  I 
believe  that  the  South  will  be  badly  off  without  the  North;  but 
I  feel  certain  that  the  North  will  never  miss  the  South  when 
once  the  wounds  to  her  pride  have  been  closed. 

From  Washington  I  journeyed  back  to  Boston  through  the 
cities  which  I  had  visited  in  coming  thither,  and  stayed  again 
on  my  route  for  a  few  days  at  Baltimore,  at  Philadelphia,  and 
at  New  York.  At  each  town  there  were  those  whom  I  now 
regarded  almost  as  old  friends,  and  as  the  time  of  my  departure 
drew  near  I  felt  a  sorrow  that  I  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  stay 
longer.  As  the  general  result  of  my  sojourn  in  the  country,! 
must  declare  that  I  was  always  happy  and  comfortable  in  the 
eastern  cities,  and  generally  unhappy  and  uncomfortable  in  the 
West.    I  had  previously  been  inclined  to  think  that  I  should 


BACK   TO    HOSTOX. 


457 


;  of  that 
ly  should 
3  have  nil 
L'om  polit- 
to  pieces, 
properties 
States  and 
lavc  maiu- 
s  a  matter 
t  has  been 
0  fact  tbat 
ispecially  a 
ion.    They 
,till  achieve 

rong.  That 
L8  no  cloubt 
e  continent 
But  not  on 
iUzationlcss 
its  jaw  will, 
ideal  thorn, 
jss  be  estab- 
for  all  that 
•acific,  even 
away:  even 
lied  to  them. 
.mericans  of 
^y  and  usual 
[wed  to  deny 
iterprises.   1 
North;  hut 
South  when 


like  the  roughness  of  the  West,  and  that  in  tlie  East  I  should 
encounter  an  arrogance  which  would  have  kept  me  always  on 
the  verge  of  hot  water;  but  in  both  these  surmises  I  found  my- 
self to  have  been  wrong.  And  I  think  that  most  English  trav- 
ellers would  come  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  western  people 
do  not  mean  to  be  harsh  or  uncivil,  but  they  do  not  make  them- 
selves jdeasant.  In  all  the  eastern  cities, — I  speak  of  the  east- 
ern cities  north  of  Washington, — a  society  may  be  found  which 
must  be  esteemed  as  agreeable  by  Englishmen  who  like  clever 
genial  men,  and  who  love  clever  pretty  women. 

I  was  forced  to  pass  twice  again  over  the  road  between  New 
York  and  Boston,  as  the  packet  by  which  I  intended  to  leave 
America  was  fixed  to  sail  from  the  former  port.  I  had  prom- 
ised myself,  and  had  promised  others,  that  I  would  spend  in 
Boston  the  last  week  of  my  sojourn  in  the  States,  and  this  waii 
a  promise  which  I  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  break.  If  there 
be  a  gratification  in  this  w^orld  which  has  no  alloy,  it  is  that  of 
going  to  an  assured  welcome.  The  belief  that  men's  arms  and 
hearts  are  open  to  receive  one, — and  the  arms  and  hearts  of 
women,  too,  as  far  as  they  allow  themselves  to  open  them, — is 
the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  sole  remedy  against  sea-sickness,  the 
only  cure  for  the  tedium  of  railways,  the  one  preservative  amidst 
all  the  miseries  and  fatigue  of  travel.  These  matters  are  private, 
and  should  hardly  be  told  of  in  a  book ;  but  in  writing  of  the 
States,  I  should  not  do  justice  to  my  own  convictions  of  the 
country  if  I  did  not  say  how  pleasantly  social  intercourse  there 
m\\  ripen  into  friendship,  and  how  full  of  love  that  friendship 
may  become.  I  became  enamoured  of  Boston  at  last.  Beacon 
Street  was  very  pleasant  to  me,  arid  the  view  over  Boston  Com- 
mon was  dear  to  my  eyes.  Even  the  State  House,  with  its  great 
yellow-painted  dome,  became  sightly ;  and  the  sunset  over  the 
western  waters  that  encompass  the  city  beats  all  other  sunsets 
that  I  have  seen. 

During  my  last  week  there  the  world  of  Boston  was  movinj;^ 
itself  on  sleighs.  There  was  not  a  wheel  to  be  seen  in  the  town. 
The  omnibuses  and  public  carriages  had  been  dismounted  from 
their  axles  and  put  themselves  upon  snow  runners,  and  the  pri- 
vate Avorld  had  taken  out  its  winter  carriages,  and  wrapped  it- 
self up  in  buffalo  robes.  Men  now  spoke  of  the  coming  thaw 
as  of  a  misfortune  which  must  come,  but  which  a  kind  Provi- 
dence might  perhaps  postpone, — as  we  all,  in  short,  speak  of 
death.  In^the  morning  the  snow  would  have  been  hardened 
hy  the  night's  frost,  and  men  would  look  happy  and  contented. 
%  an  hour  aftei  noon  the  streets  would  be  all  wet,  and  the 

U 


'  'I 


V  •!' 


458 


T^OliTlI   AMERICA. 


ground  would  bo  slushy  and  men  would  look  gloomy  and  speak 
of  speedy  dissolution.    There  were  those  who  would  always 
prophesy  that  the  next  day  would  see  the  snow  converted  into 
one  dull,  dingy  river.     Such  I  regarded  as  seers  of  tribulation, 
and  endeavoured  with  all  my  mind  to  disbelieve  their  intor- 
pretations  of  the  signs.    That  sleighing  was  excellent  fun.    For 
myself  I  must  own  that  I  hardly  saw  the  best  of  it  at  Boston, 
for  the  coming  of  the  end  was  already  at  hand  when  I  arrived 
there,  and  the  fresh  beauty  of  the  hard  snow  was  gone.    ]\Iore- 
over  when  I  essayed  to  show  my  prowess  with  a  pair  of  hoiHcs 
on  the  established  course  for  such  equipages,  the  beasts  ran 
away,  knowing  that  I  was  not  practised  in  the  use  of  snow 
chariots,  and  brought  mo  to  grief  and  shame.    There  was  a 
lady  with  me  on  the  sleigh,  whom,  for  a  while,  I  felt  that  I  was 
doomed  to  consign  to  a  snowy  grave, — whom  I  would  willing- 
ly have  overturned  into  a  drift  of  snow,  so  as  to  avoid  worse 
consequences,  had  I  only  known  how  to  do  so.     But  Provi- 
dence, even  though  without  curbs  and  assisted  only  by  sinij)lo 
snaffles,  did  at  last  prevail ;  and  I  brought  the  sleigh,  horses, 
and  lady  alive  back  to  Boston,  whether  with  or  without  per- 
manent injury  I  have  never  yet  ascertained. 

At  last  the  day  of  tribulation  came,  and  the  enow  was  picked 
up  and  carted  out  of  Boston.  Gangs  of  men,  standing  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  were  at  work  along  the  chief  streets,  picking,  sliov- 
oiling,  and  disposing  of  the  dirty  blocks.  Even  then  the  snow 
seemed  to  be  nearly  a  foot  thick ;  but  it  was  dirty,  rough,  lialf- 
melted  in  some  places,  though  hard  as  stone  in  others.  The 
labour  and  cost  of  cleansing  the  city  in  this  way  must  bo  very 
great.  The  people  were  at  it  as  I  left,  and  I  felt  that  the  day 
of  tribulation  had  in  truth  come. 

Farewell  to  thee,  thou  western  Athens  I  When  I  have  for- 
gotten thee  my  right  hand  shall  have  forgotten  its  cunning,  and 
my  heart  forgotten  its  pulses.  Let  us  look  at  the  list  of  names 
with  which  Boston  has  honoured  itself  in  our  days,  and  then 
ask  what  other  town  of  the  same  size  has  done  more.  Pres- 
cott,  Bancroft,  Motley,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Emerson,  Dana, 
Agassiz,  Holmes,  Hawthorne !  Who  is  there  among  us  in  En- 
gland who  has  not  been  the  better  for  these  men  ?  Who  does 
not  owe  to  some  of  them  a  debt  of  gratitude  ?  In  whose  ears 
are  not  their  names  familiar  ?  It  is  a  bright  galaxy  and  far 
extended,  for  so  small  a  city.  What  city  has  done  better  than 
this  ?  All  these  men,  save  one,  are  now  alive  and  in  the  full 
possession  of  their  powers.  What  other  town  of  tWe  same  size 
has  done  as  well  in  the  same  short  space  of  time  ?    It  may  be 


THE   CONSTITUTION    OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


450 


d  Bpcak 

always 
■ted  into 
oulation, 
;ir  intin- 
un.    1^'or 
,  Boston, 
X  arrived 
c.    More- 

of  horHCA 
)casts  rm\ 
3  of  Bnow 
cro  was  w 
that  1  was 
tld  wilVing- 
;roid  wovstt 
But  Trovi- 
I  "by  fiimplc 
igh,  horses, 
without  pel- 


that  tills  is  tho  Augustine  ocra  of  Boston, — its  Elizabethan  time. 
If  80, 1  am  thanktul  that  my  steps  have  wandered  thither  at 
such  a  period. 

While  I  was  at  Boston  I  had  tho  sad  privilege  of  attending 
tho  funeral  of  President  Felton,  tho  head  of  Harvard  College. 
A  few  months  before  I  had  seen  him  a  strong  man,  apparently 
in  perfect  health  and  in  the  i)rido  of  life.  When  I  reached  Bos- 
ton, I  heard  of  his  death,  lie  also  was  an  accomplished  schol- 
ar, and  as  a  Grecian  has  left  few  behind  him  who  were  his 
equals.  At  his  installation  as  President,  four  ex-Presidents  of 
Harvard  College  assisted.  Whether  they  were  all  present  at 
his  funeral  I  do  not  know,  but  I  do  know  that  they  were  all 
still  living.  These  are  Mr.  Quincy,  who  is  now  over  ninety ; 
Mr.  Sparks;  Mr. Everett,  the  well-known  orator;  and  Mr.  Walk- 
er. They  all  reside  in  IBoston  or  its  neighbourhood,  and  will 
probably  all  assist  at  tho  installation  of  another  President. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

It  is,  I  presume,  universally  known  that  the  citizens  of  tho 
Western  American  colonies  of  Great  Britain  which  revolted,  de- 
clared themselves  to  be  free  from  British  dominion  by  an  Act 
which  they  called  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  This  was 
done  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  and  was  signed  by  delegates  from 
tlie  thirteen  colonies,  or  States  as  they  then  called  themselves. 
These  delegates  in  this  document  declare  themselves  to  be  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  general  Congress 
assembled.  The  opening  and  close  of  this  declaration  have  in 
them  much  that  is  grand  and  striking ;  the  greater  part  of  it,  how- 
ever, is  given  up  to  enumerating,  in  paragraph  after  paragraph, 
the  sins  committed  by  George  HI.  against  the  colonies.  Poor 
George  III. !  There  is  no  one  now  to  say  a  good  word  for  liim ; 
but  of  all  those  who  have  spoken  ill  of  him,  this  declaration  is  tho 
loudest  in  its  censure. 

In  the  following  year,  on  the  15th  November,  1777,  were  drawn 
up  the  Articles  of  Confederation  between  the  States,  by  which  it 
was  then  intended  that  a  sufficient  bond  and  compact  should  be 
made  for  their  future  joint  existence  and  preservation.  A  refer- 
ence to  this  document,  which,  together  with  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  the  subsequently  framed  Constitution  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  is  given  in  the  Appendix,  will  show  how  slight  was  the. 


<    ; 


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KORTH   AMERICA. 


In 


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ll^i 


then  intended  bond  of  union  between  the  States.     The  second  ar- 
ticle declares  that  each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  atul 
independence.    The  third  article  avows  that "  the  said  States  licre- 
by  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other 
for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their  liberties,  and  tlicir 
mutual  and  general  welfare,  binding  themselves  to  assist  each  oth- 
er against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks  made  upon,  them,  or  any 
of  them,  on  account  of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or  any  other 
pretext  whatever."     And  the  third  article,  "  the  better  to  secure 
and  perpetuate  mutual  friendship,"  declares  that  the  free  citizens 
of  one  State  shall  bo  free  citizens  of  another.     From  this  it  is,  I 
think,  manifest  that  no  idea  of  one  united  nation  had  at  that  time 
been  received  and  adopted  by  the  citizens  of  the  States.     ITie  ar- 
ticles then  go  on  to  define  the  way  in  which  Congress  shall  assem- 
ble and  what  shall  be  its  powers.     This  Congress  was  to  exercise 
the  authority  of  a  national  Government  rather  than  perform  the 
work  of  a  national  Parliament.     It  was  intended  to  bo  executive 
rather  than  legislative.     It  was  to  consist  of  delegates,  the  very 
number  of  which  within  certain  limits  was  to  be  left  to  the  option 
of  the  individual  States,  and  to  this  Congress  was  to  be  confided 
certain  duties  and  privileges,  which  could  not  be  performed  or  ex- 
ercised separately  by  the  Governments  of  the  individual  States. 
One  special  article,  the  eleventh,  enjoins  that  "  Canada,  acceding 
to  the  Confederation,  and  joining  in  the  measures  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  admitted  into  and  entitled  to  all  the  advantages  of 
this  Union ;  but  no  other  colony  shall  be  admitted  into  the  same 
unless  such  admission  be  agreed  to  by  nine  States."    I  mention  tliis 
to  show  how  strong  was  the  expectation  at  that  time  that  Canada 
also  would  revolt  from  England.     Up  to  this  day  few  Americans 
can  understand  why  Canada  has  declined  to  join  her  lot  to  them. 
But  the  compact  between  the  different  States  made  by  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation,  and  the  mode  of  national  procedure  therein 
enjoined,  were  found  to  be  inefficient  for  the  wants  of  a  people, 
who  to  be  great  must  be  united  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.     The 
theory  of  the  most  democratic  among  the  Americans  of  that  day 
was  in  favour  of  self-govemmeftt  carried  to  an  extreme.    Self-gov- 
ernment was  the  Utopia  which  they  had  determined  to  realize, 
and  they  were  unwilling  to  diminish  the  reality  of  the  self-govern- 
ment of  the  individual  States  by  any  centralization  of  power  in  one 
head,  or  in  one  Parliament,  or  in  one  set  of  ministers  for  the  na- 
tion.    For  ten  years,  from  1777  to  1787,  the  attempt  was  made; 
but  then  it  was  found  that  a  stronger  bond  of  nationality  was  in- 
dispensable, if  any  national  greatness  was  to  be  regarded  as  desir- 


m 


THE   CONSTITUTION    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


461 


ccond  ar- 
dora,  and 
atcs  licre- 
jivch  other 
and  their 
,  each  oth- 
em,  or  any 
any  other 
r  to  secure 
ree  citizens 
this  it  is,  I 
at  that  time 
.9,     The  ar- 
shall  asscm- 
s  to  exercise 
perform  the 
bo  executive 
ites,  the  very 
to  the  option 
o  be  confided 
•formed  or  ex- 
ividual  States. 
Uda,  acceding 
of  the  United 
advantages  of 
into  the  same 
I  mention  this 
le  that  Canada 
tew  Americans 
ir  lot  to  them. 
ade  by  the  Ay- 
.cedure  therein 
;s  of  a  people, 
.n  name.    'i}<^ 
,ns  of  that  day 
ime.    SeU-gov 
ned  to  reahze, 
,he  self-govevn- 
lofpowerinonc 

'^ters  for  the  na- 
jpt  was  mad'j; 

ivonality  ^vas  in- 
arded  as  desir- 


able. Indeed,  all  manner  of  failure  had  attended  the  mode  of  na- 
tional action  ordained  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  I  am  not 
attempting  to  write  a  history  of  the  United  States,  and  will  not 
therefore  trouble  my  readers  with  historic  details,  which  are  not 
of  value  unless  put  forward  with  historic  weight.  Tiie  fact  of  the 
failure  is  however  admitted,  and  the  present  written  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  which  is  the  splendid  result  of  that  failure, 
was  "  Done  in  Convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States 
present."*  Twelve  States  were  present, — Rhode  Island  apparently 
liaving  had  no  representative  on  the  occasion, — on  the  17th  Sep- 
tember, 1787,  and  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States. 

I  call  the  result  splendid,  seeing  that  under  this  constitution  so 
written  a  nation  has  existed  for  three  quarters  of  a  centuiy,  and 
has  grown  in  numbers,  power,  and  wealth  till  it  has  made  itself 
the  political  equal  of  the  other  greatest  nations  of  the  earth.  And 
it  cannot  be  said  that  it  has  so  grown  in  spite  of  the  constitution, 
or  by  ignoring  the  constitution.  Hitherto  the  laws  there  laid 
down  for  the  national  guidance  have  been  found  adequate  for  the 
great  purpose  assigned  to  them,  and  have  done  all  that  which  the 
framers  of  them  hoped  that  they  might  effect.  We  all  know  what 
has  been  the  fate  of  the  constitutions  which  were  written  through- 
out the  French  revolution  for  the  use  of  France.  We  all,  here  in 
England,  have  the  same  ludicrous  conception  of  Utopian  theories 
of  government  framed  by  philosophical  individuals  who  imagine 
that  they  have  learned  from  books  a  perfect  system  of  managing 
nations.  To  produce  such  theories  is  especially  the  part  of  a 
Frenchman ;  to  disbelieve  in  them  is  especially  the  part  of  an  En- 
glishman. But  in  the  States  a  system  of  government  has  been 
produced  under  a  written  constitution,  in  which  no  Englishman 
can  disbelieve,  and  which  every  Frenchman  must  envy.  It  has 
done  its  work.  The  people  have  been  free,  well-educated,  and  po- 
litically great.  Those  among  us  who  are  most  inclined  at  the 
present  moment  to  declare  that  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States  have  failed,  can  at  any  rate  only  declare  that  they  have  fail- 
ed in  their  finality  ;  that  they  have  shown  themselves  to  be  insuf- 
ficient to  carry  on  the  nation  in  its  advancing  strides  through  all 
times.    They  cannot  deny  that  an  amount  of  success  and  prosper- 

*  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  by  this  "doing  in  convention," 
the  constitution  became  an  accepted  fact.  It  simply  amounted  to  the  adop- 
tion of  a  proposal  of  the  constitution.  The  constitution  itself  was  formally 
adopted  by  the  people  in  conventions  held  in  their  separate  State  capitals.  It 
was  agreed  to  by  the  people  in  1788,  and  came  into  operation  in  1789. 


THE   CONSTITUTION    OP   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


4G1 


jible.  Indeed,  all  manner  of  failure  had  attended  the  mode  of  na- 
tional action  ordained  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  I  am  not 
attempting  to  write  a  history  of  the  United  States,  and  w'lU.  not 
therefore  trouble  my  readers  with  historic  details,  which  are  not 
of  value  unless  put  forward  with  historic  weight.  The  fact  of  the 
failure  is  however  admitted,  and  the  present  written  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  which  is  the  splendid  result  of  that  failure, 
was  "  Done  in  Convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States 
present."*  Twelve  States  were  present, — Rhode  Island  apparently 
having  had  no  representative  on  the  occasion, — on  the  17th  Sep- 
tember, 1787,  and  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States. 

I  call  the  result  splendid,  seeing  that  under  this  constitution  so 
written  a  nation  has  existed  for  three  quarters  of  a  centuiy,  and 
has  grown  in  numbers,  power,  and  wealth  till  it  has  made  itself 
the  political  equal  of  the  other  greatest  nations  of  the  earlh.    And 
it  cannot  be  said  that  it  has  so  grown  in  spite  of  the  constitution, 
or  by  ignoring  the   constitution.     Hitherto  the  laws  there  laid 
down  for  the  national  guidance  have  been  found  adequate  for  the 
great  purpose  assigned  to  them,  and  have  done  all  that  which  the 
framers  of  them  hoped  that  they  might  eifect.    We  all  know  what 
has  been  the  fate  of  the  constitutions  which  were  written  through- 
out the  French  revolution  for  the  use  of  France.     We  all,  here  in 
England,  have  the  same  ludicrous  conception  of  Utopian  theories 
of  government  framed  by  philosophical  individuals  who  imagine 
that  they  have  learned  from  books  a  perfect  system  of  managing 
nations.     To  produce   such  theories  is  especially  the  part  of  a 
Frenchman ;  to  disbelieve  in  them  is  especially  the  part  of  an  En- 
glisliman.     But  in  the  States  a  system  of  government  has  been 
produced  under  a  written  constitution,  in  which  no  Englishman 
can  disbelieve,  and  which  every  Frenchman  must  envy.     It  has 
(lone  its  work.    The  people  have  been  free,  well-educated,  and  po- 
,  litically  great.     Those  among  us  who  are  most  inclined  at  the 
present  moment  to  declare  that  the  institutions   of  the  United 
States  have  failed,  can  at  any  rate  only  declare  that  they  have  fail- 
ed in  their  finality  ;  that  they  have  shown  themselves  to  be  insuf- 
I  ficient  to  carry  on  the  nation  in  its  advancing  strides  through  all 
I  times.    They  cannot  deny  that  an  amount  of  success  and  prosper- 

I  *  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  by  this  "doing  in  convention," 
I  the  constitution  became  an  accepted  fact.  It  simply  amounted  to  the  adop- 
I  tion  of  a  proposal  of  the  constitution.  The  constitution  itself  was  formally 
I  adopted  by  the  people  in  conventions  held  in  their  separate  8tatc_cax 


I       ' 

\) 

li 


I  • 


(  i 


pi '. 


■•'/k 


4G2 


NORTH   AMEUICA. 


ity,  much  greater  than  the  nation  evcii  expected  for  itself,  has  been 
achieved  under  this  constitution  and  in  connection  with  it.  Jf  it 
be  so  they  cannot  disbelieve  in  it.  I^i  'hose  who  now  say  tliut  it 
is  insufficient,  consider  what  their  proj^iecies  regarding  it  would 
have  been  had  they  been  called  on  to  express  their  opinions  con- 
cerning it  when  it  was  proposed  in  1787.  If  the  future  as  it  has 
since  come  forth  had  then  been  foretold  for  it,  would  not  sucli  a 
prophecy  have  been  a  prophecy  of  success  ?  That  constitution  is 
now  at  the  period  of  its  hardest  trial,  and  at  this  moment  one  may 
hardly  dare  to  speak  of  it  with  triumph ;  but  looking  at  the  na- 
tion even  in  its  present  position,  I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying 
that  its  constitution  is  one  in  which  no  Englishman  can  disbelieve. 
When  I  also  say  that  it  is  one  which  every  Frenchman  must  envy, 
perhaps  I  am  improperly  presuming  that  Frenchmen  could  not 
look  at  it  with  Englishmen's  eyes. 

When  the  constitution  came  to  be  written,  a  man  had  arisen  in 
the  States  who  was  peculiarly  suited  for  the  work  in  hand;  ho 
was  one  of  those  men  to  whom  the  world  owes  much,  and  of 
whom  the  world  in  general  knows  but  little.  Tliis  was  Alexan- 
der Hamilton,  who  alone  on  the  part  of  the  great  State  of  New 
York  signed  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  other 
States  sent  two,  three,  four,  or  more  delegates ;  New  York  sent 
Hamilton  alone ;  but  in  sending  him  New  York  sent  more  to  the 
constitution  than  all  the  other  States  together.  I  should  be  hard- 
ly saying  too  much  for  Hamilton  if  I  were  to  declare  that  all  those 
parts  of  the  constitution  emanated  from  him  in  which  permanent 
political  strength  has  abided.  And  yet  his  name  has  not  been 
spread  abroad  widely  in  men's  mouths.  Of  Jefferson,  Franklin, 
and  Madison,  we  have  all  heard ;  our  children  speak  of  them  and 
they  are  household  words  in  the  nursery  of  history.  Of  Hamil- 
ton however  it  may,  I  believe,  be  said  that  he  was  greater  than 
any  of  those. 

Without  going  with  minuteness  into  the  early  contests  of  de- 
mocracy in  the  United  States,  I  think  I  may  say  that  there  soon 
arose  two  parties,  each  probably  equally  anxious  in  the  cause  of 
freedom,  one  of  which  was  conspicuous  for  its  French  predilec- 
tions, ai\d  the  other  for  its  English  aptitudes.  It  was  the  period 
of  the  French  revolution, — the  time  when  the  French  revolution 
had  in  it  as  yet  something  of  promise,  and  had  not  utterly  dis- 
graced itself.  To  many  in  America  the  French  theory  of  democ- 
racy not  unnaturally  endeared  itself,  and  foremost  among  these 
was  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  the  father  of  those  politicians  iu 
the  States  who  have  since  taken  the  name  of  democrats,  and  in 


TIIE  CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


4G3 


,  has  been 

it.  If  it 
iuy  tliat  it 
r  it  would 
i\ions  con- 
B  as  it  lias 
lot  sucli  a 
stitution  is 
it  one  may 

at  ilic  na- 
1  in  saying 
1  disbelieve. 

must  envy, 
I  could  not 

lad  arisen  in 
in  hand ;  liJ 
tuch,  and  of 
was  Alexan- 
;tate  of  ^'ew 
The  oilier 
,vv  York  sent 
i,  more  to  the 
ould  be  hard- 
that  all  those 
ch  permanent 
has  not  been 
ion,  Franklin, 
of  them  and 
Of  Hamil- 
greater  than 


accordance  with  whose  theory  it  has  come  to  pass  that  everything 
has  been  referred  to  the  universal  suffrage  of  the  people.  James 
Madison,  who  succeeded  Jefferson  as  President,  was  a  pupil  in  this 
school,  as  indeed  have  been  most  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United 
States.  At  the  head  of  the  other  party,  from  which  through  va- 
rious denominations  have  sprung  those  who  now  call  themselves 
republicans,  was  Alexander  Hamilton.  I  believe  I  may  say  that 
all  the  political  sympathies  of  George  Washington  were  with  the 
game  school.  Washington,  however,  was  rather  a  man  of  feeling 
and  of  action,  than  of  theoretical  policy  or  speculative  opinion. 
When  the  constitution  was  written,  Jefferson  was  in  France,  hav- 
ing been  sent  thither  as  minister  from  the  United  States,  and  he 
therefore  was  debarred  from  concerning  himself  personally  in  the 
matter.  His  views,  however,  were  represented  by  Madison,  and 
it  is  now  generally  understood  that  the  Constitution,  as  it  st'uids, 
is  the  joint  work  of  Madison  and  Hamilton.*  The  democratic 
bias,  of  which  it  necessarily  contains  much,  and  without  which  it 
could  not  have  obtf*ined  the  consent  of  the  people,  was  furnished 
by  Madison  ;  but  the  conservative  elements,  of  wliich  it  possesses 
much  more  than  superficial  observers  of  the  American  form  of 
government  are  wont  to  believe,  came  from  Hamilton. 

The  very  preamble  of  the  constitution  at  once  declares  that  the 
people  of  the  different  States  do  hereby  join  themselves  together 
with  the  view  of  forming  themselves  into  one  nation.  "  We,  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union, 
establish  justice,  ensure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish 
this  constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America."  Here  a  gi-eat 
step  was  made  towards  centralization, — towards  one  national  gov- 
ernment and  the  binding  together  of  the  States  into  one  nation. 
But  from  that  time  down  to  the  present,  the  contest  has  been  go- 
ing on,  sometimes  openly  and  sometimes  only  within  the  minds  of 
men,  between  the  still  alleged  sovereignty  of  the  individual  States 
and  the  acknowledged  sovereignty  of  the  central  Congress  and  cen- 
tral Government.  The  disciples  of  Jefferson, — even  though  they 
have  not  known  themselves  to  be  his  disciples, — have  been  carry- 
ing on  that  fight  for  State  rights  which  has  ended  in  secession ; 
and  the  disciples  of  Hamilton, — certainly  not  knowing  themselves 
to  be  his  disciples, — have  been  making  that  stand  for  central  gov- 

*  It  should,  perhaps,  be  explained  that  the  views  of  Madison  were  origin- 
ally not  opposed  to  those  of  Hamilton.  Madison,  however,  gradually  adopt- 
ed the  policy  of  JelFerson, — his  policy  rather  than  his  philosophy. 


404 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


I|l( 


f 


II   -. 


I. 


crnraent,  and  for  the  one  acknowledged  republic,  which  is  now 
at  work  in  opposing  secession,  and  which,  even  though  secession 
should  to  some  extent  be  accomplished,  will,  we  may  hope,  never- 
theless, and  not  the  less  on  account  of  such  secession,  conquer  and 
put  down  the  spirit  of  democracy. 

The  political  contest  of  parties  which  is  being  -.vaged  now,  nnd 
which  has  been  waged  throughout  the  history  of  the  United  Stales, 
has  been  pursued  on  one  side  in  support  of  that  idea  of  an  undi- 
vided nationality  of  which  I  have  spoken, — of  a  nationality  in 
which  the  interests  of  a  part  should  be  esteemed  as  the  interests 
of  the  whole ;  and  on  the  other  side  it  has  been  pursued  in  oppo- 
sition to  that  idea.     I  will  not  here  go  into  the  interminable  ques- 
tion of  slavery, — though  it  is  on  that  question  that  the  southern 
or  democratic  States  have  most  loudly  declared  tlieir  own  sover- 
eign rights  and  their  aversion  to  national  interference.     "Were  I  to 
do  so  I  should  fail  in  my  present  object  of  explaining  the  natnre 
of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.     But  I  protest  against 
any  argument  which  shall  be  used  to  show  that  the  constitution 
has  failed,  because  it  has  allowed  slavery  to  produce  the  present 
division  among  the  States.     I  myself  think  that  the  Southern  or 
Gulf  States  will  go.     I  will  not  pretend  to  draw  the  exact  line,  or 
to  say  how  many  of  them  are  doomed ;  but  I  believe  that  Soutii 
Carolina  with  Georgia,  and  perhaps  five  or  s-i::  others,  will  be  ex- 
truded from  the  Union.     But  their  very  extru:-ion  will  be  a  polit- 
ical success,  and  will,  in  fact,  amount  to  a  virtual  acknowledgment 
in  the  body  of  the  Union  of  the  truth  of  that  system  for  which  the 
conservative  republican  party  has  contended.    If  the  North  obtain 
the  power  of  settling  that  question  of  boundary,  the  abandonment 
of  those  southern  States  will  be  a  success,  even  though  the  privi- 
lege of  retaining  them  be  the  very  point  for  which  the  North  is 
now  in  arms. 

The  first  clause  of  the  constitution  declares  that  all  the  legis- 
lative powers  granted  by  the  constitution  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives.  The  House  of  Representatives  is  to  be  rechosen  every 
two  years,  and  shall  be  elected  by  the  people,  such  persons  in  each 
State  having  votes  for  the  national  Congress  as  have  votes  for  the 
legislature  of  their  own  States.  If  therefore  South  Carolina  should 
choose — as  she  has  chosen — to  declare  that  the  electors  of  her 
own  legislature  shall  possess  a  property  qualification,  the  electors 
of  members  of  Congress  from  South  Carolina  must  also  have  that 
qualification.  In  Massachusetts  universal  suffrage  now  prevails, 
although  it  is  not  long  since  a  low  property  qualification  prevailed 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


465 


U  is  now 

secession 

,pe,  nevev- 

nquer  and 

I  now,  nnil 
ited  States, 
of  an  undi- 
Lionality  in 
lie  interests 
ied  in  oppo- 
inablc  qucs- 
,Vic  soutlicrn 
■  own  sovev- 
Were  1  to 
g  the  nature 
otest  against 
J  constitution 
e  tlic  present 
5  Soutiicrn  or 
exact  line,  or 
YC  that  South 
ra,  will  he  cx- 
nll  be  a  polit- 
knowledgment 

for  which  the 

eKorthoUaiu 

,  abandonment 

,ugh  the  privi- 

1  the  ISIortli  is 


t 


all  the  legis- 
„o  vested  i"  a 
Use  of  Kepre- 
vechosen  every 
persons  in  each 
-e  votes  tor  tlic 
Carolina  should 

I  electors  of  her 
on,  the  electors 
V  also  have  tkt 
e  now  prevfiils; 
^  .ation  prevailed 


even  in  Massachusetts.  It  therefore  follows  that  members  of  the 
House  of  llepresentatives  in  Congress  need  by  no  means  be  all 
chosen  on  tlie  same  principle.  As  a  fact,  universal  suffrage*  and 
vote  by  ballot,  that  is  by  open  voting  papers,  prevail  in  the  States, 
hut  they  do  not  so  prevail  by  virtue  of  any  enactment  of  the  con- 
stitution. The  laws  of  the  States,  however,  require  that  the  voter 
shall  have  been  a  resident  in  the  State  for  some  period,  and  gener- 
ally either  deny  the  right  of  voting  to  negroes,  or  so  hamper  that 
privilege  that  practically  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  composed  of  two  senators 
from  each  State.  These  senators  are  chosen  for  six  years,  and 
are  elected  in  a  manner  which  shows  the  conservative  tendency  of 
the  constitution  with  more  signification  than  perhaps  any  other 
rule  which  it  contains.  This  branch  of  Congress,  which,  as  I  shall 
presently  endeavour  to  show,  is  by  far  the  more  influential  of  the 
two,  is  not  in  any  way  elected  by  the  people.  "  The  Senate  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  senators  from  each  State, 
chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof,  for  six  years,  and  each  senator  shall 
have  one  voice."  The  Senate  sent  to  Congress  is  therefore  elected 
by  the  State  legislatures.  Each  State  legislature  has  two  Houses ; 
and  the  senators  sent  from  that  State  to  Congi'ess  are  either  cho- 
sen by  vote  of  the  two  Houses  voting  together — which  is,  I  believe, 
the  mode  adopted  in  most  States,  or  are  voted  for  in  the  two 
Houses  separately  —  in  which  cases,  when  different  candidates 
have  been  nominated,  the  two  Houses  cotifer  by  committees  and 
settle  the  matter  between  them.  The  conservative  purpose  of  the 
constitution  is  here  sufficiently  evident.  The  intention  has  been 
to  take  the  election  of  the  senators  away  from  the  people,  and  to 
confide  it  to  that  body  in  each  State  which  may  be  regarded  as 
containing  its  best  trusted  citizens.  It  removes  the  senators  far 
away  from  the  democratic  element,  and  renders  them  liable  to  the 
necessity  of  no  popular  canvas.  Nor  am  I  aware  that  the  consti- 
tution has  failed  in  keeping  the  ground  which  it  intended  to  hold 
in  this  matter.  On  some  points  its  selected  rocks  and  chosen 
standing  ground  have  slipped  from  beneath  its  feet,  owing  to  the 
weakness  of  words  in  defining  and  making  solid  the  intended  pro- 

*  Perhaps  the  better  word  would  have  been  manhood  suffrage ;  and  even 
that  word  should  be  taken  with  certain  restrictions.  Aliens,  minors,  con- 
victs, and  men  who  pay  no  taxes  cannot  vote.  In  some  States  none  can  voto 
unless  they  can  read  and  write.  In  some  there  is  a  property  quaUfication. 
In  all  there  are  special  I'cstrictions  against  negroes.  There  is  in  none  an  ab- 
solutely universal  suffrage.  But  I  keep  the  name  as  it  best  expresses  to  us 
in  England  the  system  of  franchise  which  has  practically  come  to  prevail  in 
the  United  States. 

U2 


w 


* 


4CG 


NORTH   AMERICA, 


Iiibltions  again8t  democracy.     The  wording  of  the  constitution  has 
been  regarded  by  the  people  as  sacred;  but  the  people  has  consid- 
ercd  itself  justified  in  opposing  the  spirit  as  long  as  it  revered  tjie 
letter  of  the  constitution.     And  this  was  natural.     For  the  letter 
of  the  constitution  can  bo  read  by  all  men  ;  but  its  spirit  can  be 
understood  comparatively  but  by  few.     As  regards  the  election  of 
the  senators,  I  believe  that  it  has  been  fairly  made  by  the  legis- 
latures of  the  different  States.     I  have  not  heard  it  alleged  that 
members  of  the  State  legislatures  have  been  frequently  constrained 
by  the  outside  popular  voice  to  send  this  or  that  man  as  senator 
to  Washington.     It  was  clearly  not  the  intention  of  those  wlio 
wrote  the  constitution  that  they  should  be  so  constrained.     But 
the  senators  themselves   in  Washington  have  submitted  to  re- 
straint.    On  subjects  in  which  the  people  are  directly  interested 
they  submit  to  instructions  from  the  legislatures  which  have  sent 
them  as  to  the  side  on  which  they  shall  vote,  and  justify  them- 
selves in  voting  against  their  convictions  by  the  fact  that  they  have 
received  such  instructions.     Such  a  practice,  even  with  the  mem- 
bers of  a  House  which  has  been  directly  returned  by  popular  elec- 
tion, is,  I  think,  false  to  the  intention  of  the  system.     It  has  clearly 
been  intended  that  confidence  should  be  put  in  the  chosen  candi- 
date for  the  term  of  his  duty,  and  that  the  electors  arc  to  be  bound 
in  the  expression  of  their  opinion  by  his  sagacity  and  patriotism 
for  that  term.     A  member  of  a  representative  House  so  chosen, 
who  votes  at  the  bidding  of  his  constituency  in  opposition  to  his 
convictions,  is  manifestly  false  to  his  charge,  and  may  be  presumed 
to  be  thus  false  in  deference  to  his  own  personal  interests,  and 
with  a  view  to  his  own  future  standing  with  his  constituents. 
Pledges  before  election  may  be  fair,  because  a  pledge  given  is  after 
all  but  the  answer  to  a  question  asked.     A  voter  may  reasonably 
desire  to  know  a  candidate's  opinion  on  any  matter  of  political  in- 
terest before  he  votes  for  or  against  him.     The  representative 
when  returned  should  be  free  from  the  necessity  of  further  pledges. 
But  if  this  be  true  with  a  House  elected  by  popular  suffrage,  how 
much  more  than  true  must  it  be  with  a  chamber  collected  together 
as  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  collected !     Nevertheless  it 
is  the  fact  that  many  senators,  especially  those  who  have  been  sent 
to  the  House  as  democrats,  do  allow  the  State  legislatures  to  dic- 
tate to  them  their  votes,  and  that  they  do  hold  themselves  absolved 
from  the  personal  responsibility  of  their  votes  by  such  dictation. 
This  is  one  place  in  which  the  rock  which  was  thought  to  have 
been  firm  has  slipped  away,  and  the  sands  of  democracy  have  made 
their  way  through.     But  with  reference  to  this  it  is  always  in  the 


THE   CONSTITCTTON   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


467 


ition  hns 
s  consid- 
vcred  the 
the  letter 
it  can  be 
lection  of 
tlie  Iciiis- 
Icgcd  thut 
onstrained 
as  senator 
those  >vlio 
ined.     liut 
ted  to  rc- 
'  interested 
;i  have  sent 
istify  thcm- 
it  they  lijuc 
li  the  mcm- 
lopular  elcc- 
t  has  clearly 
hosen  candi- 
!  to  be  bound 
id  patriotism 
le  so  chosen, 
)sition  to  bis 
be  presumed 
nterests,  and 
constituents. 
/lYcn  is  after 
fy  reasonably 
[f  political  in- 
iepresentative 
^•ther  pledges, 
suffrage,  how 
jctcd  together 
levertheless  it 
[ave  been  sent 
latures  to  dic- 
jlves  absolved 
ich  dictation. 
,ught  to  have 
Acy  have  made 

[always  in  the 


power  of  the  Senate  to  recover  its  own  ground,  and  re-establish  its 
own  dignity ;  to  the  people  in  this  matter  tlio  words  of  the  consti- 
tution give  no  authority,  and  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  recovery 
of  the  old  practice  is  a  more  conservative  tendency  througliout 
the  country  generally.  That  there  is  such  a  conservative  tendency 
no  one  can  doubt ;  the  fear  is  whether  it  may  not  work  too  quick- 
ly and  go  too  far. 

In  speaking  of  these  instructions  given  to  senators  at  Washing- 
ton, I  should  explain  that  such  instructions  are  not  given  by  all 
States,  nor  are  they  obeyed  by  all  senators.  Occasionally  they 
are  made  in  the  form  of  requests,  the  word  "  instruct''  being  pur- 
posely laid  aside.  Kequests  of  the  same  kind  are  also  made  to 
representatives,  who,  as  they  are  not  returned  by  the  State  legisla- 
tures, are  not  considered  to  bo  subject  to  such  instructions.  The 
form  used  is  as  follows,  "  "We  instruct  our  senators  and  request 
our  representatives,"  &c.  &c. 

The  senators  are  elected  for  six  years,  but  the  same  Senate  does 
not  sit  entire  throughout  that  term.  The  whole  chamber  is  di- 
vided into  three  equal  portions  or  classes,  and  a  portion  goes  out 
at  the  end  of  every  second  year ;  so  that  a  third  of  the  Senate 
comes  in  afresh  with  every  new  House  of  Representatives.  The 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  who  is  elected  with  the  Pres- 
ident, and  who  is  not  a  senator  by  election  from  any  State,  js  the 
cx-officio  President  of  the  Senate.  Should  the  President  of  the 
United  States  vacate  his  seat  by  death  or  otherwise,  the  Vice- 
President  becomes  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  in  such 
case  the  Senate  elects  its  own  President  pro  tempore. 

In  speaking  of  the  Senate,  I  must  point  out  a  matter  to  which 
the  constitution  does  not  allude,  but  which  is  of  the  gravest  mo- 
ment in  the  political  fabric  of  the  nation.  Each  State  sends  two 
senators  to  Congress.  These  two  are  sent  altogether  independent- 
ly of  the  population  which  they  represent,  or  of  the  number  of 
members  which  the  same  State  supplies  to  the  Lower  House. 
When  the  constitution  was  framed,  Delaware  was  to  send  one 
member  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Pennsylvania  eight ; 
nevertheless,  each  of  these  States  sent  two  senators.  It  would 
seem  strange  that  a  young  people,  commencing  business  as  a  na- 
tion on  a  basis  intended  to  be  democratic,  should  consent  to  a  sys- 
tem so  directly  at  variance  with  tho  theory  of  popular  representa- 
tion. It  reminds  one  of  the  old  days  when  Yorkshire  returned 
two  members,  and  Rutlandshire  two  also.  And  the  discrepancy 
has  greatly  increased  as  young  States  have  been  added  to  the 
Union,  while  the  old  States  have  increased  in  population.     New 


4G8 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


W 


•      ^ 


!  i 


York,  with  a  population  of  about  4,000,000,  and  with  thirty-thrcn 
members  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  sends  two  senators  to 
Congress.     The  new  State  of  Oregon,  with  a  popuhvtion  of50,00i) 
or  00,000,  and  with  one  member  in  tlic  House  of  KeprcsentativoH 
fiends  also  two  senators  to  Congress.     ]Jut  though  it  would  sccin 
that  in  such  a  distribution  of  legislative  power,  the  young  nation 
was  determined  to  preserve  some  of  the  old  fantastic  traditions  of 
the  mother-country  which  it  had  just  repudiated ;  the  fact,  I  be- 
lieve, is  that  this  system,  apparently  so  opposed  to  all  democratic 
tendencies,  was  produced  and  specially  insisted  upon  by  democracy 
itself.     Where  would  be  the  State  sovereignty  and  individual  ex- 
istence of  lihode  Island  and  Delaware,  unless  they  could  maintain, 
in  at  least  one  House  of  Congress,  their  State  equality  Avith  that  of 
all  other  States  in  the  Union  ?    In  those  early  days,  when  the  Con- 
stitution was  Leing  framed,  there  was  nothing  to  force  the  small 
States  into  a  Union  with  those  whoso  populations  preponderated. 
Each  State  was  sovereign  in  its  municipal  system,  having  pro- 
served  the  boundaries  of  the  old  colony,  together  with  the  liberties 
and  laws  given  to  it  under  its  old  colonial  charter.     A  union 
might  be,  and  no  doubt  was,  desirable  ;  but  it  was  to  be  i,  union 
of  sovereign  States,  each  retaining  equal  privileges  in  that  union, 
and  not  a  fusion  of  the  different  populations  into  one  homogcneons 
whole.     No  State  was  willing  to  abandon  its  own  individuality, 
and  least  of  all  were  the  small  States  willing  to  do  so.     It  was 
therefore  ordained  that  the  House  of  Representatives  should  rep- 
resent the  people,  and  that  the  Senate  should  represent  the  States. 
From  that  day  to  the  present  time  the  arrangement  of  wliich  I 
am  speaking  has  enabled  the  democratic  or  southern  party  to  con- 
tend at  a  great  advantage  with  the  republicans  of  the  North. 
When  the  constitution  was  founded,  the  seven  northern  States— 
I  call  those  northern  which  are  now  free-soil  States,  and  those 
southern  in  which  the  institution  of  slavery  now  prevails — the 
seven  northern  States  were  held  to  be  entitled  by  their  population 
to  send  thirty-five  members  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
they  sent  fourteen  members  to   the  Senate.     The  six  southern 
States  were  entitled  to  thirty  members  in  the  Lower  House,  and 
to  twelve  senators.     Thus  the  proportion  was  about  equal  for  the 
North  and  South.     But  now, — or  rather  in  1860,  when  secession 
commenced,  the  northern  States,  owing  to  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion in  the  North,  sent  one  hundred  and  fifty  representatives  to 
Congress,  having  nineteen  States  and  thirty-eight  senators ;  where- 
as the  South,  with  fifteen  States  and  thirty  senators,  was  entitled 
by  its  population  to  only  ninety  representatives,  although  by  a 


Mi 


THE   CONSTITUTION    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


4C9 


irty-thrco 
inutor»  to 
of  50,000 
jentiitive?, 
ould  fccm 
ing  nation 
atVitions  of 

iuct,  I  bc- 
dcmocrutic 

democracy 
lividual  cx- 
d  maintaiu, 
kvith  that  of 
icn  the  Con- 
ic the  small 
jponderated. 
having  pve- 

the  lil)crti(}3 
A  union 

0  be  h  union 

1  that  union, 
homogeneous 
individuality, 
,  so.  It  was 
s  should  rcp- 
t  the  States. 
nt  of  which  1 

party  to  con- 
)f  the  North. 
.iern  States— 
[es,  and  tho?c 
prevails — tlie 
bit  population 
[entatives,  and 
six  southern 
sr  House,  and 
equal  for  the 
/hen  secession 
■aseofpopula- 
•esentativcs  to 
,ators;  where- 
was  entitled 
lithough  by  a 


ppccial  rule  in  its  favour,  which  I  will  presently  explain,  it  was  in 
fact  allowed  a  greater  number  of  representatives  in  proportion  to 
its  population  than  the  North.  Had  an  cijual  balance  been  pre- 
served, the  South,  with  its  ninety  representatives  in  the  Lower 
House,  would  have  but  twenty-three  senators,  instead  of  thirty,  in 
the  Upper.*  But  these  numbers  indicate  to  us  the  recovery  of 
political  influence  in  the  North,  rather  than  the  pride  of  the  pow- 
er of  the  South  ;  for  the  South,  in  its  palmy  days,  had  much  more 
in  its  favour  than  I  have  above  described  as  its  position  in  18(>0. 
Kansas  had  then  just  become  a  free-soil  State,  after  a  terrible 
struggle,  and  shortly  previous  to  that  Oregon  and  JMinnesota,  also 
free  States,  had  been  added  to  the  Union.  Up  to  that  date  the 
slave  States  sent  thirty  senators  to  Congress,  and  the  free  States 
only  thirty-two.  In  addition  to  this  when  Texas  was  annexed 
and  converted  into  a  State,  a  clause  was  inserted  into  the  Act  giv- 
ing authority  for  the  future  subdivision  of  that  Stctc  into  four  dif- 
ferent States  as  its  population  should  increase,  thereby  enabling 
the  South  to  add  senators  to  its  own  party  from  time  to  time,  as 
the  northern  States  might  increase  in  number. 

And  here  I  must  explain,  in  order  that  the  nature  of  the  con- 
tost  may  be  understood,  that  tha  senators  from  the  South  main- 
tained themselves  ever  in  a  compact  body,  voting  together,  true  to 
each  other,  disciplined  as  a  party,  understanding  the  necessity  of 
yielding  in  small  things  in  onder  that  their  general  liiJO  of  policy 
might  be  maintained.  But  there  was  no  such  system,  no  such  ob- 
servance of  political  tactics  among  the  senators  of  the  North.  In- 
deed, they  appear  to  have  had  no  general  line  of  politics,  havi-jg 
been  divided  among  themselves  on  various  matters.  Many  had 
strong  southern  tendencies,  and  many  more  were  willing  to  obtain 
official  power  by  the  help  of  southern  votes.  There  was  no  great 
bond  of  union  among  them,  as  slavery  was  among  the  senators 
from  the  South.  And  thus,  from  these  causes,  the  power  of  the 
Senate  and  the  power  of  the  Government  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
southern  party. 

I  am  aware  that  in  going  into  these  matters  here  I  am  depart- 
ing somewhat  from  the  subject  of  which  this  chapter  is  intended  to 
treat ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  I  could  explain  in  any  shorter  way 
the  manner  in  which  those  rules  of  the  constitution  have  worked 
by  which  the  composition  of  the  Senate  is  fixed.     That  State  basis, 

*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  new  northern  and  western  States  have  been 
brought  into  the  Union  by  natural  increase  and  the  spread  of  population. 
But  this  has  not  been  so  with  the  new  southern  States.  Louisiana  and  Flor- 
ida were  purchased,  and  Texas  was — annexed. 


470 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


1'. 


i: 


.fi-. 


1 1 


lis  opposed  to  a  basis  of  population,  in  tho  Upper  IIouso  of  Con- 
gress, lias  boon  tlio  one  great  political  weapon,  both  of  offoncc  and 
ilofoncc,  in  the  liands  of  the  democratic  party.  And  yet  I  am  not 
pro[)arod  to  deny  that  groat  wisdom  was  shown  in  the  framing  of 
the  constitution  of  tho  Senate.  It  was  tho  object  of  none  of  ijio 
politicians  then  at  work  to  create  a  code  of  rules  for  tho  entire 
governance  of  a  single  nation  such  as  is  England  or  France.  Nor, 
had  any  American  politician  of  tho  time  so  desired,  would  ho  have 
had  reasonable  hope  of  success.  A  federal  union  of  separate  sov- 
ereign States  was  tho  necessity,  as  it  was  also  the  desire,  of  all 
those  who  were  concerned  in  tho  American  policy  of  the  day ; 
and  I  think  it  may  bo  understood  and  niaintained  that  no  such 
federal  union  would  have  been  just,  or  could  have  been  accepted 
by  the  smaller  States,  which  did  not  in  some  direct  way  recognize 
their  equality  with  the  larger  States.  It  is  moreover  to  be  ob- 
served, that  in  this,  as  in  all  matters,  tho  claims  of  tho  minority 
were  treated  with  indulgence.  No  ordinance  of  the  constitution 
is  made  in  a  niggardly  spirit.  It  would  seem  as  though  they  who 
met  together  to  do  the  work  had  been  actuated  by  no  desire  for 
selfish  preponderance  or  individual  influence.  No  ambition  to 
bind  close  by  words  which  shall  be  exacting  as  well  as  exact  is 
apparent.  A  very  broad  power  of  interpretation  is  left  to  those 
who  were  to  bo  the  future  interpreters  of  the  written  document. 

It  is  declared  that  "  Representation  and  direct  taxes  shall  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included 
within  this  Union  according  to  their  respective  numbers,"  there- 
by meaning  that  representation  and  taxation  in  the  several  States 
shall  be  adjusted  according  to  the  population.  This  clause  or- 
dains that  throughout  all  the  States  a  certain  amount  of  popula- 
tion shall  return  a  member  to  the  Lower  IIouso  of  Congress, — say 
one  member  to  100,000  persons,  as  is  I  believe  about  the  present 
proportion, — and  that  direct  taxation  shall  be  levied  according  to 
the  number  of  representatives.  If  New  York  return  thirty-three 
members  and  Kansas  one,  on  New  York  shall  bo  levied,  for  the 
purposes  of  the  United  States'  revenue,  thirty-three  times  as  much 
direct  taxation  as  on  Kansas.  This  matter  of  direct  taxation  was 
not  then,  nor  has  it  been  since,  matter  of  much  moment.  No  di- 
rect taxation  has  hitherto  been  levied  in  the  United  States  for  na- 
tional purposes.  But  the  time  has  now  come  when  this  proviso 
will  be  a  terrible  stumbling-block  in  the  way. 

But  before  we  go  into  that  matter  of  taxation,  I  must  explain 
how  the  South  was  again  favoured  with  reference  to  its  represent- 
ation.    As  a  matter  of  course  no  slaves,  or  even  negroes — no  men 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


471 


)f  Con- 

ixiu  not 
lu'mg  *>!' 

0  of  Iho 
lO  entire 
c.     ^'ov, 

1  he  liiive 
,rtttc  80V- 
iro,  of  uU 
the  day; 

t  no  8u^^^ 
,  acccjitcd 

recognize 
to  Imj  ob- 
3  minority 
onstitution 
li  tVicy  who 
3  desire  for 
imbition  to 
as  exact  is 
eft  to  those 
locument. 
ices  shall  be 

,e  included 


jers, 


1? 


there- 


[veral  States 
clause  or- 
it  of  popula- 
igrcss,— say 
,lhe  present 
I  according  to 
1  thirty-three 
Ivied,  for  the 
.les  as  much 
[taxation  was 

3nt.     >'o^^- 

;tates  for  na- 

this  proviso 

Lust  explain 
lits  represent- 
loes— no  men 


of  colour — were  to  vote  in  tlio  southern  States.  1'horcforo,  one 
would  say,  that  in  counting  np  the  peopUj  with  ri'fiTence  to  the 
nuniber  of  the  rcprcwentntives,  the  coloured  [)opulation  «hould  bo 
ijrnored  altojrcther.  IKit  it  was  clainuMl  on  behalf  of  the  South 
that  their  property  in  slaves  shoidd  bo  reprcHcnted,  and  in  conj- 
pliancc  with  this  claim,  although  no  hIuvc  can  vote  or  in  any  way 
demand  the  services  of  a  representative,  the  coloured  people  are 
reckoned  among  the  population.  When  the  nund)crs  of  the  frco 
persons  are  counted,  to  this  nnml)er  is  added  "  three-fifths  of  all 
other  persons."  Five  slaves  are  thus  supposed  to  represent  three 
white  persons.  From  the  wording,,  one  would  be  led  to  suppose 
that  there  was  some  other  category  into  which  a  man  might  Im) 
put  besides  that  of  free  or  slave !  IJut  it  may  bo  observed,  that  on 
this  subject  of  slaveiy  the  framers  of  the  constitution  were  tender- 
mouthed.  They  never  speak  of  slavery  or  of  a  slave.  It  is  neces- 
Bnry  that  the  subject  should  be  mentioned,  and  therefore  we  hear 
first  of  persons  other  than  free,  and  then  of  persons  bound  to  la- 
bour ! 

Such  were  the  rules  laid  down  for  the  formation  of  Congress, 
and  the  letter  of  those  rules  has,  I  think,  been  strictly  observed. 
I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  give  all  the  clauses,  but  I  be- 
lieve I  liavo  stated  those  which  aro  essential  to  a  general  under- 
standmg  of  the  basis  upon  which  Congress  is  founded.  A  refer- 
ence to  the  Appendix  will  show  all  those  which  I  have  omitted. 

The  constitution  ordains  that  members  of  both  the  Houses  shall 
be  paid  for  their  time,  but  it  does  not  decree  the  amount.  "The 
senators  and  representatives  sliall  receive  a  compensation  for  their 
services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States."  In  the  remarks  which  I  have  made  as  to 
the  present  Congress  I  have  spoken  of  the  amount  now  allowed. 
The  understanding,  I  believe,  is  that  the  pay  shall  be  enough  for 
the  modest  support  of  a  man  who  is  supposed  to  have  raised  him- 
pelf  above  the  heads  of  the  crowd.  Much  may  be  said  in  favour 
of  this  pajrment  of  legislators,  but  vei-y  much  may  also  be  said 
against  it.  There  was  a  time  when  our  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  entitled  to  payment  for  their  services,  and  when, 
at  any  rate,  some  of  them  took  the  money.  It  may  be  that  with  a 
new  nation  such  an  arrangement  was  absolutely  necessary.  Men 
whom  the  people  could  trust,  and  who  would  have  been  able  to 
give  up  their  time  without  payment,  would  not  have  probably  been 
found  in  a  new  community.  The  choice  of  senators  and  of  rep- 
resentatives would  have  been  so  limited  that  the  legislative  power 
would  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  few  rich  men.     Indeed  it 


472 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


'         ; 


i  ': 


r ; 


mixy  be  said  thr.t  such  payment  was  absolutely  necessary  in  the 
early  days  of  the  life  of  tho  Union.     But  no  one,  I  tiiink,  will  deny 
that  tlie  tone  of  both  Houses  would  be  raised  by  the  gratuitous 
service  of  the  legislators.     It  is  well  known  that  politicians  iind 
their  way  into  tlie  Senate  and  into  the  Chamber  of  Representa- 
tives solely  with  a  view  to  the  loaves  and  fishes.     I'he  very  word 
"  politician"  is  foul  and  unsavoury  throughout  the   States,  and 
means  rather  a  political  blackleg  than  a  political  patriot.     It  is 
useless  to  blink  this  matter  in  speaking  of  the  politics  and  policy 
of  the  United  States.     The  corruption  of  the  venial  politicians  of 
the  nation  stinks  aloud  in  the  nostrils  of  all  men.     It  behoves  the 
countr'  to  look  to  this.     It  is  time  now  that  she  should  do  so. 
The  people  of  the  nation  are  educated  and  clever.     The  women 
are  bright  and  beautiful.     Her  charity  is  profuse ;  her  philanthro- 
py is  eager  and  true  ;  her  national  ambition  is  noble  and  honest, — 
honest  in  the  cause  of  civilization.     But  she  has  soiled  herself  with 
political  corruption,  and  has  disgraced  the  cause  of  republican  gov- 
ernment by  the  dirt  of  those  whom  she  has  placed  in  her  high 
places.     Let  her  look  to  it  now.     She  is  nobly  ambitious  of  repu- 
tation throughout  the  earth ;  she  desires  to  be  called  good  as  well 
as  great ;  to  be  regarded  not  only  as  powerful,  but  also  as  benefi- 
cent.    She  is  creating  an  army ;  she  is  forging  cannon  and  pre- 
paring to  build  impregnable  ships  of  war.     But  all  these  will  fail 
to  satisfy  her  pride,  unless  she  can  cleanse  herself  from  that  cor- 
ruption by  which  her  political  democracy  has  debased  itself.    A 
politician  should  bo  a  man  worthy  of  all  honour,  in  that  lie  loves 
his  country ;  and  not  one  worthy  of  all  contempt,  in  that  he  robs 
his  country. 

I  must  not  be  understood  as  saying  that  every  senator  and  rep- 
resentative who  takes  his  pay  is  wrong  in  taking  it.  Indeed,  I 
have  already  expre  \,ed  an  opinion  that  such  payments  were  at 
first  necessary,  and  1  by  no  means  now  say  that  the  necessity  lias 
as  yet  disappeared.  In  the  minds  of  thorough  democrats  it  will 
be  tu^sidered  much  that  the  poorest  man  of  the  people  should  be 
enabled  to  go  into  the  legislature,  if  such  poorest  man  be  worthy 
of  that  honour.  I  am  not  a  thorough  democrat,  and  consider  that 
more  would  be  gained  by  obtaining  in  the  legislature  that  educa- 
tion, demeanour,  and  freedom  from  political  temptation  which  easy 
circumstances  produce.  I  am  not,  however,  on  this  account  in- 
clined to  quarrel  with  the  democrats, — not  on  that  account  if  they 
can  so  manage  their  affairs  that  their  poor  and  popular  politicians 
shall  be  fairly  honest  men.  But  I  am  a  thorough  republj.can,  re- 
garding our  own  English  {o^m  of  government  as  the  most  purely 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNFfED   STATES. 


473 


jr  in  the 
vill  deny 
ratuitous 
ians  find 
presenta- 
ery  word 
ates,  and 
ot.     It  is 
md  policy 
Lticians  of 
jUoves  the 
uld  do  so. 
he  women 
)hilanthro- 
l  honest,— 
lerself  with 
iblican  go\- 
in  her  high 
)us  of  repu- 
rood  as  well 
50  as  benefi- 
on  and  pre- 
lese  will  fail 
,ni  that  cor- 
fd  itself.    A 
hat  he  loves 
that  he  robs 


republican  that  I  know,  and  as  such  I  have  a  close  and  warm 
sympathy  with  those  trans-Atlantic  anti-monarchical  republicans 
who  are  endeavouring  to  prove  to  the  world  that  they  have  at 
length  founded  a  political  Utopia.  I  for  one  do  not  grudge  them  all 
the  good  they  can  do,  all  the  honour  they  can  win.  But  I  grieve 
over  the  evil  name  which  now  taints  fhem,  and  which  has  accom- 
panied tiiat  wider  spread  of  democracy  which  the  last  twenty  years 
lias  produced.  This  longing  for  universal  suffrage  in  all  things — 
in  voting  for  the  President,  in  voting  for  judges,  in  voting  for  the 
representatives,  in  dictating  to  senators,  has  come  up  since  the  days 
of  President  Jackson,  and  with  it  has  come  corruption  and  unclean 
hands.  Democracy  must  look  to  it,  or  the  world  at  large  will  de- 
clare her  to  have  failed. 

One  would  say  that  at  any  rate  the  Senate  might  be  filled  with 
unpaid  servants  of  the  public.  Each  State  might  surely*  find  two 
men  who  could  afford  to  attend  to  the  public  weal  of  their  country 
without  claiming  a  compensation  for  their  time.  In  England  we 
find  no  difficulty  in  being  so  served.  Those  cities  among  us  in 
which  the  democratic  element  most  strongly  abounds,  can  procure 
representatives  to  their  mind — even  though  the  honour  of  filling 
the  position  is  not  only  not  remunerative,  but  is  very  costly.  I 
cannot  but  think  that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  would  stand 
higher  in  the  public  estimation  of  its  own  country,  if  it  were  an 
unpaid  body  of  men. 

It  is  enjoined  that  no  person  holding  any  office  under  the  United 
States  shall  be  a  member  of  either  House  during  his  continuance 
in  oflice.  At  first  sight  such  a  rule  as  this  appears  to  be  good  in 
'ts  nature ;  but  a  comparison  of  the  practice  of  the  United  States' 
Government  with  that  of  our  own  makes  me  think  that  this  em- 
bargo on  members  of  the  legislative  bodies  is  a  mistake.  It  pro- 
hibits the  President's  itoinisters  from  a  seat  in  either  House,  and 
thereby  relieves  them  from  the  weight  of  that  responsibility  to 
which  our  ministers  are  subjected.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  United 
States'  ministers  cannot  be  responsible  as  are  our  ministers,  seeing 
that  the  President  himself  is  responsible  and  that  the  Queen  is  not 
so.  Indeed,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  American  constitution, 
the  President  has  no  ministers.  The  constitution  speaks  only  of 
the  principal  officers  of  the  executive  departments.  "  He,"  the 
President,  "may  require  the  opinion  in  writing  of  the  principal  of- 
ficer in  each  of  the  executive  departments."  But  in  practice  he  has 
his  cabinet,  and  the  irresponsibility  of  that  cabinet  would  practi- 
cally cease  if  the  members  of  it  were  subjected  to  the  questionings 
of  the  two  Houses,     With  us  the  rule  which  prohibits  servants  of 


r   'A 


474 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


J,    1    ' 
''    '      ', 


H. 


I  ^ 


the  State  from  going  into  Parliament  is,  like  many  of  onr  constitu- 
tional rules,  hard  to  be  defined,  and  yet  perfectly  understood.  It 
may  perhaps  be  said,  with  the  nearest  approach  to  a  correct  defi- 
nition, that  permanent  servants  of  the  State  may  not  go  into  Par- 
liament, and  that  those  may  do  so  whose  services  are  political,  de- 
pending for  the  duration  of  their  term  on  the  duration  of  the  exist- 
ing ministry.  But  even  this  would  not  be  exact,  seeing  that  tlie 
Master  of  the  Rolls  and  the  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  can  sit  in 
Parliament.  The  absence  of  the  President's  ministers  from  Con- 
gress certainly  occasions  much  confusion,  or  rather  prohibits  a 
more  thorough  political  understanding  between  the  executive  and 
the  legislative  than  now  exists.  In  speaking  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  in  the  next  chapter,  I  shall  be  constrained  to 
allude  again  to  this  subject.* 

The  dljties  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  solely  legisla- 
tive. Those  of  the  Senate  are  legislative  and  executive — as  with 
us  those  of  the  Upper  House  are  legislative  and  judicial.  The 
House  of  Representatives  is  always  open  to  the  public.  The  Sen- 
ate is  so  open  when  it  is  engaged  on  legislative  work;  but  it  is 
closed  to  the  public  when  engaged  in  executive  session.  No 
treaties  can  be  made  by  the  President,  and  no  appointments  to 
high  offices  confirmed  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate ;  and  this 
consent  must  be  given — as  regards  the  confirmation  of  treaties — 
by  two-thirds  of  the  members  present.  This  law  gives  to  the 
Senate  the  power  of  debating  with  closed  doors  upon  the  nature 
of  all  treaties,  and  upon  the  conduct  of  the  government  as  evinced 
in  the  nomination  of  the  oflicers  of  State.  It  also  gives  to  the 
Senate  a  considerable  control  over  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
Government.  I  believe  that  this  power  is  often  used,  and  that  hy 
it  the  influence  of  the  Senate  is  raised  much  above  that  of  the 
Lower  House.  This  influence  is  increased  again  by  the  advant- 
age of  that  superior  statecraft  and  political  knowledge  which  the 
six  years  of  the  senator  gives  him  over  the  two  years  of  the  rep- 
resentative. U'he  tried  representative,  moreover,  very  frequently 
blossoms  into  a  senator ;  but  a  senator  does  not  frequently  fade 
into  a  representative.  Such  occasionally  is  the  case,  and  it  is  not 
even  unconstitutional  for  an  ex-President  to  re-appear  in  either 

*  It  will  be  alleged  by  Americans  that  the  introduction  into  Congress  of  the 
President's  ministers  would  alter  all  the  existing  relations  of  the  President 
and  of  Congress,  and  would  at  once  produce  that  Parliamentary  form  of  Gov- 
ernment which  England  possesses,  and  which  the  States  have  chosen  to  avoid. 
Such  a  change  would  elevate  Congress,  and  depress  the  President.  No  doubt 
this  is  true.  Such  elevation,  however,  and  such  depression  seem  to  rac  to  be 
the  two  things  needed.  . 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


475 


:onstUii- 

30d.      It 
•ect  deii- 
nto  Viw- 
lical,  de- 
:,bc  cxist- 
;  tlmt  the 
can  sit  in 
rom  Con- 
rohibits  a 
•utive  and 
avernmcnt 
strained  to 

ely  legisk- 
e — as  with 
icial.    Tbe 
The  Sen- 
: ;  but  it  is 
ission.     ^0 
(intments  to 
te ;  and  this 
)f  treaties- 
rives  to  the 
[  tbe  nature 
.  as  evinced 
Tives  to  the 
ions  of  the 
and  that  by 
tbat  of  the 
tbe  advaiit- 
re  wbicb  the 
B  of  tbe  rep- 
•y  frequently 
.quently  fade 
and  it  is  not 
^ear  in  either 
Jongrcssofthe 
.  the  Fresident 
ry  form  of  Gox- 
hosen  to  avoid. 
Ut.    iN^odouU 
fcmtoiactobe 


Ilouge.  Mr.  Benton,  after  thirty  years'  service  in  the  Senate,  sat 
in  the  House  of  Kepresentativcs.  Mr.  (Irittcnden,  who  was  re- 
turned as  senator  by  Kentucky,  I  think  s^ven  times,  now  sits  in 
tlje  Lower  House  ;  and  John  Quincy  Adams  appeared  as  a  rep- 
resentative from  Massachusetts  after  he  had  filled  the  Presidential 
chair. 

And,  moreover,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  not  debarred 
from  an  interference  with  money  bills,  as  the  House  of  Lords  is 
debarred  with  us.  "All  bills  for  raising  revenue,"  says  the  sev- 
enth section  of  the  first  article  of  the  constitution,  *'  shall  originate 
with  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  the  Senate  may  propose 
or  concur  with  amendments  as  on  other  bills."  IJy  this  the  Sen- 
ate is  enabled  to  have  an  authority  in  the  money  matters  of  the 
nation  almost  equal  to  that  held  by  the  Lower  House, — an  author- 
ity quite  sufiicient  to  preserve  to  it  the  full  influence  ofits  other 
powers.  With  us  the  House  of  Commons  is  altogether  in  the 
ascendant,  because  it  holds  and  jealously  keeps  to  itself  the  exclu- 
sive command  of  the  public  purse. 

Congress  can  levy  custom  duties  in  the  United  States,  and  al- 
ways has  done  so;  hitherto  the  national  revenue  has  been  ex- 
clusively raised  from  custom  duties.     It  cannot  levy  duties  on 
imports.     It  can  levy  excise  duties,  and  is  now  doing  so ;  hitherto 
it  has  not  done  so.     It  can  levy  direct  taxes,  such  as  an  income- 
tax  and  a  property-tax ;  it  hitherto  has  not  done  so,  but  now  must 
do  so.    It  must  do  so,  I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying ;  but  its  power 
of  doing  this  is  so  hampered  by  constitutional  enactment,  that  it 
would  seem  that  the  constitution  as  regards    his  heading  must  be 
altered  before  any  scheme  can  be  arranged  by  which  a  moderately 
just  income-tax  can  be  levied  and  collected.     This  difficulty  I 
have  already  mentioned,  but  perhaps  it  will  be  well  that  I  should 
endeavour  to  make  the  subject  more  plain.     It  is  specially  de- 
clared, "That  all  duties,  imports,  and  excises  shall  be  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States."     And  again,  "That  no  capitation 
or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to  the  census 
or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken."     And  again, 
in  the  words  before  quoted,  "  Kepresentatives  and  direct  taxes 
shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  which  shall  be  in- 
cluded in  this  Union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers."    By 
these  repeated  rules  it  has  been  intended  to  decree  that  the  sepa- 
rate States  shall  bear  direct  taxation  according  to  their  population 
and  the  consequent  number  of  their  representatives ;  and  this  in- 
tention has  been  made  so  clear,  that  no  direct  taxation  can  be 
levied  in  opposition  to  it  without  an  evident  breach  of  the  consti- 


470 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


.'       ; 


■k 


tution.     To  explain  the  way  in  which  this  will  work,  I  will 
name  the  two  States  of  Rhode  Island  and  Iowa  as  opposed  to 
each  other,  and  the  two  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Indiana  as 
opposed  to  each  other.    Khode  Island  and  Massachusetts  arc 
wealthy  Atlantic  States,  containing,  as  regards  enterprise  and 
commercial  success,  the  cream  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.     Comparing  them  in  the  ratio  of  population,  I  believe 
that  they  are  richer  than  any  other  States.     They  return  be- 
tween them  thirteen  representatives,  Rhode  Island  sending  two 
and  Massachusetts  eleven.     Iowa  and  Indiana  also  send  thir- 
teen representatives,  Iowa  sending  two,  and  being  thus  equal 
to  Rhode  Island ;  Indiana  sending  eleven  and  being  thus  equal 
to  Massachusetts.     Iowa  and  Indiana  are  western  States ;  and 
though  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  they  are  the  poorest 
States  of  the  Union,  I  can  assert  that  they  are  exactly  opposite 
in  their  circumstances  to  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts.   The 
two  Atlantic  States  of  New  England  are  old  established,  rich, 
and  commercial.    The  two  western  States  I  have  named  are 
full  of  new  immigrants,  are  comparatively  poor,  and  are  agri- 
cultural.    Nevertheless  any  direct  taxation  levied  on  those  in 
the  East  and  on  those  in  the  West  must  be  equal  in  its  weight. 
Iowa  must  pay  as  much  as  Rhode  Island ;  Indiana  must  pay  as 
much  as  Massachusetts.     But  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts 
could  pay  without  the  sacrifice  of  any  comfort  to  its  people, 
without  any  sensible  suffering,  an  amount  of  direct  taxation 
which  would  crush  the  States  of  Iowa  and  Indiana, — which  in- 
deed no  tax-gatherer  could  collect  out  of  those  States.    Rhode 
Island  and  Massachusetts  could  with  their  ready  money  buy 
Iowa  and  Indiana ;  and  yet  the  income-tax  to  be  collected  from 
the  poor  States  is  to  be  the  same  in  amount  as  that  collected 
from  the  rich  States.     Within  each  individual  State  the  total 
amount  of  income-tax  or  of  other  direct  taxation  to  be  levied 
from  that  State  may  be  apportioned  as  the  State  may  think  fit; 
but  an  income-tax  of  two  per  cent,  on  Rhode  Island  would 
probably  produce  more  than  an  income-tax  of  ten  per  cent,  iu 
Iowa ;  whereas  Rhode  Island  could  pay  an  income-tax  of  ten 
per  cent,  easier  than  could  Iowa  one  of  two  per  cent. 

It  would  in  fact  appear  that  the  constitution  as  at  present 
framed  is  fatal  to  all  direct  taxation.  Any  law  for  the  collec- 
tion of  direct  taxation  levied  under  the  constitution  would  pro- 
duce internecine  quarrel  between  the  western  States  and  those 
which  border  on  the  Atlantic.  The  western  States  would  not 
submit  to  the  taxation.  The  difficulty  which  one  here  feels  is 
that  which  always  attends  an  attempt  at  finality  in  political  ar- 


THE   COXSTITUTIOX    OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


477 


k,  1  will 

posed  to 

icliaua  as 

isetts  arc 

pvise  and 

le  United 

I  believe 

•cturn  be- 
ading two 

send  tliir- 

■bus  equal 

tbus  equal 

tates;  and 

he  poorest 

iy  opposite 

.setts.  The 

isbed,  rich, 
named  are 

id  are  agri- 

on  Ibose  in 

1  its  weight. 

must  pay  as 

lassacbusetts 

D  its  people, 

ect  taxation 
•wbicli  in- 

tes.  Rhode 
money  buy 
jUected  from 
liat  collected 
Ate  the  total 
ito  be  levied 
lay  tbinkfit; 
sland  would 
pev  cent,  in 
.e-tax  of  ten 

mt. 

s  at  present 
or  tbe  collec- 
m  would  pro- 
tea  and  tbose 
^es  would  not 
here  feels  IS 
pobtical  ar- 


rangements. One  would  be  inclined  to  say  at  once  that  the 
law  should  be  altered,  and  tbat  as  tbe  money  required  is  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Union  and  for  State  purposes,  such  a 
change  should  be  made  as  would  enable  Congress  to  levy  an 
income-tax  on  the  general  income  of  the  nation.  But  Congress 
cannot  go  beyond  the  constitution. 

It  is  true  that  the  constitution  is  not  final,  and  tbat  it  con- 
tains an  express  article  ordaining  tbe  manner  in  whicb  it  may 
be  amended.  And  perhaps  I  may  as  well  explain  here  the 
manner  in  whicb  this  can  be  done,  although  by  doing  so,  I  am 
departing  from  tbe  order  in  wbich  the  constitution  is  Avritten. 
It  is  not  final,  and  amendments  have  been  made  to  it.  But  the 
making  of  such  amendments  is  an  operation  so  ponderous  and 
troublesome,  that  the  difficulty  attached  to  any  such  change 
envelops  the  constitution  with  many  of  the  troubles  of  finality. 
With  us  there  is  nothing  beyond  an  act  of  parliament.  An 
act  of  parliament  with  us  cannot  be  unconstitutional.  But  no 
such  power  has  been  confided  to  Congress,  or  to  Congress  and 
the  President  together.  No  amendment  of  the  constitution 
can  be  made  without  the  sanction  of  the  State  legislatures. 
Congress  may  propose  any  amendments,  as  to  the  expediency 
of  which  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  sliall  be  agreed ;  but  before 
such  amendments  can  be  accepted  they  must  be  ratified  by  the 
legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  States,  or  by  conventions  in 
three-fourths  of  the  States,  "as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of 
ratification  may  be  proposed  by  Congress."  Or  Congress,  in- 
stead of  proposing  the  amendments,  may,  on  an  application 
from  the  legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  difterent  States,  call  a 
convention  for  the  proposing  of  them.  In  which  latter  case  the 
ratification  by  the  diflferent  States  must  be  made  after  the  same 
fashion  as  that  required  in  the  former  case.  I  do  not  know 
that  I  have  succeeded  in  making  clearly  intelligible  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  constitution  can  be  amended;  but  I 
think  I  may  have  succeeded  in  explaining  that  those  circum- 
stances are  difficult  and  tedious.  In  a  matter  of  taxation  why 
should  States  agree  to  an  alteration  proposed  with  the  very  ob- 
ject of  increasing  their  proportion  of  the  national  burden  ?  But 
unless  such  States  will  agree, — unless  Rhode  Island,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  New  York  will  consent  to  put  their  own  necks 
into  the  yoke, — direct  taxation  cannot  be  levied  on  them  in  a 
manner  available  for  national  purposes.  I  do  believe  that 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts  at  present  possess  a  patriot- 
ism sufficient  for  such  an  act.  But  the  mode  of  doing  the  work 
^vill  create  disagreement,  or  at  any  rate,  tedious  delay  and  dif- 


Ij 


478 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


Iji! 


ficultv.    How  shall  the  constitution  bo  constitutionally  amend- 
ed  while  one-third  of  the  States  are  in  revolt  ? 

In  the  eighth  section  of  its  first  article  the  constitution  gives 
a  list  of  the  duties  which  Congress  shall  perform, — of  things,  in 
short,  which  it  shall  do,  or  shall  have  power  to  do : — To  raise 
taxes ;  to  regulate  commerce  and  the  naturalization  of  citizens; 
to  coin  money  and  protect  it  when  coined ;  to  establish  postal 
communication ;  to  make  laws  for  defence  of  patents  and  copy- 
rights ;  to  constitute  national  courts  of  law  inferior  to  the  Su- 
preme Court ;  to  punish  piracies ;  to  declare  war ;  to  raise,  pay 
for,  and  govern  armies,  navies,  and  militia ;  and  to  exercise  ex- 
elusive  legislation  in  a  certain  district  which  shall  contain  the 
seat  of  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  which  is  there- 
fore to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  nation  at  large,  and  not 
to  any  particular  State.  This  district  is  now  called  the  district 
of  Columbia.  It  is  situated  on  the  Potomac  and  contains  the 
city  of  Washington. 

Then  the  ninth  section  of  the  same  article  declares  what  Con- 
gress shall  not  do.  Certain  immigration  shall  not  be  prohibit- 
ed ;  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  he  sus- 
petided^  except  under  certain  circumstances ;  no  ex  post  facto 
law  shall  be  passed ;  no  direct  tax  shall  be  laid  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census ;  no  tax  shall  be  laid  on  exports ;  no 
money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  by  legal  appro- 
priation ;  no  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted. 

The  above  are  lists  or  catalogues  of  the  powers  which  Con- 
gress has,  and  of  the  powers  which  Congress  has  not ;  of  what 
Congress  may  do,  and  of  what  Congress  may  not  do ;  and  hav- 
ing given  them  thus  seriatim,  I  may  here  perhaps  be  best  en- 
abled to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  suspension  of  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  the  United  States.  It  is  gener- 
ally known  that  this  privilege  has  been  suspended  during  the 
existence  of  the  present  rebellion  very  many  times ;  that  this 
has  been  done  by  the  executive,  and  not  by  Congress ;  and  that 
it  is  maintained  by  the  executive,  and  by  those  who  defend  the 
conduct  of  the  now  acting  executive  of  the  United  States,  that 
the  power  of  suspending  the  writ  has  been  given  by  the  consti- 
tution to  the  r  A  esident,  and  not  to  Congress.  I  confess  that  I 
cannot  understand  how  any  man,  familiar  either  with  the  word- 
ing or  with  the  spirit  of  the  constitution  should  hold  such  an 
argument.  To  me  it  appears  manifest  that  the  executive,  in 
suspending  the  privilege  of  the  writ  without  the  authority  of 
Congress,  has  committed  a  breach  of  the  constitution.  Were 
the  case  one  referring  to  our  British  constitution,  a  plain  man, 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


41Q 


on  gives 
Wings,  in 
To  raise 
citizens ; 
sh  postal 
ind  copy- 

0  the  Su- 
vaise,  pay 
ercisc  ex- 
)ntain  the 

1  is  theve- 
re,  and  not 
he  district 
mtains  the 

,  what  Con- 
)e  prohihit- 
not  be  SMS- 
c  post  facto 
dess  in  pro- 
jxports;  no 
legal  appro- 


knowing  little  of  Parliamentary  usage,  and  nothing  of  law  lore, 
would  probably  feel  some  hesitation  in  expressing  any  decided 
opinion  on  such  a  subject,  seeing  that  our  constitution  is  un- 
written. But  the  intention  has  been  that  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  should  know  and  understand  the  rules  under 
which  he  is  to  live, — and  he  that  runs  may  read. 

As  this  matter  has  been  argued  by  Mr.  Horace  Binney,  a 
lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  much  trusted,  of  very  great  and  of  de- 
served eminence  throughout  the  States,  in  a  pamphlet  in  which 
lie  defends  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  by  the 
President,  I  will  take  the  position  of  the  question  as  summed 
up  by  him  in  his  last  page,  and  compare  it  with  that  clause  in 
llie  constitution  by  which  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  under 
certain  circumstances  is  decreed ;  and  to  enable  me  to  do  this 
I  will,  in  the  first  place,  quote  the  words  of  the  clause  in  ques- 
tion : — 

"The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended unless  when,  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public 
safety  may  require  it."  It  is  the  second  clause  of  that  section 
wliich  states  what  Congress  shall  not  do. 

Mr.  Binney  argues  as  follows : — "  The  conclusion  of  tho 
whole  matter  is  this  :  that  the  constitution  itself  is  the  law  of 
the  privilege,  and  of  the  exception  to  it ;  that  the  exception  is 
expressed  in  the  constitution,  and  that  the  constitution  gives 
effect  to  the  act  of  suspension  when  the  conditions  occur ;  that 
the  conditions  consist  of  two  matters  of  fact, — one  a  naked 
matter  of  fact,  and  the  other  a  matter-of-fact  conclusion  from 
facts,  that  is  to  say,  rebellion  and  the  public  danger,  or  the  re- 
quirement of  public  safety."  By  these  words  Mr.  Binney  in- 
tends to  imply  that  the  constitution  itself  gave  the  privilege  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  itself  prescribes  the  taking  away 
of  that  privilege  under  certain  circumstances.  But  this  is  not 
so.  The  constitution  does  not  prescribe  the  suspension  of  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  under  any  circumstances.  It  says  that  it 
shall  not  be  suspended  except  under  certain  circumstances. 
Mr.  Biuney's  argument,  if  I  understand  it,  then  goes  on  as  fol- 
lows. As  the  constitution  prescribes  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  privilege  of  the  writ  shall  be  suspended,  the  one 
circumstance  being  the  naked  matter-of-fact  rebellion,  and  the 
other  circumstance  the  public  safety  supposed  to  have  been 
endangered  by  such  rebellion, — which  Mr.  Binney  calls  a  mat- 
ter-of-fact conclusion  from  facts,  the  constitution  must  be  pre- 
sumed itself  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ.  Whether 
the  President  or  Congress  be  the  agent  of  the  constitution  in 


g?W|l   ■   'W  ■    I^WOWK. 


.1 


480 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


tM^U 


\ 


m 


^h 


this  suspenflion  is  not  matter  of  moment.  Either  can  only  bo 
an  agent,  and  as  Congress  cannot  act  executively,  whereas  the 
President  must  ultimately  be  charged  with  the  executive  ad- 
ministration of  the  order  for  that  suspension,  which  has  in  fact 
been  issued  by  the  constitution  itself,  therefore  the  power  of 
exercising  the  suspension  of  the  writ  may  properly  be  pre- 
sumed to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  and  not  to  bo  in 
the  hands  of  Congress. 

If  I  follow  Mr.  Binney's  argument,  it  amounts  to  so  much. 
But  it  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  liinney  is  wrong  in  his  premises, 
and  wrong  in  liis  conclusion.  The  article  of  the  constitution 
in  question  does  not  define  the  conditions  under  which  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  shall  be  suspended.  It  simply  states  that 
this  privilege  shall  never  be  suspended,  except  under  certain 
conditions.  It  shall  not  be  suspended  unless  when  the  public 
safety  may  require  such  suspension  on  account  of  rebellion  or 
invasion.  Rebellion  or  invasion  are  not  necessarily  to  produce 
such  suspension.  There  is  indeed  no  naked  matter  of  fact  to 
guide  either  President  or  Congress  in  the  matter,  and  therefore 
I  say  that  Mr.  Binney  is  wrong  in  his  premises.  Rebellion  or 
invasion  might  occur  twenty  times  over,  and  might  even  en- 
danger the  public  safety,  without  justifying  the  suspension  of 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  under  the  constitution.  I  say  also 
that  Mr.  Binney  is  wrong  in  his  conclusion.  The  public  safety 
must  require  the  suspension  before  the  suspension  can  be  justi- 
fied, and  such  requirement  must  be  a  matter  for  judgment,  and 
for  the  exercise  of  discretion.  Whether  or  no  there  shall  bo 
any  suspension  is  a  matter  for  deliberation, — not  one  simply 
for  executive  action,  as  though  it  were  already  ordered.  There 
is  no  matter-of-fact  conclusion  from  facts.  Should  invasion  or 
rebellion  occur,  and  should  the  public  safety,  in  consequence 
of  such  rebellion  or  invasion,  require  the  suspension  of  the 
privilege  of  the  writ,  then,  and  only  then,  may  the  privilege 
be  suspended.  But  to  whom  is  the  power,  or  rather  the  duty, 
of  exercising  this  discretion  delegated  ?  Mr.  Binney  says  that 
*'  there  is  no  express  delegation  of  the  power  in  the  constitu- 
tion." I  maintain  that  Mr.  Binney  is  again  wrong,  and  that 
the  constitution  does  expressly  delegate  the  power,  not  to  the 
President,  but  to  Congress.  This  is  done  so  clearly,  to  my 
mind,  that  I  cannot  understand  the  misunderstanding  which 
has  existed  in  the  States  upon  the  subject.  The  first  article 
of  the  constitution  treats  "of  the  legislature."  The  second 
article  treats  "  of  the  executive."  The  third  treats  "of  the  ju- 
diciary."   After  that  there  are  certain  "  miscellaneous  articles," 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OF  THK   UNITED   STATES. 


481 


BO  much. 

premises, 

istitution 

^hich  the 

tales  that 

BV  certain 

Llie  public 

jbclUon  or 

,0  produce 

of  fact  to 

a  therefore 

ebellion  or 

it  even  en- 

jpension  of 

,  I  say  also 

flblic  safety 

an  be  justi- 

gment,  and 

;rc  shall  ho 
one  simply 
•ed.    There 
invasion  or 
(onseqnence 
sion  of  the 
le  privilege 
3r  the  duty, 
ey  says  that 
he  constittt- 
g,  and  that 
,  not  to  the 
,arly,  to  my 
ding  which 
,  first  article 
|The  second 
,«of  thejn- 
,us  articles," 


60  called.  The  eighth  section  of  the  first  article  gives,  as  I 
have  said  before,  a  list  of  things  which  the  legislature  or  Con- 
gress shall  do.  The  ninth  section  gives  a  list  of  things  which 
the  legislature  or  Congress  shall  not  do.  The  second  item  in 
this  list  is  the  prohibition  of  any  suspension  of  the  privilege  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  except  under  certain  circumstances. 
This  prohibition  is  therefore  expressly  placed  upon  Congress, 
and  this  prohibition  contains  the  only  authority  under  whicli 
the  privilege  can  bo  constitutionally  suspended.  Then  comes 
the  article  on  the  executive,  which  defines  the  powers  that  the 
President  shall  exercise.  In  that  article  there  is  no  word  re- 
ferring to  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  wiit.  He  that 
runs  may  read. 

I  say,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  Government  has  com- 
mitted a  breach  of  the  constitution  in  taking  upon  itself  to 
suspend  the  privilege ; — a  breach  against  the  letter  of  the  con- 
stitution. It  has  assumed  a  power  which  the  constitution  has 
not  given  it, — which,  indeed,  the  constitution,  by  placing  it  in 
the  hands  of  another  body,  has  manifestly  declined  to  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  executive ;  and  it  has  also  committed  a  breach 
against  the  spirit  of  the  constitution.  The  chief  purport  of  the 
constitution  is  to  guard  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  to  con- 
fide to  a  deliberative  body  the  consideration  of  all  circum- 
stances by  which  those  liberties  may  be  affected.  The  Presi- 
dent shall  command  the  army ;  but  Congress  shall  raise  and 
support  the  array.  Congress  shall  declare  war.  Congress  shall 
coin  money.  Congress,  by  one  of  its  bodies,  shall  sanction 
treaties.  Congress  shall  establish  such  law  courts  as  are  not 
Gstahlished  by  the  constitution.  Under  no  circumstances  is 
the  President  to  decree  what  shall  be  done.  But  he  is  to  do 
those  things  which  the  constitution  has  decreed  or  which  Con- 
gress shall  decree.  It  is  monstrous  to  suppose  that  power  over 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  would,  among  such 
a  people,  and  under  such  a  constitution,  be  given  without  limit 
to  the  chief  ofiicer,  the  only  condition  being  that  there  should 
be  some  rebellion.  Such  rebellion  might  be  in  Utah  territory ; 
or  some  trouble  in  the  uttermost  bounds  of  Texas  would  suffice. 
Any  invasion,  such  as  an  inroad  by  the  savages  of  Old  Mexico 
upon  New  Mexico,  would  justify  an  arbitrary  President  in  rob- 
bing all  the  people  of  all  the  States  of  their  liberties !  A  squab- 
ble on  the  borders  of  Canada  would  put  such  a  power  into  the 
hands  of  the  President  for  four  years ;  or  the  presence  of  an 
English  frigate  in  the  St.  Juan  channel  might  be  held  to  do  so. 
I  say  that  such  a  theory  is  monstrous. 


482 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I.    ' 


'         > 


i, 
i" 


W 


I 


v 


\l  \  ■ 
v.    * 


And  the  effect  of  this  breach  of  the  constitution  at  the  pres- 
ent  day  has  been  very  disastrous.    It  has  taught  those  who 
have  not  been  close  observers  of  the  American  struggle  to  be- 
lieve that,  after  all,  the  Americans  are  indifferent  as  to  their 
liberties.     Such  pranks  have  been  played  before  high  heaven 
by  men  utterly  unfitted  for  the  use  of  great  power,  as  have 
scared  all  the  nations.     Mr.  Lincoln,  the  President  by  whom 
this  unconstitutional  act  has  been  done,  apparently  delegated 
his  assumed  .authority  to  his  minister,  Mr.  beward.     Mr.Sew- 
ard  has  revelled  in  the  privilege  of  imrestrained  arrests,  and 
has  locked  men  up  with  reason  and  without.    Ho  has  instituted 
passports  and  surveillance ;  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
an  omnipresent  police  system  with  all  the  gusto  of  a  Fouche, 
though  luckily  without  a  Fouche's  craft  or  cunning.     The  time 
will  probably  come  when  Mr.  Seward  must  pay  lox  this, — not 
with  his  life  or  liberty,  but  with  his  reputation  and  political 
name.     But  in  the  mean  time  his  lettres  do  cachet  have  run 
everywhere  through  the  States.     The  pranks  which  he  played 
were  absurd,  and  the  arrests  which  ho  made  were  grievous. 
After  a  while,  when  it  became  manifest  that  Mr.  Seward  had 
not  found  a  way  to  success,  when  it  was  seen  that  he  had  in- 
augurated no  great  mode  of  putting  down  rebellion,  he  appar- 
ently lost  his  power  in  the  cabinet.    The  arrests  ceased,  the 
passports  were  discontinued,  and  the  prison-doors  were  grad- 
ually opened.    Mr.  Seward  was  deposed,  not  from  the  cabinet, 
but  from  the  premiership  of  the  cabinet.    The  suspension  of 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  not  countei- 
manded,  but  the  operation  of  the  suspension  was  allowed  to 
become  less  and  less  onerous ;  and  now,  in  April,  1862,  within 
a  year  of  the  commencement  of  the  suspension,  it  has,  I  think, 
nearly  died  out.     The  object  in  hand  now  is  rather  that  of  get- 
ting rid  of  political  prisoners,  than  of  taking  others. 

This  assumption  by  the  government  of  an  unconstitutional 
power  has,  as  I  have  said,  taught  many  lookers-on  to  think 
that  the  Americans  are  indifferent  to  their  liberties.  I  myself 
do  not  believe  that  such  a  f  nclusion  would  be  just.  During 
the  present  crisis  the  strong  feeling  of  the  people — that  feeling 
which  for  the  moment  has  been  dominant — has  been  one  in 
favour  of  the  government  as  against  rebellion.  There  has  been 
a  passionate  resolution  to  support  the  nationality  of  the  nation. 
Men  have  felt  that  they  must  make  individual  sacrifices,  and 
that  such  sacrifices  must  include  a  temporary  suspension  of 
some  of  their  constitutional  rights.  But  I  think  that  this  tem- 
porary suspension  is  already  regarded  with  jealous  eyes  \ — with 


I 


THK   CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


483 


tho  prea- 
loso  who 
^lo  to  bc- 
,  to  tlicir 
\\  heaven 
',  as  have 
by  -whom 
delegated 
MrrScw- 
rvcsts,  and 
instituted 
lie  head  of 
a  Fouche, 
Tho  timo 
•  this, — not 
nd  political 
[jt  have  run 
h  ho  played 
re  grievous. 
Seward  had 
,t  he  had  in- 
)n,  be  appar- 
ceased,  the 
■were  grad- 
the  cabinet, 
jspension  of 
Inot  counter- 
,  allowed  to 
1862,  within 
has,  I  think, 
that  of  get- 


an  increasing  jealousy  which  will  have  created  a  reaction  against 
8uch  policy,  as  that  which  Mr.  Seward  has  attempted,  long  be- 
fore tno  close  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Presidency.  I  know  that  it  is 
wrong  in  a  writer  to  commit  himself  to  prophecies,  but  I  lind 
it  impossible  to  write  upon  this  subject  without  doing  so.  As 
I  must  express  a  surmise  on  this  subject,  I  venture  to  prophesy 
that  the  Americans  of  the  States  will  soon  show  that  they  aro 
not  indifferent  to  the  suspension  of  tho  privilege  of  tho  writ  of 
liabcas  corpus.  On  that  matter  of  the  illegality  of  the  suspen- 
sion by  tho  President  I  feel  in  my  own  mind  that  there  is  no 
doubt. 

The  second  article  of  the  constitution  treats  of  tho  executive, 
and  is  very  short.  It  places  the  whole  executive  power  in  tho 
hands  of  the  President,  and  explains  with  more  detail  tho  mode 
in  which  the  President  shall  bo  chosen,  than  the  manner  after 
which  the  duties  shall  be  performed.  The  first  section  states 
that  the  executive  shall  be  vested  in  a  President,  who  shall 
hold  his  office  for  four  years.  With  him  shall  be  chosen  a 
Vice-President.  I  may  here  explain  that  the  Vice-President, 
as  such,  has  no  power  either  political  or  administrative.  He 
is,  ex  officio,  the  speaker  of  the  Senate ;  and  should  the  Presi- 
dent die,  or  be  by  other  cause  rendered  unable  to  act  as  Presi- 
dent, the  Vice-President  becomes  President  either  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Presidential  term  or  for  the  period  of  the  Pres- 
ident's temporary  absence.  Twice  since  the  constitution  was 
written,  the  President  has  died  and  the  Vice-President  has 
taken  his  place.  No  President  has  vacated  his  position,  even 
for  a  period,  through  any  cause  other  than  death. 

Then  come  the  rules  under  which  the  President  and  Vice- 
President  shall  be  elected, — with  reference  to  which  there  has 
heen  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  subsequent  to  the  fourth 
presidential  election.  This  was  found  to  be  necessary  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  contest  between  John  Adams,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  Aaron  Burr.  It  was  then  found  that  the  com- 
plications in  the  method  of  election  created  by  the  original 
clause  were  all  but*  unendurable,  and  the  constitution  was 
amended. 

I  will  not  describe  in  detail  the  present  mode  of  election,  as 
the  doing  so  would  be  tedious  and  unnecessary.  Two  facts  I 
wish,  however,  to  make  specially  noticeable  and  clear.  The 
first  is,  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  now  chosen 
hy  universal  suffrage ;  and  the  second  is,  that  the  constitution 
expressly  intended  that  the  President  should  not  be  chosen  by 
universal  suffrage,  but  by  a  body  of  men  who  should  enjoy  tho 


» 


^'i 


484 


NOUTII   AMEUICA. 


'         J 


\^ 


% 


)) 


confidence  and  fairly  represent  the  will  of  the  people.  The 
fniiners  of  the  constitution  intended  ho  to  write  the  words 
that  the  people  themselves  should  have  no  more  immediato 
concern  in  the  nomination  of  the  President  than  in  that  of  tiio 
Senate.  They  intended  to  provide  that  the  election  should  bo 
made  in  a  manner  which  may  bo  described  as  thoroughly  con- 
servative. Those  words,  however,  have  been  inefficient  fur 
their  purpose.  They  have  not  been  violated.  IJut  the  spirit 
has  been  violated,  while  the  words  have  been  held  sacred, — and 
the  Presidential  elections  arc  now  conducted  on  the  widt.st 
principles  of  universal  suffrage.  They  are  essentially  demo- 
cratic. 

The  arrangement,  aa  written  in  the  constitution,  is  that  each 
State  shall  appoint  a  body  of  electors  equal  in  number  to  the 
senators  and  representatives  sent  by  that  State  to  Congress, 
and  that  thus  a  body  or  college  of  electors  shall  be  fornucl 
equal  in  number  to  the  two  joint  Houses  of  Congress,  by  wliicli 
the  President  shall  bo  elected.  No  member  of  Congress,  how- 
ever, can  be  appointed  an  elector.  Thus  New  York,  witli  thir. 
ty-threo  representatives  in  the  Lower  House,  would  name  thir- 
ty-five  electors ;  and  Rhode  Island,  with  two  members  in  the 
Lower  House,  would  name  four  electors; — in  each  case  two 
being  added  for  the  two  senators. 

It  may  perhaps  bo  doubted  whether  this  theory  of  an  elec- 
tion by  electors  has  ever  been  truly  carried  out.  It  was  prob- 
ably the  case,  even  at  the  election  of  the  first  Presidents  after 
Washington,  that  the  electors  were  pledged  in  some  informal 
way  as  to  the  candidate  for  whom  tliey  should  vote ;  but  the 
very  idea  of  an  election  by  electors  has  been  abandoned  since 
the  Presidency  of  General  Jackson.  According  to  the  theory 
of  the  constitution  the  privilege  and  the  duty  of  selecting  a 
best  man  as  President  was  to  be  delegated  to  certain  best  men 
chosen  for  that  purpose.  This  was  the  intention  of  those  who 
framed  the  constitution.  It  may,  as  I  have  said,  be  doubted 
whether  this  theory  has  ever  availed  for  action ;  but  since  the 
days  of  Jackson  it  has  been  absolutely  abandoned.  The  inten- 
tion was  sufficiently  conservative.  The  electors  to  whom  was 
to  be  confided  this  great  trust  were  to  be  chosen  in  their  own 
States  as  each  State  might  think  fit.  The  use  of  universal  suf- 
frage for  this  purpose  was  neither  enjoined  nor  forbidden  in 
the  separate  States, — was  neither  treated  as  desirable  or  unde- 
sirable by  the  constitution.  Each  State  was  left  to  judge  how 
it  would  elect  its  own  electors.  But  the  President  himself  was 
to  be  chosen  by  those  electors,  and  not  by  the  people  at  large. 


THE  CONSTITUTION   OF  TUB   UNITED  BTATEfl. 


485 


)le.    T\\o 
0  wonls, 
lUincdiato 
i\at  of  l\\c 
8\»ouUl  \)0 
\^\\\y  con- 
licient  tor 
the  Hvivit 
crcd,— !uul 
the  widest 
ally  dcmo- 

19  that  C5\ch 
nbcr  to  Iho 

0  Congvcss, 

1  bo  Ibrmod 
188,  by  wliioli 
ngrcsa,  how- 
rk,  with  tbir- 
Id  name  tliiv- 
imbers  in  ll»c 
ach  case  two 


Tho  intention  is  sufllcicntly  conservative,  but  the  intention  is 
not  carried  out. 

Tho  electors  are  still  chosen  by  tho  different  States  in  con- 
forniity  with  tho  biddinpj  of  tho  constitution.     Tho  constitu- 
tion is  exactly  followed  in  all  its  biddings,  as  far  as  tho  word- 
ing of  it  is  concerned ;  but  tho  whole  spirit  of  the  document 
1ms  been  evaded  in  the  favour  of  democracy,  and  universal  suf- 
frage in  tho  Presidential  elections  has  been  adopted.    Tho  elect- 
ors are  still  chosen,  it  is  true ;  but  they  arc  only  chosen  as  the 
mouthpiece  of  tho  peoplo*s  choice,  and  not  as  tho  mind  by 
which  that  choice  shall  bo  made.     Wo  have  all  heard  of  Amer- 
icans voting  for  a  ticket, — for  the  democratic  ticket,  or  tho  re- 
publican ticket.    All  political  voting  in  tho  States  is  now  man- 
ajTcd  bv  tickets.     As  regards  these  Presidential  elections,  each 
party  decides  on  a  candidate.     Even  this  primary  decision  is  a 
matter  of  voting  among  tho  party  itself.     When  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  nominated  as  its  candidate  oy  tho  republican  party,  the 
names  of  no  less  than  thirteen  candidates  were  submitted  to 
tho  delegates  who  wero  sent  to  a  convention  at  Chicago,  as- 
sembled for  tho  purpose  of  fixing  upon  a  candidate.    At  that 
convention  Mr.  Lincoln  was  chosen  as  tho  republican  candi- 
date ;  and  in  that  convention  was  in  fact  fought  tho  battlo 
which  was  won  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  favour,  althougli  that  conven- 
tion was  what  wo  may  call  a  private  arrangement,  wholly  irre- 
spective of  any  constitutional  enactment.     Mr.  Lincoln  was 
then  proclaimed  as  the  republican  candidate,  and  all  republic- 
ans were  held  as  bound  to  support  him.     When  the  time  came 
for  the  constitutional  election  of  tho  electors,  certain  names 
were  got  together  in  each  Stato  as  representing  tho  republican 
interest.    Those  names  formed  tho  republican  ticket,  and  any 
man  voting  for  them  voted  in  fact  for  Lincoln.    There  were 
three  other  parties,  each  represented  by  a  candidate,  and  each 
had  its  own  ticket  in  tho  different  States.    It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  tho  supporters  of  Mr.  Lincoln  wero  very  anxious 
about  their  ticket  in  Alabama,  or  those  of  Mr.  Breckinridge  as 
to  theirs  in  Massachusetts.    In  Alabama  a  democratic  slave- 
ticket  would  of  course  prevail.    In  Massachusetts  a  republican 
free-soil  ticket  would  do  so.    But  it  may,  I  think,  be  seen  that 
in  this  way  the  electors  have  in  reality  ceased  to  have  any 
weight  in  the  elections, — have  in  very  truth  ceased  to  have  the 
exercise  of  any  will  whatever.    They  are  mere  names,  and  no 
more.    Stat  nominis  umbra.    The  election  of  the  President  is 
made  by  universal  suffrage,  and  not  by  a  college  of  electors. 
The  words  as  they  are  written  are  still  obeyed ;  but  the  consii- 


li- 


486 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


If  ^ 


m 


tut5on  in  fact  has  been  violated,  for  the  spirit  of  it  has  been 
changed  in  its  very  essence. 

The  President  must  have  been  born  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  This  is  not  necessary  for  the  holder  of  any  other  of- 
fice, or  for  a  senator  or  representative ;  he  must  be  thirty-four 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  election. 

His  executive  power  is  almost  unbounded.  He  is  much  more 
powerful  than  any  minister  can  be  with  us,  and  is  subject  to 
a  much  lighter  responsibility.  He  may  be  impeached  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  before  the  Senate,  but  that  impeach- 
ment only  goes  to  the  removal  from  office  and  permanent  dis- 
qualification for  office.  But  in  these  days,  as  we  all  practically 
understand,  responsibility  does  not  mean  the  fear  of  any  great 
punishment,  but  the  necessity  of  accounting  from  day  to  day 
for  public  actions.  A  leading  statesman  has  but  slight  dread 
of  the  ixe,  but  is  in  hourly  fear  of  his  opponent's  questions. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  is  subject  to  no  such  ques- 
tionings ;  and  as  he  does  not  even  require  a  majority  in  either 
Hoi'se  for  the  maintenance  of  his  authority,  his  responsibility 
sits  upon  him  very  slightly.  Seeing  that  Mr.  Buchanan  has  es- 
caped any  punishment  for  maladministration,  no  President  need 
fear  the  anger  of  the  people. 

The  President  is  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  of  the 
navy.  He  can  grant  pardons, — as  regards  all  offences  com- 
mitted against  the  United  States.  He  has  no  power  to  pardon 
an  offence  committed  against  the  laws  of  any  State,  and  as  to 
which  the  culprit  has  been  tried  before  the  tribunals  of  that 
State.  He  can  make  treaties ;  but  such  treaties  are  not  valid 
till  they  have  been  confirmed  by  two-thirds  of  the  senators  pres- 
ent in  executive  session.  He  appoints  all  ambassadors  and  oth- 
er public  officers, — but  subject  to  the  confirmation  of  the  Sen- 
ate. He  can  convene  either  or  both  Houses  of  Congress  at  ir- 
regular times,  and  under  certain  circumstances  can  adjourn 
them.  His  executive  power  is  in  fact  almost  unlimited ;  and 
this  power  is  solely  in  his  own  hands,  as  the  constitution  knows 
nothing  of  the  President's  ministers.  According  to  the  consti- 
tution these  officers  are  merely  the  heads  of  his  bureaux.  An 
Englishman,  however,  in  considering  the  executive  power  of 
the  President,  and  in  making  any  comparison  between  that  and 
the  executive  power  of  any  officer  or  officers  attached  to  the 
Crown  in  England,  should  always  bear  in  mind  that  the  Presi- 
dent's power,  and  even  authority,  is  confined  to  the  Federal 
Government,  and  that  he  has  none  with  reference  to  the  indi- 
vidual States.    Religion,  education,  the  administration  of  the 


THE  CONSTmjTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


487 


aas  "been 


luch  more 
subject  to 
led  by  tlie 
t  impeach- 
aanent  dis- 
practically 
f  any  great 
day  to  day 
ilight  dread 
3  questions. 
0  such  ques- 
ity  in  either 
esponsibility 
lanan  has  es- 
resident  need 

py  and  of  the 
)ifences  com- 
er to  pardon 
ite,  and  as  to 
funals  of  that 
are  not  vaUd 
senators  pres- 
idovsandoth- 
>n  of  the  Sen. 
longress  at  iv- 
can  adjourn 
.dimited;  and 
itution  knows 

to  the  consti- 
bureaux.  An 
ive  power  ot 

ween  that  and 

■tached  to  the 
that  the  Presi; 
[o  the  Federal 
cetotheindi- 
;tration  of  tUe 


general  laws  which  concern  every  man  and  woman,  and  the 
real  de  facto  Government  which  comes  home  to  every  house ; — 
these  things  are  not  in  any  way  subject  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

His  legislative  power  is  also  great.  He  has  a  veto  upon  all 
acts  of  Congress.  This  veto  is  by  no  means  a  dead  letter,  as  is 
the  veto  of  the  Crown  with  us ;  but  it  is  not  absolute.  The 
P/esident,  if  he  refuses  his  sanction  to  a  bill  sent  up  to  him 
from  Congress,  returns  it  to  that  House  in  which  it  originated, 
with  his  objections  in  writing.  If,  after  that,  such  bill  shall 
again  pass  through  both  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, receiving  in  each  House  the  approvals  of  two-thirds 
of  those  present,  then  such  bill  becomes  law  without  the  Presi- 
dent's sanction.  Unless  this  be  done  the  President's  veto  stops 
the  bill.  This  veto  has  been  frequently  used,  but  no  bill  has 
yet  been  passed  in  opposition  to  it. 

The  thn*d  article  of  the  constitution  treats  of  the  judiciary 
of  the  United  States,  but  as  I  purpose  to  write  a  chapter  de- 
voted to  the  law  courts  and  lawyers  of  the  States,  I  need  not 
here  describe  at  length  the  enactments  of  the  constitution  on 
this  head.  It  is  ordained  that  all  criminal  trials,  except  in  cases 
of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury. 

There  are  after  this  certain  miscellaneous  articles,  some  of 
which  belong  to  the  constitution  as  it  stood  at  first,  and  others 
of  which  have  been  since  added  as  amendments.  A  citizen  of 
one  State  is  to  be  a  citizen  of  every  State.  Criminals  from  one 
State  shall  not  be  free  from  pursuit  in  other  States.  Then 
comes  a  very  material  enactment : — "  No  person  held  to  serv- 
ice or  labour  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labour ;  but  shall 
he  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or 
labour  may  be  due."  In  speaking  of  a  person  held  to  labour 
the  constitution  intends  to  speak  of  a  slave,  and  the  article 
amounts  to  a  fugitive  slave  law.  If  a  slave  run  away  out  of 
South  Carolina  and  find  his  way  into  Massachusetts,  Massachu- 
setts shall  deliver  him  up  when  called  upon  to  do  so  by  South 
Carolina.  The  words  certainly  are  clear  enough.  But  Massa- 
chusetts strongly  objects  to  the  delivery  of  such  men  when  so 
desired.  Such  men  she  has  delivered  up,  with  many  groanings 
and  much  inward  perturbation  of  spirit.  But  it  is  understood, 
not  in  Massachusetts  only,  but  in  the  free-soil  States  generally, 
that  fugitive  slaves  shall  not  be  delivered  up  by  the  ordinary 
action  of  the  laws.    There  is  a  feeling  strong  as  that  which  we 


'^m 


i  1  . 


M 


488 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


entertain  with  reference  to  the  rendition  of  slaves  from  Canada. 
With  such  a  clause  in  the  constitution  as  that,  it  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  no  free-soil  State  will  consent  to  constitutional 
action.  Were  it  expunged  from  the  constitution,  no  slave  State 
would  consent  to  live  under  it.  It  is  a  point  as  to  which  the 
advocates  of  slavery  and  the  enemies  of  slavery  cannot  be 
brought  to  act  in  union.  But  on  this  head  I  have  already  said 
what  little  I  have  to  say. 

New  States  may  be  admitted  by  Congress,  hut  the  bounds 
of  no  old  State  shall  be  altered  without  the  consent  of  such 
State.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  rule  and  dispose  of  the 
territories  and  property  of  the  United  States.  The  United 
States  guarantee  every  State  a  republican  form  of  Government; 
but  the  constitution  does  not  define  that  form  of  Government. 
An  ordinary  citizen  of  the  United  States,  if  asked,  would  prob- 
ably say  that  it  included  that  description  of  franchise  which  I 
have  called  universal  suffrage.  Such,  however,  was  not  the 
meaning  of  those  who  framed  the  constitution.  The  ordinary 
citizen  would  probably  also  say  that  it  excluded  the  use  of  a 
king,  though  he  would,  I  imagine,  be  able  to  give  no  good  rea- 
son for  saying  so.  I  take  a  republican  government  to  be  that 
in  which  the  care  of  the  people  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 
They  may  use  an  elected  President,  an  hereditary  king,  or  a 
chief  magistrate  called  by  any  other  name.  But  the  magistrate, 
whatever  be  his  name,  must  be  the  servant  of  the  people  and 
not  their  lord.  He  must  act  for  them  and  at  their  bidding,— 
not  they  at  his.  If  he  do  so,  he  is  the  chief  officer  of  a  repub- 
lic ; — as  is  our  Queen  with  us. 

The  United  States'  constitution  also  guarantees  to  each  State 
protection  against  invasion,  and,  if  necessary,  against  domestic 
violence, — meaning,  I  presume,  internal  violence.  The  words 
domestic  violence  might  seem  to  refer  solely  to  slave  insurrec- 
tions ;  but  such  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  words.  The  free 
State  of  New  York  would  be  entitled  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  putting  down  internal  violence,  if  un- 
able to  quell  such  violence  by  her  own  power. 

This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  made  in 
pursuance  of  it,  are  to  be  held  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
The  judges  of  every  State  are  to  be  bound  thereby,  let  the  laws 
or  separate  constitution  of  such  State  say  what  they  will  to  the 
contrary.  Senators  and  others  are  to  be  bound  by  oath  to  sup- 
port the  constitution ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  be  required  as 
a  qualification  to  any  office. 

In  the  amendments  to  the  constitution,  it  is  enacted  that 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


489 


[3anada. 
•dly  too 
tutional 
,ve  State 
hicb  the 
mnot  l)c 
jady  said 

e  "bovinda 
i  of  such 
3se  of  the 
le  United 
V  eminent; 
(verninent. 
ould  i[)Voh- 
se  which  1 
as  not  the 
le  ordinary 
,be  use  of  a 
lo  good  rea- 
t  to  be  that 
■  the  people. 
|y  king,  or  a 
5  magistrate, 

i  people  and 
rbidcling,— 
of  a  repuh- 

to  each  State 
ist  domestic 
The  words 
ave  insurrec- 
is.  The  fi-ee 
ttance  of  the 
folence,  if  '^^ 

Itatesmadein 
V  of  the  land, 
ir,  let  the  laws 
ley  will  to  the 
yoathtosup- 
Je  required  as 

enacted  that 


Congress  shall  make  no  law  as  to  the  establishment  of  any  re- 
ligion, or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  and  also  that 
it  shall  not  abridge  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press,  or 
of  petition. — ^The  Government,  however,  as  is  well  known,  has 
taken  upon  itself  to  abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press. — The 
right  of  the  people  to  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed.  Then 
follow  various  clauses  intended  for  the  security  of  the  peoplo 
in  reference  to  the  administration  of  the  laws.  They  shall  not 
be  troubled  by  unreasonable  searches.  They  shall  not  be  made 
to  answer  for  great  offences  except  by  indictment  of  a  grand 
jury.  They  shall  not  be  put  twice  in  jeopardy  for  the  same 
offence.  They  shall  not  be  compelled  to  give  evidence  against 
themselves.  Private  property  shall  not  be  taken  for  pubhc  use 
without  compensation.  Accused  persons  in  criminal  proceed- 
ings shall  be  entitled  to  speedy  and  public  trial.  They  shall  be 
confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  them,  and  shall  have  as- 
sistance of  counsel.  Suits  in  w4iich  the  value  controverted  is 
above  20  dollars  (41.)  shall  be  tried  before  juries.  Excessive 
bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments 
inflicted.  In  all  which  enactments  we  see,  I  think,  a  close  re- 
semblance to  those  which  have  heen  time-honoured  among 
ourselves. 

The  remaining  amendments  apply  to  the  mode  in  which  the 
President  and  Vice-President  shall  be  elected,  and  of  them  I 
have  already  spoken. 

The  constitution  is  signed  by  Washington  as  President, — as 
President  and  Deputy  from  Virginia.  It  is  signed  by  deputies 
from  all  the  other  States,  except  Rhode  Island.  Among  the 
signatures  is  that  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  from  New  York ;  of 
Franklin,  heading  a  crowd  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  capital  of 
which  State  the  convention  was  held ;  and  that  of  James  Madi- 
son, the  future  President,  from  Virginia. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  I  have  spoken  of  the  splendid 
results  attained  by  those  who  drew  up  the  constitution ;  and 
then,  as  though  in  opposition  to  the  praise  thus  given  to  their 
work,  I  have  insisted  throughout  the  chapter  both  on  the  in- 
sufficiency of  the  constitution  and  on  the  breaches  tOgji^hich  it 
has  been  subjected.  I  have  declared  my  opinion  that  it  is  in- 
efficient for  some  of  its  required  purposes,  and  have  said  that, 
whether  inefficient  or  efficient,  it  has  been  broken  and  in  some 
degree  abandoned.  I  maintain,  however,  that  in  this  I  have 
not  contradicted  myself.  A  boy,  who  declares  his  purpose  of 
learning  the  iEneid  by  heart,  will  be  held  as  being  successful 
if  at  the  end  of  the  given  period  he  can  repeat  eleven  books 

X  2 


i 


iir 


490 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


'        ; 


III   ^ 


out  of  the  twelve.  Nevertheless  the  reporter,  in  summing  up 
the  achievement,  is  bound  to  declare  that  that  other  book  has 
not  been  learned,  Under  this  constitution  of  which  I  have 
been  speaking,  the  American  people  have  achieved  much  ma- 
terial success  and  great  political  power.  As  a  people  they  have 
been  happy  and  prosperous.  Their  freedom  has  been  secured 
to  them,  and  for  a  period  of  seventy-five  years  they  have  lived 
and  prospered  without  subjection  to  any  form  of  tyranny.  This 
in  itself  is  much,  and  should,  I  think,  be  held  as  a  preparation 
for  greater  things  to  follow.  Such,  I  think,  should  be  our  opin- 
ion, although  the  nation  is  at  present  burdened  by  so  heavy  a 
load  of  troubles.  That  any  written  constitution  should  serve 
its  purposes  and  maintain  its  authority  in  a  nation  for  a  dozen 
years  is  in  itself  much  for  its  framers.  Where  are  now  the 
constitutions  which  were  written  for  France?  But  this  con- 
stitution has  so  wound  itself  into  the  affections  of  the  people, 
has  become  a  mark  for  such  reverence  and  love,  has,  after  a 
trial  of  three  quarters  of  a  century,  so  recommended  itself  to 
the  judgment  of  men,  that  the  difficulty  consists  in  touching  it, 
not  in  keeping  it.  Eighteen  or  twenty  millions  of  people  who 
have  lived  under  it, — in  what  way  do  they  regard  it  ?  Is  not 
that  the  best  evidence  that  can  be  had  respecting  it  ?  Is  it  to 
them  an  old  woman's  story,  a  useless  parchment,  a  thing  of  old 
words  at  which  all  must  now  smile  ?  Heaven  mend  them,  if 
they  reverence  it  more,  as  I  fear  they  do,  than  they  reverence 
their  Bible.  For  them,  after  seventy-five  years  of  trial,  it  has 
almost  the  weight  of  inspiration.  In  this  respect, — with  refer- 
ence to  this  worship  of  the  work  of  their  forefathers,  they  may 
be  in  error.  But  that  very  error  goes  far  to  prove  the  excel- 
lence of  the  code.  When  a  man  has  walked  for  six  months 
over  stony  ways  in  the  same  boots,  he  will  be  believed  when 
he  says  that  his  boots  are  good  boots.  No  assertion  to  the 
contrary  from  any  bystander  will  receive  credence,  even  though 
it  be  shown  that  a  stitch  or  two  has  come  undone,  and  that 
some  required  purpose  has  not  effectually  been  carried  out. 
The  boots  1  ave  carried  the  man  over  his  stony  roads  for  six 
months,|md  they  must  be  good  boots.  And  so  I  say  that  the 
constitution  must  be  a  good  constitution. 

As  to  that  positive  breach  of  the  constitution  which  has,  as 
I  maintain,  hven  committed  by  the  present  Government,  al- 
though I  have  been  at  some  trouble  to  prove  it,  I  must  own 
that  I  do  not  think  very  much  of  it.  It  is  to  be  lamented,  but 
the  evil  admits,  I  think,  of  easy  repair.  It  has  happened  at  a 
period  of  unwonted  difiiculty,  when  the  minds  of  men  were  in- 


THE   CONSTITUTION   OP  TUE   UNITED   STATES. 


401 


dng  up 

)ok  has 

I  have 

ach  ma- 

ley  have 

secured 

ive  lived 

ly.  This 

iparation 

our  opin- 

)  heavy  a 

uld  serve 

,r  a  dozen 

5  now  the 

,  this  con- 
he  people, 

as,  after  a 

jd  itself  to 

ouching  it, 

people  who 

It?    Is  not 

t?    Is  it  to 

thing  of  old 

nd  them,  if 

ly  reverence 
trial,  it  has 
-with  refer- 
's,  they  may 
e  the  excel- 
six  months 
lieved  when 
ption  to  the 
[even  though 
Qe,  and  that 
carried  out. 
•oads  for  six 
[say  that  the 

l^hich  has,  as 
fernment,  al- 
|l  must  own 
Wnted,hut 

kppened  at  a 
Inen  were  in- 


tent rather  on  the  support  of  that  nationality  which  guarantees 
their  liberties,  than  on  the  enjoyment  of  those  liberties  them- 
selves, and  the  fault  may  be  pardoned  if  it  be  acknowledged. 
But  it  is  essential  that  it  should  be  acknowledged.  In  such  a 
niatter  as  that  there  should  at  any  rate  be  no  doubt.  Now,  in 
this  very  year  of  the  rebellion,  it  may  be  well  that  no  clamour 
against  Government  should  arise  from  the  people,  and  thus  add 
to  the  difficulties  of  the  nation.  But  it  will  be  bad,  indeed,  for 
the  nation  if  such  a  fault  shall  have  been  committed  by  this 
Government  and  shall  be  allowed  to  pass  unacknowledged,  un- 
rebuked, — as  though  it  were  a  virtue  and  no  fault.  I  cannot 
but  think  that  the  time  will  soon  come  in  which  Mr.  Seward's 
reading  of  the  constitution  and  Mr.  Lincoln's  assumption  of  il- 
legal power  under  that  reading  will  receive  a  different  construc- 
tion in  the  States  than  that  put  upon  it  by  Mr.  Binney. 

But  I  have  admitted  that  the  constitution  itself  is  not  perfect. 
It  seems  to  me  that  it  requires  to  be  amended  on  two  separate 
points; — especially  on  two;  and  I  cannot  but  acknowledge 
that  there  would  be  great  difficulty  in  making  such  amend- 
ments. That  matter  of  direct  taxation  is  the  first.  As  to  that 
I  shall  speak  again  in  referring  to  the  financial  position  of  the 
country.  I  think,  however,  that  it  must  be  admitted,  in  any 
discussion  held  on  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  that 
the  theory  of  taxation  as  there  laid  down  will  not  suffice  for 
the  wants  of  a  great  nation.  If  the  States  are  to  maintain  their 
ground  as  a  great  national  power,  they  must  agree  among 
themselves  to  bear  the  cost  of  such  greatness.  While  a  custom 
duty  was  sufficient  for  the  public  wants  of  the  United  States, 
this  fault  in  the  constitution  was  not  felt.  But  now  that  stand- 
ing armies  have  been  inaugurated,  that  iron-clad  ships  are  held 
as  desirable,  that  a  great  national  debt  has  been  founded,  cus- 
tom duties  will  suffice  no  longer,  nor  will  excise  duties  suffice. 
Direct  taxation  must  be  levied,  and  such  taxation  cannot  be 
fairly  levied  without  a  change  in  the  constitution.  But  such  a 
change  may  be  made  in  direct  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  necessity  for  such  an  alteration  cannot 
be  held  as  proving  any  inefficiency  in  the  original  document  for 
the  purposes  originally  required. 

As  regards  the  other  point  which  seems  to  me  to  require 
amendment,  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  am  about  to  express 
simply  my  own  opinion.  Should  Americans  read  what  I  write, 
they  may  probably  say  that  I  am  recommending  them  to  adopt 
the  blunders  made  by  the  English  in  their  practice  of  govern- 
ment.   Englishmen,  on  the  other  hand,  may  not  improbably 


•i 


If,' 


'  I 


'  h 


I     * 


492 


NORTU   AMERICA. 


conceive  that  a  system  which  works  well  hero  under  a  mon- 
archy, would  absohitely  fail  under  a  presidency  of  four  years' 
duration.  Nevertheless  I  will  venture  to  suggest  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  would  be  improved  in  all  respects, 
if  the  gentlemen  forming  the  President's  cabinet  were  admitted 
to  seats  in  Congress.  At  present  they  are  virtually  irresponsi- 
ble. They  are  constitutionally  little  more  than  head  clerks. 
This  was  all  very  well  while  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  was  as  yet  a  small  thing;  but  now  it  is  no  longer  a 
small  thing.  The  President  himself  cannot  do  all,  nor  can  he 
be,  in  truth,  responsible  for  all.  A  cabinet,  such  as  is  our  cab- 
inet, is  necessary  to  him.  Such  a  cabinet  does  exist,  and  the 
members  of  it  take  upon  themselves  the  honours  which  are 
given  to  our  cabinet  ministers.  But  they  are  exempted  from 
all  that  parliamentary  contact  which,  in  fact,  gives  to  our  cab- 
inet ministers  their  adroitness,  their  responsibility,  and  their 
position  in  the  country.  On  this  subject  also  I  must  say  an- 
other word  or  two  further  on. 

But  how  am  I  to  excuse  the  constitution  on  those  points  as 
to  which  it  has,  as  I  have  said,  fallen  through, — in  respect  to 
which  it  has  shown  itself  to  be  inefficient  by  the  weakness  of 
its  own  words  ?  Seeing  that  all  the  executive  "power  is  intrust- 
ed to  the  President,  it  is  especially  necessary  that  the  choice  of 
the  President  should  be  guarded  by  constitutional  enactments; 
— that  the  President  should  be  chosen  in  such  a  manner  as  may 
seem  best  to  the  concentrated  wisdom  of  the  country.  The 
President  is  placed  in  his  seat  for  four  years.  For  that  term 
he  is  irremovable.  He  acts  without  any  majority  in  either  of 
the  legislative  Houses.  He  must  state  reasons  for  his  conduct, 
but  he  is  not  responsible  for  those  reasons.  His  own  judgment 
is  his  sole  guide.  No  desire  of  the  people  can  turn  him  out; 
nor  need  he  fear  any  clamour  from  the  press.  If  an  officer  so 
high  in  power  be  needed,  at  any  rate  the  choice  of  such  an  of- 
ficer should  be  made  with  the  greatest  care.  The  constitution 
has  decreed  bow  such  care  should  be  exercised,  but  the  consti- 
tution has  not  been  able  to  maintain  its  own  decree.  The  con- 
stituted electors  of  the  President  have  become  a  mere  name ; 
and  that  officer  is  chosen  by  popular  election,  in  opposition  to 
the  intention  of  those  who  framed  the  constitution.  The  effect 
of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  characters  of  the  men  so  chosen. 
Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  the  two  Adamses,  and  Jack- 
son were  the  owners  of  names  that  have  become  known  in  his- 
tory. They  were  men  who  have  left  their  marks  behind  them. 
Those  in  Europe  who  have  read  of  anything,  have  read  of  them. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


493 


a  moTi- 
r  years' 
,he  gov- 
espects, 
.dmitted 
responsi- 
1  clerks. 
3  United 
longer  a 
)r  can  he 
I  our  cab- 
i,  and  the 
ffhich  are 
pted  from 
0  our  cab- 
and  their 
ist  say  an- 

e  points  as 
respect  to 
reakness  of 
jr  is  intrust- 
le  cboice  of 
jnactments; 
inerasmay 
mtry.    The 
iv  that  term 
in  either  of 
bis  conduct, 
m  judgment 
ivn  bim  out; 
an  officer  so 
'  such  an  of- 
constitution 
it  the  consti- 
[e.    The  con- 
mere  name; 
>ppo8itionto 
,     The  effect 
n  SO  chosen. 
Ss,  and  Jack' 
tnown  in  his- 
[bebind  them, 
read  of  them. 


Americans,  whether  as  republicans  thev  admire  Washington 
and  the  Adamses,  or  as  democrats  hold  by  Jefferson,  Madison, 
and  Jackson,  do  not  at  any  rate  blush  for  their  old  Presidents, 
liut  who  has  heard  of  Polk,  of  Pierce,  and  of  Buchanan  ?  What 
American  is  proud  of  them  ?  In  the  old  days  the  name  of  a 
future  President  might  be  surmised.  He  would  probably  be  a 
man  honoured  in  the  nation ;  but  who  now  can  make  a  guess 
as  to  the  next  President  ?  In  one  respect  a  guess  may  be  made 
with  some  safety.  The  next  President  will  be  a  man  whoso 
name  has  as  yet  offended  no  one  by  its  prominence.  But  one 
requisite  is  essential  for  a  President ;  ho  must  be  a  man  whom 
none  as  yet  have  delighted  to  honour. 

This  has  come  of  universal  suffrage ;  and  seeing  that  it  has 
come  in  spite  of  the  constitution,  and  not  by  the  constitution, 
it  is  very  bad.  Nor  in  saying  this  am  I  speaking  my  own  con- 
viction so  much  as  that  of  all  educated  Americans  with  whom 
I  have  discussed  the  subject.  At  the  present  moment  univers- 
al suffrage  is  not  popular.  Those  who  are  the  highest  among 
the  people  certainly  do  not  love  it.  I  doubt  whether  the  mass- 
es of  the  people  have  ever  craved  it.  It  has  been  introduced 
into  the  Presidential  elections  by  men  called  politicians — by 
men  who  have  made  it  a  matter  of  trade  to  dabble  in  state  af- 
fairs, and  who  have  gradually  learned  to  see  bow  the  constitu- 
tional law,  with  reference  to  the  Presidential  electors,  could  be 
set  aside  without  any  positive  breach  of  the  constitution.* 

Whether  or  no  any  backward  step  can  now  be  taken, — 
whether  these  elections  can  again  be  put  into  the  hands  of  men 
fit  to  exercise  a  choice  in  such  a  matter, — may  well  be  doubt- 
ed. Facilis  descensus  Averni.  But  the  recovery  of  the  down- 
ward steps  is  very  difficult.  On  that  subject,  however,  I  hard- 
ly venture  here  to  give  an  opinion.  I  only  declare  what  has 
been  done,  and  express  my  belief  that  it  has  not  been  done  in 
conformity  with  the  wishes  of  the  people, — as  it  certainly  has 
not  been  done  in  conformity  with  the  intention  of  the  constitu- 
tion. 

In  another  matter  a  departure  has  been  made  from  the  con- 
servative spirit  of  the  constitution.  This  departure  is  equally 
grave  with  the  other,  but  it  is  one  which  certainly  does  admit 

*  On  this  matter  one  of  the  best,  and  best  informed  Americans  that  I  have 
known  told  me  that  he  differed  from  me.  "It  introduced  itself,"  said  he. 
*'  It  was  the  result  of  social  and  political  forces.  Election  of  the  President 
by  popular  choice  became  a  necessity."  The  meaning  of  this  is,  that  in  re- 
gard to  their  Presidential  elections  the  United  States  drifted  into  universal 
suffrage.  I  do  not  know  that  this  theory  is  one  more  comfortable  for  his 
country  than  my  own. 


11 


if! 


a 


■  ) 


494 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


i  : 


I        K 


of  correction.  I  allude  to  the  present  position  assumed  by- 
many  of  the  senators,  and  to  the  instructions  given  to  them  by 
the  State  legislatures,  as  to  the  votes  which  they  shall  give  in 
the  Senate.  An  obedience  on  their  part  to  such  instructions  is 
equal  in  its  effects  to  the  introduction  of  universal  suffrage  into 
tlio  elections.  It  makes  them  hang  upon  the  people,  divests 
them  of  their  personal  responsibility,  takes  away  all  those  ad- 
vantages  given  to  them  by  a  six  years'  certain  tenure  of  office, 
and  annuls  the  safety  secured  by  a  conservative  method  of  elec- 
tion. Here  again  I  must  declare  my  opinion  that  this  demo- 
cratic  practice  has  crept  into  the  Senate  without  any  expressed 
wish  of  the  people.  In  all  such  matters  the  people  of  the  na- 
tion has  been  strangely  undemonstrative.  It  has  been  done  as 
f)art  of  a  system  which  has  been  used  for  transferring  the  po- 
itical  power  of  the  nation  to  a  body  of  trading  politicians  who 
have  become  known  and  felt  as  a  mass,  and  not  known  and  felt 
as  individuals.  I  find  it  difficult  to  describe  the  present  polit- 
ical position  of  the  States  in  this  respect.  The  millions  of  the 
people  are  eager  for  the  constitution,  are  proud  of  their  power 
as  a  nation,  and  are  ambitious  of  national  greatness.  But  they 
are  not,  as  I  think,  especially  desirous  of  retaining  political  in- 
fluences in  their  own  hands.  At  many  of  the  elections  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  induce  them  to  vote.  They  have  among  them  a  half- 
knowledge  that  politics  is  a  trade  in  the  hands  of  the  lawyers, 
and  that  they  are  the  capital  by  which  those  political  trades- 
men carry  on  their  business.  These  politicians  are  all  lawyers. 
Politics  and  law  go  together  as  naturally  as  the  possession  of 
land  and  the  exercise  of  magisterial  powers  do  with  us.  It 
may  be  well  that  it  should  be  so,  as  the  lawyers  are  the  best 
educated  men  of  the  country,  and  need  not  necessarily  be  the 
most  dishonest.  Political  power  has  come  into  their  hands, 
and  it  is  for  their  purposes  and  by  their  influences  that  the 
spread  of  democracy  has  been  encouraged. 

As  regards  the  Senate,  the  recovery  of  their  old  dignity  and 
former  position  is  within  their  own  power.  No  amendment 
of  the  constitution  is  needed  here,  nor  has  the  weakness  come 
from  any  insufficiency  of  the  constitution.  The  Senate  can  as- 
sume to  itself  to-morrow  its  own  glories,  and  can,  by  doing  bo, 
become  the  saviours  of  the  honour  and  glory  of  the  nation.  It 
is  to  the  Senate  that  we  must  look  for  that  conservative  ele- 
ment which  may  protect  the  United  States  from  the  violence 
of  demagogues  on  one  side  and  from  the  despotism  of  military 
power  on  the  other.  The  Senate,  and  the  Senate  only,  can 
keep  the  President  in  check.    The  Senate  also  has  a  power 


THE  GOVERNMENT. 


495 


med  by 

Lhcm  by 

[  give  in 

ictiona  is 

rage  into 

),  divests 

those  ad- 

,  of  office, 

)d  of  clec- 

\iis  demo- 
expressed 

of  the  na- 

[in  done  as 

ng  the  po- 

icians  who 

<vn  and  felt 

escut  poUt- 

lions  of  the 

their  power 

.    But  they 

political  in- 

Lons  it  is  dif- 

them  a  half- 

Ithe  lawyers, 

itical  trades- 
man lawyers. 

lossession  of 

with  us.  It 
are  the  best 
sarily  be  the 
their  hands, 
ces  that  the 

dignity  and 
amendment 
kakness  come 
fenate  can  as- 
Iby  doing  so, 
le  nation.    « 
gervative  ele- 
i  the  violence 
|m  of  military 
,ate  only,  can 
has  a  power 


over  the  Lower  House  with  reference  to  the  disposal  of  money, 
which  deprives  the  House  of  Kcprcscntativcs  of  that  cxclusivo 
authority  which  belongs  to  our  llousc  of  Commons.  It  is  not 
simplv  that  the  House  of  Representatives  cannot  do  what  is 
done  by  the  House  of  Commons.  There  is  more  than  this.  To 
the  Senate,  in  the  minds  of  all  Americans,  belongs  that  superior 
prestige,  that  acknowledged  possession  of  the  greater  power 
and  fuller  scope  for  action,  which  is  with  us  as  clearly  the  pos- 
session of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  United  States'  Senate 
can  be  conservative,  and  can  bo  so  by  virtue  of  the  constitution. 
The  love  of  the  constitution  in  the  hearts  of  all  Americans  is 
so  strong  that  the  exercise  of  such  power  by  the  Senate  would 
strengthen  rather  than  endanger  its  position.  I  could  wish 
that  the  senators  would  abandon  their  money  payments,  but  I 
do  not  imagine  that  that  will  be  done  exactly  m  these  days. 

I  have  now  endeavoured  to  describe  the  strength  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  to  explain  its  weakness. 
The  great  question  is  at  this  moment  being  solved,  whether  or 
no  that  constitution  will  still  be  found  equal  to  its  requirements. 
It  has  hitherto  been  the  mainspring  in  the  government  of  the 
people.  They  have  trusted  with  almost  childlike  confidence  to 
the  wisdom  of  their  founders,  and  have  said  to  their  rulers, — 
"There ;  in  those  words,  you  must  find  the  extent  and  the 
limit  of  your  powers.  It  is  written  down  for  you,  so  that  he 
who  runs  may  read."  That  writing  down,  as  it  were,  at  a  sin- 
gle sitting,  of  a  sufficient  code  of  instructions  for  the  governors 
of  a  great  nation,  had  not  hitherto  in  the  world's  history  been 
found  to  answer.  In  this  instance  it  has,  at  any  rate,  answered 
better  than  in  any  other,  probably  because  the  words  so  writ- 
ten contained  in  them  less  pretence  of  finality  in  political  wis- 
dom than  other  written  constitutions  have  assumed.  A  young 
tree  must  bend,  or  the  winds  will  certainly  break  it.  For  my- 
self I  can  honestly  express  my  hope  that  no  storm  may  destroy 
this  tree. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE    GOVEBNMENT. 

In  speaking  of  the  American  constitution  I  have  said  so 
much  of  the  American  form  of  government  that  but  little  more 
is  left  to  me  to  say  under  that  heading.  Nevertheless,  I  should 
hardly  go  through  the  work  which  I  have  laid  out  for  myself 
if  I  did  not  endeavour  to  explain  more  continuously,  and  per* 


jii 


■  ! 


h 


V 


H 


400 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


haps  more  graphically,  than  I  found  myself  able  to  do  in  tho 
last  chapter,  tho  system  on  which  public  affairs  aro  managed 
in  the  Ijnited  States. 

And  here  I  must  beg  my  readers  again  to  bear  in  mind  how 
moderate  is  the  amount  of  governing  which  has  fallen  to  tho 
lot  of  the  government  of  the  United  States ;  how  moderate,  as 
compared  with  tho  amount  which  has  to  be  done  by  the  (Queen's 
officers  of  state  for  Great  Britain,  or  by  tho  Emperor,  with  such 
assistance  as  ho  may  please  to  accept  from  his  officers  of  state, 
for  France.  That  this  is  so  must  do  attributed  to  more  than 
ono  cause ;  but  the  chief  cause  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  ir 
the  very  nature  of  a  federal  government.  The  States  are  indi- 
vidually sovereign,  and  govern  tiiemselves  as  to  all  internal 
matters.  All  the  judges  in  England  aro  appointed  by  tlio 
Crown ;  but  in  the  United  States  only  a  small  proportion  of 
tho  judges  are  nominated  by  the  President.  The  greater  num- 
ber aro  servants  of  the  diiferent  States.  The  execution  of  tho 
ordinary  laws  for  the  protection  of  men  and  property  does  not 
fall  on  tho  government  of  the  United  States,  but  on  the  execu- 
tives of  the  individual  States, — unless  in  some  special  matters, 
which  will  bo  defined  in  the  next  chapter.  Trade,  education, 
roads,  religion,  the  passing  of  new  measures  for  the  internal  or 
domestic  comfort  of  the  people,  all  these  things  are  more  or 
lesa  matters  of  care  to  our  government.  In  the  States  they  are 
matters  of  care  to  the  governments  of  each  individual  State, 
but  are  not  so  to  tho  central  government  at  Washington. 

But  there  are  other  causes  which  operate  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  which  have  hitherto  enabled  the  Presidents  of  the 
United  States,  with  their  ministers,  to  maintain  their  positions 
without  much  knowledge  of  statecraft,  or  the  necessity  for  that 
education  in  state  matters  which  is  bo  essential  to  our  public 
men.  In  the  first  place,  the  United  States  have  hitherto  kept 
their  hands  out  of  foreign  politics.  If  they  have  not  done  so 
altogether,  they  have  so  greatly  abstained  from  meddling  in 
them  that  none  of  that  thorough  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of 
other  nations  has  been  necessary  to  them  which  is  so  essential 
with  us,  and  which  seems  to  be  regarded  as  the  one  thing 
needed  in  the  cabinets  of  other  European  nations.  This  has 
been  a  great  blessing  to  the  United  States,  but  it  has  not  been 
an  unmixed  blessing.  It  has  been  a  blessing  because  the  ab- 
sence of  such  care  has  saved  the  country  from  trouble  and  from 
exp  ISO.  But  such  a  state  of  things  was  too  good  to  last ;  and 
the  blessing  has  not  been  unmixed,  seeing  that  now,  when  that 
absence  of  concern  in  foreign  matters  has  been  no  longer  pos- 


THE  OOVEBNMENT. 


497 


)  in  tbo 
lanaged 

ind  how 

n  to  Uie 

Lerate,  as 

)  Queen's 

vith  such 

\  of  state, 

novo  than 
found  ir 

s  avo  indi- 

U  internal 

2d  by  the 

portion  of 

cater  num- 

ition  of  tho 

ty  does  not 

I  the  execu- 

;ial  matters, 

5,  education, 

e  internal  or 

are  more  or 

ites  they  are 

adual  State, 

tngton. 

jj  same  direc- 

[dents  of  the 

aeir  positions 
ssity  for  that 
o  our  puhUc 
litherto  kept 
not  done  so 
meddUng  in 
Lhe  affairs  ot 
8  BO  essential 
^e  one  thing 
IB.    This  lias 
has  not  heen 
sause  the  ab- 
ible  and  from 
[  to  last ;  and 
,w,whentbat 

o  longer  pos- 


sible, the  knowledge  necessary  for  taking  a  dignified  part  in 
foreign  discussions  has  been  found  wanting.  Mr.  Howard  is 
now  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  States,  and  it  is 
hardly  too  much  to  say  that  ho  has  made  himselt  a  laughing- 
stock among  tho  diplomatists  of  Europe,  by  the  mixture  of  his 
ignorance  and  his  arrogance.  His  reports  to  his  own  ministers 
during  tho  single  year  of  his  office,  as  published  by  himself  ap- 
parently with  great  satisfaction,  are  a  monument  not  so  much 
of  his  incapacity  as  of  his  want  of  training  for  such  work.  We 
all  know  his  long  state  papers  on  tho  *  Trent'  affair.  What  are 
we  to  think  of  a  statesman  who  acknowledges  tho  action  of 
his  country's  servant  to  have  been  wrong;  and  in  tho  same 
breath  declares  that  ho  would  have  held  by  that  wrong,  had 
tho  material  welfare  of  his  country  been  thereby  improved  ? 
The  United  States  have  now  created  a  great  army  ancl  a  great 
debt.  They  will  soon  also  have  created  a  great  navy.  Affairs 
of  other  nations  will  press  upon  them,  and  they  will  press 
against  the  affairs  of  other  nations.  In  this  way  statecraft  will 
become  necessary  to  them ;  and  by  degrees  their  ministers  will 
become  habile,  graceful,  adroit, — and  perhaps  crafty,  as  are  the 
ministers  of  other  nations. 

And.  moreover,  the  United  States  have  had  no  outlying  col- 
onies or  dependencies,  such  as  an  India  and  Canada  are  to  us, 
as  Cuba  is  and  Mexico  was  to  Spain,  and  as  were  the  provinces 
of  the  Roman  empire.    Territories  she  has  had,  but  by  the  pe- 
culiar beneficence  of  her  political  arrangements,  these  territo- 
ries have  assumed  the  guise  of  sovereign  States,  and  been  ad- 
mitted into  federal  partnership  on  equal  terms,  with  a  rapidity 
which  has  hardly  left  to  tho  central  Government  the  reality  of 
any  dominion  of  its  own.    We  are  inclined  to  suppose  that 
these  new  States  have  been  allowed  to  assume  their  equal  priv- 
ileges and  State  rights  because  they  have  been  continuoui  to 
the  old  States — as  though  it  were  merely  an  extension  of  front- 
ier.   But  this  has  not  been  so.    California  and  Oregon  have 
been  very  much  further  from  Washington  than  the  Canadas 
are  from  London.    Indeed  they  are  still  further,  and  I  hardly 
know  whether  they  can  be  brought  much  nearer  than  Canada 
is  to  us,  even  by  the  assistance  of  railways.    But  nevertheless 
California  and  Oregon  were  admitted  as  States,  the  former  as 
quickly  and  the  latter  much  more  quickly  than  its  population 
would  seem  to  justify  Congress  in  doing,  according  to  the  re- 
ceived ratio  of  population.    A  preference  in  this  way  has  been 
always  given  by  the  United  States  to  a  young  population  over 
one  that  was  older.    Oregon  with  its  60,000  inhabitants  has 


m 


k,  1.. 


.' 


408 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


u 


ono  representative.  New  York  witli  4,000,000  inlmbitanta  1ms 
thirty-three.  But  in  order  to  bo  equal  with  Oregon,  New  York 
should  have  sixty-six.  In  this  way  the  outlying  populations 
have  been  encouraged  to  take  upon  themselves  their  own  gov- 
ernance, and  the  governing  power  of  the  President  and  his  cab- 
inet have  been  kept  within  moderate  limits. 

But  not  the  less  is  tl»e  position  of  the  President  very  domin- 
ant in  the  eyes  of  us  Englishmen  by  reason  of  the  authority 
with  which  ho  is  endowed.  It  is  not  that  the  scope  of  his  pow- 
er is  great,  but  that  ho  is  so  nearly  irresponsible  in  tlie  exer- 
cise of  that  power.  Wo  know  that  he  can  bo  impeached  by 
the  representatives  and  expelled  from  his  office  by  the  verdict 
of  the  Senate ;  but  this,  in  tact,  does  not  amount  to  much.  Hc- 
sponsibility  of  this  nature  is  doubtless  very  necessary,  and  pre- 
vents ebullitions  of  tyranny  such  as  those  in  which  a  Sultan  or 
an  Emperor  may  indulge ;  but  it  is  not  that  responsibility 
which  especially  recommends  itself  to  the  minds  of  free  men. 
So  much  of  responsibility  they  take  as  a  matter  of  course,  as 
they  do  the  air  which  they  breathe.  It  would  bo  nothing  to 
us  to  know  that  Lord  Palmerston  could  bo  impeached  for  rob- 
bing the  Treasury,  or  Lord  Russell  punished  for  selling  us  to 
Austria.  It  is  well  that  such  laws  should  exist,  but  we  do  not 
in  the  least  suspect  those  noble  lords  of  such  tread  lury.  Wo 
are  anxious  to  know,  not  in  what  way  they  may  be  impeached 
and  beheaded  for  great  crimes,  but  by  what  method  they  may 
bo  kept  constantly  straight  in  small  matters.  That  they  are 
true  and  honest  is  a  matter  of  course.  But  they  must  be  obe- 
dient also,  discreet,  capable,  and  above  all  things  of  one  mind 
with  the  public.  Let  them  be  that ;  or  if  not  they,  then  with 
as  little  delay  as  may  be  some  others  in  their  place.  That  with 
us  is  the  meaning  of  ministerial  responsibility.  To  that  re- 
sponsibility all  the  cabinet  is  subject.  But  in  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  there  is  no  such  responsibility.  The  Pres- 
ident is  placed  at  the  head  of  the  executive  for  four  years,  and 
while  he  there  remains  no  man  can  question  him.  It  is  not 
that  the  scope  of  his  power  is  great.  Our  own  Prime  Minister 
is  doubtless  more  powerful, — has  a  wider  authority.  But  it  is 
that  within  the  scope  of  his  power  the  President  is  free  from 
all  check.  There  are  no  reins,  constitutional  or  unconstitu- 
tional, by  which  he  can  be  restrained.  He  can  absolutely  re- 
pudiate a  majority  of  both  Houses,  and  refuse  the  passage  of 
any  act  of  Congress  even  though  supported  by  those  majori- 
ties. He  can  retain  the  services  of  ministers  distasteful  to  the 
whole  country.    He  can  place  bis  own  myrmidons  at  the  head 


TUB  GOVKUNMENT. 


409 


intfl  lias 
iwYork 
lulaiions 


y  domln- 
luthorily 
'  bia  pow- 
tho  excr- 
lachcd  by 
10  verdict 
ucb.    Kc 
r,  and  prc- 
,  Sultan  or 
ponsibility 
;  free  men. 
course,  as 
notliing  to 
led  for  rob- 
cUing  us  to 
b  wc  do  not 
:liury.    Wo 
( impeached 
d  they  may 
,i\t  they  are 
lUst  be  obe- 
)f  one  mind 
r,  then  with 
,   That  with 
[To  that  re- 
rovernment 
ThePres- 
r  years,  and 
\.    It  is  not 
me  Minister 
y.    But  it  is 
[is  free  from 
unconstitu- 
.solutely  re- 
passage  ot 
.lose  majori- 
steful  to  tlie 
at  the  head 


of  the  army  and  navy, — or  can  himself  take  tho  command  im- 
mediately on  hiH  own  shoulders.  All  this  ho  can  do,  and  there 
is  no  ono  that  can  question  him. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  that  I  should  point  out  the  fundament- 
al difterenco  between  our  King  or  Queen,  and  the  l^resident  of 
tho  United  States.  Our  Sovereign,  wo  all  know,  ia  not  re- 
sponsible. Such  is  tho  nature  of  our  constitution.  But  there 
is  not  on  tliat  account  any  analogy  between  the  irresponsibility 
of  tho  Queen  and  that  of  tho  I'resident.  The  Queen  can  do  no 
wrong ;  but  therefore,  in  all  matters  of  policy  and  governance, 
she  must  be  ruled  by  advice.  For  that  advice  her  ministers 
aro  responsible ;  and  no  act  of  policy  or  governance  can  bo 
done  in  England  as  to  which  responsibility  does  not  immedi- 
ately settle  on  tho  shoulders  appointed  to  bear  it.  But  this  is 
not  so  in  the  States.  Tho  President  is  nominally  responsible. 
But  from  that  every-day  working  responsibility,  which  is  to  us 
80  invaluable,  the  I'residcut  is  in  fact  free. 

I  will  ^ivc  an  instance  of  this.  Now,  at  this  very  moment 
of  my  writing,  news  has  reached  us  that  President  Lincoln  has 
relieved  General  Maclellun  from  tho  command  of  the  whole 
array,  that  ho  has  given  sep  ..  ate  commands  to  two  other  gen- 
erals,— to  General  Halleck,  nely,  and  alas !  to  General  Fre- 
mont, and  that  ho  has  altogether  altered  the  whole  organiza- 
tion of  the  military  command  as  it  previously  existed.  This 
he  did  not  only  during  war,  but  with  reference  to  a  special  bat- 
tle, for  tho  special  figliting  of  which  he,  as  ex-officio  Command- 
er-in-Chief of  tho  forces,  had  given  orders.  I  do  not  hereby  in- 
tend to  criticise  this  act  of  the  President's,  or  to  point  out  that 
that  has  been  done  which  had  better  have  been  left  undone. 
The  President,  in  a  strategical  point  of  view,  may  have  been, — 
very  probably  has  been,  quite  right.  I,  at  any  rate,  cannot  say 
that  he  has  been  wrong.  But  then  neither  can  anybody  else 
say  so  with  any  power  of  making  himself  heard.  Of  this  ac- 
tion of  the  President's,  so  terribly  great  in  its  importance  to 
the  nation,  no  one  has  tho  power  of  expressing  any  opinion  to 
which  tho  President  is  bound  to  listen.  For  four  years  he  has 
this  sway,  and  at  the  end  of  four  years  he  becomes  so  power- 
less that  it  is  not  then  worth  the  while  of  any  demagogue  in  a 
fourth-rate  town  to  occupy  his  voice  with  that  President's 
name.  The  anger  of  tho  country  as  to  the  things  done  both 
by  Pierce  and  Buchanan  is  very  bitter.  But  who  wastes  a 
thought  upon  either  of  the  men  ?  A  past  President  in  the 
United  States  is  of  less  consideration  than  a  past  Mayor  in  an 
English  borough.    Whatever  evil  he  may  have  done  during 


( 


m 


500 


KOBTH  AMEKICA. 


!|     .     > 


■   k 


:  i 


his  office,  when  out  of  office  he  is  not  worth  the  powder  which 
would  be  expended  in  an  attack. 

But  the  President  has  his  ministers  as  our  Queen  has  hers. 
In  one  sense  he  has  such  ministers.  He  has  high  state  serv- 
ants who  under  him  take  the  control  of  the  various  depart- 
ments, and  exercise  among  them  a  certain  degree  of  patronage 
and  executive  power.  But  they  are  the  President's  ministers, 
and  not  the  ministers  of  the  people.  Till  lately  there  has  been 
no  chief  minister  among  them,  nor  am  I  prepared  to  say  that 
there  is  any  such  chief  at  present.  According  to  the  existing 
theory  of  the  government  these  gentlemen  have  simply  been 
the  confidential  servants  of  the  commonwealth  under  the  Pres- 
ident, and  have  been  attached  each  to  his  own  department 
without  concerted  political  alliaace  among  themselves,  without 
any  acknowledged  chief  below  the  President,  and  without  any 
combined  responsibility  even  to  the  President.  If  one  minis- 
ter was  in  fault — let  us  say  the  Postmaster-General, — ^he  alone 
was  in  fault,  and  it  did  not  fall  to  the  lot  of  any  other  minister 
either  to  defend  him,  or  to  declare  that  his  conduct  was  inde- 
fensible. Each  owed  his  duty  and  his  '^efence  to  the  President 
alone ;  and  each  might  be  removed  alone,  without  explanation 
given  by  the  President  to  the  others.  I  imagine  that  the  latt 
practice  of  the  President's  cabinet  has  in  some  degree  departed 
from  this  theory ;  but  if  so,  the  departure  has  sprung  from  in- 
dividual ambition  rather  than  from  any  preconcerted  plan. 
Some  one  place  in  the  cabinet  has  seemed  to  give  to  some  one 
man  an  opportunity  of  making  himself  pr  j-eminent,  and  of  this 
opportunity  advantage  hu  i  been  taken.  I  am  not  now  intend- 
ing to  allude  to  any  individual,  but  am  endeavouring  to  indi- 
cate the  way  in  which  a  ministerial  cabinet,  after  the  fashion 
of  our  British  cabinet,  is  struggling  to  get  itself  created.  No 
doubt  the  position  of  Foreign  Secretary  has  for  some  time  past 
been  considered  as  the  most  influential  under  the  President. 
This  has  been  so  much  the  case  that  many  have  not  hesitated 
to  call  the  Secretary  of  State  the  chief  minister.  At  the  pres- 
ent moment.  May  1862,  the  gentleman  who  is  at  the  head  of 
the  war  department  has,  I  think,  in  his  own  hands  greater  pow- 
er than  any  of  his  colleagues. 

It  will  probably  come  to  pass  before  long  that  one  special 
minister  will  be  the  avowed  leader  of  the  cabinet,  and  that  he 
will  be  recognized  as  the  chief  servant  of  the  St;  a  under  the 
President.  Our  own  cabinet,  v/hich  now-a-days  seems  with  us 
to  be  an  institution  as  fixed  as  Parliament  and  as  necessary  as 
the  throne,  has  grown  by  degrees  into  its  present  shape,  and  is 


THE  GOVERNMENT. 


601 


,8  hers. 

e  serv- 

depart- 

bronago 

LDisters, 

las  been 

say  that 

existing 

ply  been 

the  Pres- 

partment 

,,  without 

[.bout  any 

)ne  minis- 

— he  alone 

r  minister 
was  inde- 

s  President 

ixplanation 

lat  the  late 

^e  departed 
ig  from  in- 
jrted  plan. 

|o  some  one 
and  of  this 
lOW  intend- 
ing to  indi- 
the  fashion 
leated.  No 
te  time  past 
President^. 
,t  hesitated 
it  the  pres- 
,he  head  of 
:reater  pow- 

,  one  special 
[and  that  he 
le  under  the 
lems  with  ns 
Viecessary  as 
thape,  and  is 


not,  in  truth,  nearly  so  old  as  many  of  us  suppose  it  to  be.  It 
shaped  itself,  I  imagine,  into  its  present  form,  and  even  into  its 
present  joint  responsibility,  during  the  reign  of  George  III.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  even  with  us  there  is  no  sucli  thing 
as  a  constitutional  Prime  Minister,  and  that  our  Prime  Minis- 
ter is  not  placed  above  the  other  ministers  in  any  manner  that 
is  palpable  to  the  senses.  He  is  paid  no  more  than  the  others ; 
he  has  no  superior  title;  he  does  not  take  the  highest  rank 
among  them ;  he  never  talks  of  his  subordinates,  but  always 
of  his  colleagues ;  he  has  a  title  of  his  own,  that  of  First  Lord 
of  the  Treasury,  but  it  implies  no  headship  in  the  cabinet.  That 
he  is  the  head  of  all  political  power  in  the  nation,  the  Atlas  who 
has  to  bear  the  globe,  the  god  in  whose  hands  rest  the  thunder- 
holts  and  the  showers,  all  men  do  know.  No  man's  position  is 
more  assured  to  hira.  But  the  bounds  of  that  position  are  writ- 
ten in  no  book,  are  defined  by  no  law,  have  settled  themselves 
not  in  accordance  with  the  recorded  wisdom  of  any  great  men, 
but  as  expediency  and  the  fitness  of  political  things  in  Great 
Britain  have  seemed  from  time  to  time  to  require.  This  drift- 
ing of  great  matters  into  their  proper  places  is  not  as  closely  in 
accordance  with  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  American  people  as 
it  is  with  our  own.  They  would  prefer  to  define  by  words,  as 
the  French  do,  what  shall  be  the  exact  position  of  every  public 
servant  connected  with  their  Government ;  or  rather  of  every 
public  servant  with  whom  the  people  shall  be  held  as  having 
any  concern.  But  nevertheless,  I  think  it  will  come  to  pass 
that  a  cabinet  will  gradually  form  itself  at  Washington  as  it  has 
done  at  London,  and  that  of  that  cabinet  there  will  be  some 
recognized  and  ostensible  chief. 

But  a  Prime  Minister  in  the  United  States  can  never  take 
the  place  there  which  is  taken  here  by  our  Premier.  Over  our 
Premier  there  is  no  one  politically  superior.  The  highest  po- 
litical responsibility  of  the  nation  rests  on  him.  In  the  States 
this  must  always  rest  on  the  President,  and  any  minister,  what- 
ever may  be  his  name  or  assumed  position,  can  only  be  responsi- 
ble through  the  President.  And  it  is  here  especially  that  the 
working  of  the  United  States  system  of  Government  seems  to 
me  deficient, — appears  as  though  it  wanted  something  to  make 
it  perfect  and  round  at  all  points.  Our  ministers  retire  from 
their  offices,  as  do  the  Presidents ;  and  indeed  the  ministerial 
term  of  office  with  us,  though  of  course  not  fixed,  is  in  truth 
much  shorter  than  the  Presidential  tenn  of  four  years.  But 
our  ministers  do  not,  in  fact,  over  go  out.  At  one  time  they 
take  one  position,  vdth  pay,  patronage,  and  power ;  and  at  an- 


502 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


I 


!<■ 


,' 


i'       f 


other  time  another  position,  without  these  good  things ;  but  in 
either  position  they  are  acting  as  public  men,  and  are,  in  truth, 
responsible  for  what  they  say  and  do.  But  the  President,  on 
whom  it  is  presumed  that  the  whole  of  the  responsibility  of  the 
United  States  Government  rests,  goes  out  at  a  certain  day,  and 
of  him  no  more  is  heard.  There  is  no  future  before  him  to  urge 
him  on  to  constancy ;  no  hope  of  other  things  beyond,  of  great- 
er honours  and  a  wider  fame,  to  keep  him  wakeful  in  his  coun- 
try's cause.  He  has  already  enrolled  his  name  on  the  list  of  his 
country's  rulers,  and  received  what  reward  his  country  can  give 
him.     Conscience,  duty,  patriotism  may  make  him  true  to  his 

{)lace.     True  to  his  place,  in  a  certain  degree,  they  will  make 
lim.     But  ambition  and  hope  of  things  still  to  come  are  the 
moving  motives  in  the  minds  of  most  men.    Few  men  can  al- 
low their  energies  to  expand  to  their  fullest  extent  in  the  cold 
atmosphere  of  duty  alone.     The  President  of  the  States  must 
feel  that  he  has  reached  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  that  he  soon 
will  have  done  with  life.     As  he  goes  out  he  is  a  dead  man. 
And  what  can  be  expected  from  one  who  is  counting  the  last 
lingering  hours  of  his  existence  ?     "  It  will  not  be  in  my  time," 
Mr.  Buchanan  is  reported  to  have  said,  when  a  friend  spoke  to 
him  with  warning  voice  of  the  coming  rebellion.     "  It  will  not 
be  in  my  time."    In  the  old  days,  before  democracy  had  pre- 
vailed in  upsetting  that  system  of  Presidential  election  which 
the  constitution  had  intended  to  fix  as  permanent,  the  Presidents 
were  generally  re-elected  for  a  second  term.     Of  the  seven  first 
Presidents  five  were  sent  back  to  the  White  House  for  a  second 
period  of  four  years.     But  this  has  never  been  done  since  the 
days  of  General  Jackson ;  nor  will  it  be  done,  unless  a  stronger 
conservative  reaction  takes  place  than  the  country  even  as  yet 
seems  to  promise.    As  things  have  lately  ordered  themselves, 
it  may  almost  be  said  that  no  man  in  the  Union  would  be  so 
improbable  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  as  the  outgoing  Pres- 
ident.   And  it  has  been  only  natural  that  it  should  be  so.    Look- 
ing at  the  men  themselves  who  have  lately  been  chosen,  the 
fault  has  not  consisted  in  their  non-re-election,  but  in  their  orig- 
inal selection.    There  has  been  no  desire  for  great  men ;  no 
search  after  a  man  of  such  a  nature,  that  when  tried  the  people 
should  be  anxious  to  keep  him.     "  It  will  not  be  in  my  time," 
says  the  expiring  President.    And  so,  without  dismay,  he  sees 
ihe  empire  of  his  country  slide  away  from  him. 

A  President,  with  the  possibility  of  re-election  before  him, 
would  be  as  a  minister  who  goes  out,  knowing  that  he  may   j 
possibly  come  in  again  before  the  session  is  over,— and  per- 


TUB  GOVERJVJijjj^^ 

haps  believing  thif  f  J.«    u  ^^^ 

w«rc  some  assurance  thai^  r, .      "*^^  Moment's  cabinet  if  fi.^  ° 

pointed  as  Secretaries  o/lt?^^^^^"^  ^^'esmen  wo«M  I^  f  ^ 
"ponsibility  wouM  ht  i  ""^'  ^  ««rtain  amount  J^!l-     ®,  ^P" 

;t  >s,  the  President  prS«  t^  f  *'  ^"°""t'  ^  Ughiened     A  « 

made.    Wif f,^,?*^    V^^  amendment  cannnf  i;  "  ^"®  P^  evious 
surffl..n  „  °i  VP*    ^*  ^as  spread  itspJf  «„%        ^^^^  that  code 


I  ! 


504 


NORTH   AMERICA, 


1  t   ' 


*       '5 


essary  that  the  United  States  should  take  a  part.  Now  there 
are  thirty-four  States.  The  territories  populated  by  Americiui 
citizens  stretch  from  the  States  on  the  Atlantic  to  those  on  the 
Pacific.  There  is  anovulation  of  thirty  million  souls.  At  the 
present  moment  the  United  States  are  employing  more  soldiers 
than  any  other  nation,  and  have  acknowledged  the  necessity 
of  maintaining  a  large  army  even  when  the  present  troubles 
shall  be  over.  In  addition  to  this  the  United  States  have  oc- 
casion for  the  use  of  statecraft  with  all  the  great  kingdoms  of 
Europe.  That  theory  of  ruling  by  little  men  will  not  do  much 
longer.  It  will  be  well  that  they  should  bring  forth  their  big 
men  and  put  them  in  the  place  of  rulers. 

The  President  has  at  present  seven  ministers.  They  are  the 
Secretary  of  State,  who  is  supposed  to  have  the  direction  of 
Foreign  Affairs ;  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasur: ,  who  answers 
to  our  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ;  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Army  and  of  the  Navv ;  the  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  the  At- 
torney-General ;  and  the  Postmaster-General.  If  these  officers 
were  allowed  to  hold  seats  in  one  House  or  in  the  other, — or 
rather  if  the  President  were  enjoined  to  place  in  these  offices 
men  who  were  known  as  members  of  Congress,  not  only  would 
the  position  of  the  President's  ministers  be  enhanced  and  their 
weight  increased,  but  the  position  also  of  Congress  would  be 
enhanced  and  the  weight  of  Congress  would  be  increased.  I 
may,  perhaps,  best  exemplify  this  by  suggesting  what  would 
be  the  effect  on  our  Parliament  by  withdrawing  from  it  the 
men  who  at  the  present  moment, — or  at  any  moment, — form 
the  Queen's  cabinet.  I  will  not  say  that  by  adding  to  Con- 
gress the  men  who  usually  form  the  President's  cabinet,  a 
weight  would  be  given  equal  to  that  which  the  withdrawal  of 
the  British  cabinet  would  take  from  the  British  Parliament.  I 
cannot  pay  that  compliment  to  the  President's  choice  of  serv- 
ants. But  the  relationship  between  Congress  and  the  Presi- 
dent's ministers  would  gradually  come  to  resemble  that  which 
exists  between  Parliament  and  the  Queen's  ministers.  The 
Secretaries  of  State  and  of  the  Treasury  would  after  a  while 
o*btain  that  honour  of  leading  the  Houses  which  is  exercised  hy 
our  high  political  officers,  and  the  dignity  added  to  the  posi- 
tions would  make  the  places  worthy  the  acceptance  of  great 
men.  It  is  hardly  so  at  present.  The  career  of  one  of  the 
President's  ministers  is  not  a  very  high  career  as  things  now 
stand ;  nor  is  the  man  supposed  to  have  achieved  much  who 
has  achieved  that  position.  I  think  it  would  be  otherwise  if 
the  ministers  were  the  leaders  of  the  legislative  Houses.    To 


'!r\yi 


THE   (iOVEUNMBNT. 


5D5 


w  tViere 
mericiui 
Q  on  the 
At  the 
I  soldiers 
necessity 

troubles 

have  oc- 
ydoms  of 
rdo  much 

their  big 

ley  are  the 
rection  of 
lo  answers 
ries  of  the 
jr;  theAt- 
lese  officers 
5  other,— or 
these  offices 
b  only  would 
ed  and  their 
388  would  be 
ncreased.   1 
what  would 
r  from  it  the 
Itnent^-form 
ding  to  Con- 
Fft  cabinet,  a 
rithdrawalof 
irliament.    1 
loice  of  serv- 
nd  the  Vrm- 
he  that  which 
nisters.    The 
after  a  wMe 
exercised  by 
d  to  the  po8i- 
fance  of  great 
')f  one  of  the 
,s  things  now 
jd  much  who 
otherwiseil 
Houses.    i<> 


Congress  itself  would  be  given  the  power  of  questioning  and 
ultimately  of  controlling  these  ministers.     The  power  of  the 
President  would  no  doubt  be  diminished  as  that  of  Congress 
would  be  increased.     But  an  alteration  in  that  direction  is  in 
itself  desirable.     It  is  the  fault  of  the  present  system  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  United  States  that  the  President  has  too  much 
of  power  and  weight,  while  the  Congress  of  the  nation  lacks 
power  and  weight.    As  matters  now  stand,  Congress  has  not 
that  dignity  of  position  which  it  should  hold ;  and  it  is  without 
it  because  it  is  not  endowed  with  that  control  over  the  officers 
of  the  government  which  our  Parliament  is  enabled  to  exercise. 
The  want  of  this  close  connection  with  Congress  and  the 
President's  ministers  has  been  so  much  felt,  that  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  create  a  medium  of  communication.    This 
has  been  done  by  a  system  which  has  now  become  a  recognized 
part  of  the  machinery  of  the  government,  but  which  is,  I  be- 
lieve, founded  on  no  regularly  organized  authority.    At  any 
rate  no  provision  is  made  for  it  in  the  constitution ;  nor,  as  far 
as  I  am  aware,  has  it  been  established  by  any  special  enactment 
or  written  rule.     Nevertheless,  I  believe  I  am  justified  in  say- 
ing that  it  has  become  a  recognized  link  in  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment adopted  by  the  United  States.     In  each  House  stand- 
ing committees  are  named,  to  which  are  delegated  the  special 
consideration  of  certain  affairs  of  state.    There  are,  for  in- 
stance, committees  of  foreign  affairs,  of  finance,  the  judiciary 
committee,  and  others  of  a  similar  nature.     To  these  commit- 
tees are  referred  all  questions  which  come  before  the  House 
bearing  on  the  special  subject  to  which  each  is  devoted.    Ques- 
tions of  taxation  are  referred  to  the  finance  committee  before 
they  are  discussed  in  the  House ;  and  the  House,  when  it  goes 
into  such  discussion,  has  before  it  the  report  of  the  committee. 
In  this  w^ay  very  much  of  the  work  of  legislation  is  done  by 
branches  of  each  House,  and  by  selected  men  whose  time  and 
intellects  are  devoted  to  special  subjects.    It  is  easy  to  see 
that  much  time  and  useless  debate  may  be  thus  saved,  and  I 
ara  disposed  to  believe  that  this  system  of  committees  has 
worked  efficiently  and  beneficially.    The  mode  of  selection  of 
the  members  has  been  so  contrived  as  to  give  to  each  political 
party  that  amount  of  preponderance  in  each  committee  which 
such  party  holds  in  the  House.    If  the  democrats  have  in  the 
Senate  a  majority,  it  would  be  within  their  power  to  vote  none 
but  democrats  into  the  committee  on  finance ;  but  this  would 
be  manifestly  unjust  to  the  republican  party,  and  the  injustice 
would  itself  frustrate  the  object  of  the  party  in  power ;  there- 


III! 


-A    ■)  !f.    rj  w- 


» 

« 

'i 

\^ 

i 

j 

■1 

* 

I    r.  V, 


"s; 


If   V 


506 


NORTH   AMEBICA. 


fore  the  democrats  simply  vote  to  themselves  a  majority  in 
each  committee,  keeping  to  themselves  as  great  a  preponder- 
ance in  the  committee  as  they  have  in  the  whole  House,  and 
arranging  also  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee  shall  belong 
to  their  own  party.  By  these  committees  the  chief  legislative 
measures  of  the  country  are  originated  and  inaugurated, — as 
they  are  with  us  by  the  ministers  of  the  Crown,  and  the  chair- 
man of  each  committee  is  supposed  to  have  a  certain  amicable 
relation  with  that  minister  who  presides  over  the  office  with 
which  his  committee  is  connected.  Mr.  Sumner  is  at  present 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  foreign  affairs,  and  he  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  in  connection  with  Mr.  Seward,  who,  as  Secretary 
of  State,  has  the  management  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
Government. 

But  it  seems  to  me  that  this  supposed  connection  between 
the  committees  and  the  ministers  is  only  a  makeshift,  showing 
by  its  existence  the  absolute  necessity  of  close  communication 
between  the  executive  and  the  legislative,  but  shoeing  also  by 
its  imperfections  the  great  want  of  some  better  method  of  com- 
munication. In  the  first  place  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
is  in  no  way  bound  to  hold  any  communication  with  the  min- 
ister. He  is  simply  a  senator,  and  as  such  has  no  ministerial 
duties,  and  can  have  none.  He  holds  no  appointment  under 
the  President,  and  has  no  palpable  connection  with  the  execu- 
tive. And  then  it  is  quite  as  likely  that  he  may  be  opposed  in 
politics  to  the  minister  as  that  he  may  agree  with  him.  If  the 
two  be  opposed  to  each  other  on  general  politics,  it  may  be 
presumed  that  they  cannot  act  together  in  union  on  one  special 
subject.  Nor,  whether  they  act  in  union  or  do  not  so  act,  can 
either  have  any  authority  over  the  other.  The  minister  is  not 
responsible  to  Congress,  nor  is  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
in  any  way  bound  to  support  the  minister.  It  is  presumed 
that  the  chairman  must  know  the  minister's  secrets,  but  the 
chairman  may  be  bound  by  party  considerations  to  use  those 
secrets  against  the  minister. 

The  system  of  committees  appears  to  me  to  be  good  as  re- 
gards the  work  of  legislation.  It  seems  well  adapted  to  effect 
economy  of  time  and  the  application  of  special  men  to  special 
services.  But  I  am  driven  to  think  that  that  connection  be- 
tween the  chairmen  of  the  committees  and  the  ministers,  which 
I  haye  attempted  to  describe,  is  an  arrangement  very  imper- 
fect in  itself,  but  plainly  indicating  the  necessity  of  some  such 
dose  relation  between  the  executive  and  the  legislature  of  the 
United  States  as  does  exist  in  the  political  system  of  Great 


THE   GOVEBNMENT. 


607 


Dvity  in 
ipondei- 
ase,  and 
il  belong 
gislative 
ited,— as 
he  chair- 
amicable 
fice  with 
it  present 
he  is  pre- 
Secretary 
jns  of  the 

tt  between 

't,  showing 

munication 

ing  also  hy 

aod  of  cora- 

j  conaniitt'ee 

,tb  the  min- 

»  ministerial 

,ment  imder 
the  execu- 
opposed  in 

Jm.    If  the 

18,  it  may  he 
1  one  special 
t  60  act,  can 
Inistevisiiot 
e  committee 
18  presumed 
•ets,  but  the 
,0  use  those 

t;  good  as  re- 
tted to  effect 
fen  to  special 
[nnection  he- 
listers,  which 

1  very  impe^' 
J)f  some  such 
Kature  of  the 
lem  of  Great 


Britain.  With  iis  the  Queen's  minister  has  a  p'cator  weight 
in  Parliament  than  the  President's  minister  could  hold  in  Con- 
gress, because  the  Queen  is  bound  to  employ  a  minister  in 
whom  the  Parliament  has  confidence.  As  soon  as  such  confi- 
dence  ceases,  the  minister  ceases  to  be  minister.  As  the  Crown 
has  no  politics  of  its  own,  it  is  simply  necessary  that  the  min- 
ister of  the  day  should  liold  the  politics  of  the  people  as  testi- 
fied by  their  representatives.  The  machinery  of  the  Presi- 
dent's Government  cannot  be  made  to  work  after  this  fashion. 
The  President  himself  is  a  political  officer,  and  the  country  is 
bound  to  bear  with  his  politics  for  four  years,  whatever  those 
politics  mny  be.  The  ministry  which  he  selects  on  coming  to 
ills  seat  will  probably  represent  a  majority  in  Congress,  seeing 
tliat  the  same  suffrages  which  have  elected  the  President  will 
also  have  elected  the  Congress.  But  there  exists  no  necessity 
on  the  part  of  the  President  to  employ  ministers  who  shall 
carry  with  them  the  support  of  Congress.  If,  however,  the 
ministers  sat  in  Congress, — if  it  were  required  of  each  minister 
that  he  should  liave  a  seat  either  in  one  Houst  7r  in  the  other, 
—  the  President  would,  I  think,  find  himsell  constrained  to 
change  a  ministry  in  which  Congress  should  decline  to  confide. 
It  might  not  be  so  at  first,  but  there  would  be  a  tendency  in 
that  direction. 

The  governing  powers  do  not  rest  exclusively  with  the  Pres- 
ident, or  with  the  President  and  his  ministers ;  they  are  shared 
in  a  certain  degree  with  the  Senate,  which  sits  from  time  to 
time  in  executive  Session,  laying  aside  at  such  periods  its  legis- 
lative character.    It  is  this  executive  authority  which  lends  so 
great  a  dignity  to  the  Senate,  gives  it  the  privilege  of  prepon- 
derating over  the  other  House,  and  makes  it  the  political  safe- 
guard of  the  nation.    The  questions  of  government  as  to  which 
the  Senate  is  empowered  to  interfere  are  soon  told.    All  treat- 
ies made  by  the  President  must  be  sanctioned  by  the  Senate ; 
and  all  appointments  made  by  the  President  must  be  confirmed 
by  the  Senate.    The  list  is  short,  and  one  is  disposed  to  think, 
when  first  hearing  it,  that  the  thing  itself  does  not  amount  to 
much.    But  it  does  amount  to  very  much ;  it  enables  the  Sen- 
ate to  fetter  the  President,  if  the  Senate  should  be  so  inclined, 
both  as  regards  foreign  politics  and  home  politics.    A  Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Afiairs  at  Washington  may  write  what  de- 
spatches he  pleases  without  reference  to  the  Senate ;  but  the 
Senate  interferes  before  those  despatches  can  have  resulted  in 
any  fact  which  may  be  detrimental  to  the  nation.    It  is  not 
only  that  the  Senate  is  responsible  for  such  treaties  as  are 


608 


NOllTI!    AMKRICA. 


h 


I 


I 


Ih 


mado,  but  that  the  President  is  deterred  from  the  makiijp;  of 
treaties  for  wliich  the  Senate  would  decline  to  make  itself  re- 
sponsible.     Even  though  no  treaty  shoukl  ever  be  refused  its 
Banction  by  the  Senate,  tiic  protecting  power  of  the  Senate  in 
tluit  matter  would  not  on  that  account  have  been  less  necessary 
or  less  efficacious.    Though  the  bars  with  which  we  })rotect 
our  house  may  never  have  been  tried  by  a  thief,  we  do  not 
therefore  believe  that  our  house  would  have  been  safe  if  such 
bars  had  been  known  to  bo  wanting.     Atid  then,  as  to  that 
matter  of  state  appointments,  is  it  not  the  fact  that  all  govern- 
ing powers  consist  in  the  selection  of  the  agents  by  wliom  the 
action  of  Government  shall  be  carried  on?    It  must  come  to 
this,  1  imagine,  when  the  argument  is  pushed  home.     The 
power  of  the  most  powerful  man  depends  only  on  the  extent 
of  his  authority  over  his  agents.     According  to  the  constitii- 
tion  of  the  United  States,  the  President  can  select  no  agent 
either  at  home  or  abroad,  for  purposes  citlier  of  peace  or  war, 
or  to  the  employment  of  whom  the  Senate  does  not  agree  witli 
Inm.    Such  a  rule  as  this  should  save  the  nation  from  the  use 
of  disreputable  agents  as  public  servants.    It  might,  perhaps, 
have  done  more  towards  such  salvation  than  it  has  as  yet  effect- 
ed;— and  it  may  well  be  hoped  that  it  will  do  more  in  fu- 
ture. 

Such  are  the  executive  powers  of  the  Senate ;  and  it  is,  I 
think,  remarkable  that  the  Senate  has  always  used  these  pow- 
ers with  extreme  moderation.  It  has  never  shown  a  factious 
inclination  to  hinder  Government  by  unnecessary  interference, 
or  a  disposition  to  clip  the  President's  wings  by  putting  itself 
altogether  at  variance  with  him.  I  am  not  quite  sure  whether 
some  fault  may  not  have  lain  on  the  other  side ;  whether  the 
Senate  may  not  have  been  somewhat  slack  in  exercising  the 
protective  privileges  given  to  it  by  the  constitution.  And 
here  I  cannot  but  remark  how  great  is  the  deference  paid  to 
all  governors  and  edicts  of  Government  throughout  the  United 
States.  One  would  have  been  disposed  to  think  that  such  a 
feeling  would  be  stronger  in  an  old  country  such  as  Great 
Britain  than  in  a  young  country  such  as  the  States.  But  I 
think  that  it  is  not  so.  There  is  less  disposition  to  question 
the  action  of  government  either  at  Washington  or  at  New 
York,  than  there  is  in  London.  Men  in  America  seem  to  be  j 
content  when  they  have  voted  in  their  governors,  and  to  feel  i 
that  for  them  all  political  action  is  over  until  the  time  shall 
come  for  voting  for  others.  And  this  feeling,  which  seems  toj 
prevail  among  the  people,  prevails  also  in  both  Houses  of  Cod- 


TIIK   tiOVKllNMENT. 


509 


^kinp  of 
itself  vc- 
jfused  its 
Sonata  it\ 
necessary 
c  ^)V0tect 
kre  do  not 
ifc  if  svu'h 
j^s  to  tll!\t 
all  govevu- 
Avhom  tho 
st  come  to 
omc.    The 
,  t\\G  extent 
ho  constitu- 
ct  no  agent 
jace  or  wiw, 
,t  agree  with 
from  the  use 
:rht,  perhaps, 
"as  yet  effect- 
,  niore  iu  fu- 


prcas.  nittor  denunciations  against  tho  President's  policy  or 
the  President's  ministers  are  seldom  heard.  Speeches  are  not 
often  made  with  tluj  object  of  impedifig  tho  action  of  Govertw 
ment.  Tliat  so  small  and  so  grave  a  body  as  the  Senate  should 
ahstain  from  factious  opposition  to  the  Government  when  em- 
ployed on  executive  functions  was  perliaps  to  bo  expected.  It 
i«  of  course  well  that  it  should  be  so.  I  confess,  however,  that 
it  has  appeared  to  mo  that  tho  Senate  has  not  used  tho  power 
])laGed  in  its  hands  as  freely  as  tho  constitution  has  intended. 
Ikit  I  look  at  tho  matter  as  an  Englishman,  and  as  an  English- 
man I  can  enduro  no  governracnt  action  which  is  not  imme- 
diately subject  to  Parliamentary  control. 

Such  are  tho  governing  powers  of  the  United  States.  I 
think  it  will  bo  seen  that  they  are  much  more  limited  in  their 
scope  of  action  than  with  us ;  but  within  that  scope  of  action 
much  more  independent  and  self-sufficient.  And,  in  addition 
to  this,  those  who  exercise  power  in  the  United  States  are  not 
only  free  from  immediate  responsibility,  but  aro  not  made  sub- 
ject to  the  hope  or  fear  of  future  judgment.  Success  will 
hring  no  reward,  and  failure  no  punishment.  I  am  not  aware 
tliat  any  political  delinquency  has  ever  yet  brought  down  ret- 
ribution on  the  head  of  tho  offender  in  tho  United  States,  or 
that  any  great  deed  has  been  held  as  entitling  the  doer  of  it 
to  his  country's  gratitude.  Titles  of  nobility  they  have  none ; 
pensions  they  never  give ;  and  political  disgrace  is  unknown. 
Tiio  line  of  politics  would  seem  to  be  cold  and  unalluring.  It 
is  cold ; — and  would  be  unalluring,  were  it  not  that  as  a  pro- 
fession it  is  profitable.  In  much  of  this  I  expect  that  a  chango 
will  gradually  take  place.  The  theory  has  been  that  public 
affairs  should  be  in  the  hands  of  little  men.  The  theory  was 
intelligible  while  the  public  affairs  were  small ;  but  they  are 
small  no  longer,  and  that  theory,  I  fancy,  will  have  to  alter 
itself.  Great  men  are  needed  for  the  government,  and  in  order 
to  produce  great  men  a  career  of  greatness  must  be  opened  to 
them.  I  can  see  no  reason  why  the  career  and  the  men  should 
not  be  forthcoming. 


'  \ 


610 


170RTII   AMERICA. 


I 


m 


H 


|i 


I 


IM 


k 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  LAW  COURTS   AND  LAWYERS   OP  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

I  DO  not  propose  to  make  any  attempt  to  explain  in  detail 
the  practices  and  rules  of  the  American  Courts  of  Law.  No 
one  out  a  lawyer  should  trust  himself  with  such  a  task,  and  no 
lawyer  would  bo  enabled  to  do  so  in  the  few  pages  which  I 
shall  hero  devote  to  the  subject.  My  present  object  is  to  ex- 
plain,  as  far  as  I  may  be  able  to  do  so,  the  existing  political  po- 
sition  of  the  country.  As  this  must  depend  more  or  less  upon 
the  power  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  judges,  and  upon  the  ten- 
ure Dy  which  those  judges  hold  their  offices,  I  shall  endeavour 
to  describe  the  circumstances  of  the  position  in  which  the 
American  judges  are  placed;  the  mode  in  which  they  are  ap- 
pointed; the  difference  which  exists  between  the  national  judges 
and  the  State  judges ;  and  the  extent  to  which  they  are  or  are 
not  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  general  public  whom  they  serve. 

It  will,  I  think,  be  acknowledged  that  this  last  matter  is  one 
of  almost  paramount  importance  to  the  welfare  of  a  country. 
At  home  in  England  we  do  not  realize  the  importance  to  us  in 
a  political  as  well  as  social  view  of  the  dignity  and  purity  of 
our  judges,  because  we  take  from  them  all  that  dignity  and  pu- 
rity can  give  as  a  matter  of  course.    The  honesty  of  our  bench 
is  to  us  almost  as  the  honesty  of  heaven.     No  one  dreams  that 
it  can  be  questioned  or  become  questionable,  and  therefore  there 
are  but  few  who  are  thankful  for  its  blessings.     Few  English- 
men care  to  know  much  about  their  own  courts  of  law,  or  are 
even  aware  that  the  judges  are  the  protectors  of  their  liberties 
and  property.    There  are  the  men,  honoured  on  all  sides,  trust- 
ed by  every  one,  removed  above  temptation,  holding  positions 
which  are  coveted  by  all  lawyers.    That  it  is  so  is  enough  for 
us ;  and  as  the  good  thence  derived  comes  to  us  so  easily,  we 
forget  to  remember  that  we  might  possibly  be  without  it.   The 
law  courts  of  the  States  have  much  in  their  simplicity  and  the 
general  intelligence  of  their  arrangements  to  recommend  them. 
In  all  ordinary  causes  justice  is  done  with  economy,  with  expe- 
dition, and  I  believe  with  precision.     But  they  strike  an  En- 
glishman at  once  as  being  deficient  in  splendour  and  dignity, 
as  wanting  that  reverence  which  we  think  should  be  paid  to 
words  falling  from  the  bench,  and  as  being  in  danger  as  to  that 
purity,  without  which  a  judge  becomes  a  curse  among  a  peo- 
ple, a  chief  of  thieves,  and  an  arch-minister  of  the  E\  il  One.    I 


iTATKS. 

in  detail 

iftw.    No 

ik,  and  no 

s  which  I 

1 18  to  ex- 

olitical  po- 

L«  less  upon 

on  the  ten- 
endeavour 
which  the 

hey  are  ap- 

Lonal  judges 

y  arc  or  are 

i  they  serve. 

latter  is  one 

f  a  country. 

ince  to  us  in 

fid  purity  of 

;nity  and  pu- 

of  ourhench 

dreams  that 

erefore  there 

few  English- 
)flaw,orave 
heir  liberties 
II  sides,  trust- 
[ing  positions 
^8  enough  for 
80  easily,  we 
Ihoutit.   The 
iicity  and  the 
nmend  them. 
,y,withexpe- 
;trike  an  Kn- 
and  dignity, 
[d  be  paid  to 
rerastothat 

'mong  a  peo- 
Evil  One.   1 


LAW  COURTS   AND  LAWYERS   OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.    611 

say  as  being  in  danger; — not  that  I  mean  to  hint  that  such 
want  of  purity  has  been  shown,  or  that  I  wish  it  to  bo  believed 
tluit  judges  with  itching  pahns  do  sit  upon  the  American  bench ; 
but  because  the  present  political  tendency  of  the  State  arrange- 
ments threatens  to  produce  such  danger.    We  in  England  trust 
implicitly  in  our  judges, — not  because  they  are  Englishmen,  but 
because  they  are  Englishmen  carefully  selected  for  their  high 
positions.     Wo  should  soon  distrust  them  if  they  were  elected 
by  universal  suftVage  from  all  the  barristers  and  attorneys  prac- 
tising in  the  difterent  courts ;  and  so  elected  only  for  a  period 
of  years,  as  is  the  case  with  reference  to  many  of  the  State 
judges  in  America.     Such  a  mode  of  appointment  would,  in 
our  estimation,  at  once  rob  them  of  their  prestige.     And  our 
distrust  would  not  be  diminished  if  the  pay  accorded  to  the 
work  were  so  small  that  no  lawyer  in  good  practice  could  af- 
ford to  accept  the  situation.    When  we  look  at  a  judge  in 
court,  venerable  beneath  his  wig  and  adorned  with  l»is  ermine, 
we  do  not  admit  to  ourselves  that  that  high  officer  is  honest 
because  he  is  placed  above  temptation  by  the  magnitude  of  his 
salary.    We  do  not  suspect  that  he,  as  an  individual,  would  ac- 
cept bribes  and  favour  suitors  if  ho  were  in  want  of  money. 
But,  still,  we  know  as  a  fact  tha .  an  honest  man,  like  any  other 
good  article,  must  be  paid  for  at  a  high  price.    Judges  and 
bishops  expect  those  rewards  which  all  men  win  who  rise  to 
the  highest  steps  on  the  ladder  of  their  profession.    And  the 
better  they  are  paid,  within  measure,  the  better  they  will  be  as 
judges  and  bishops.    Now,  the  judges  in  America  are  not  well 
paid,  and  the  best  lawyers  cannot  afford  to  sit  upon  the  bench. 
With  us  the  practice  of  the  law  and  the  judicature  of  our 
law  courts  are  divided.    We  have  Chancery  barristers  and 
Common  Law  barristers;  and  we  have  Chancery  Courts  and 
Courts  of  Common  Law.    In  the  States  there  is  no  such  divi- 
sion.   It  prevails  neither  in  the  national  or  federal  courts  of 
the  United  States,  nor  in  the  courts  of  any  of  the  separate 
States.    The  code  of  laws  used  by  the  Americans  is  taken  al- 
most entirely  from  our  English  laws, — or  rather,  I  should  say, 
the  federal  code  used  by  the  nation  is  so  taken,  and  also  the 
various  codes  of  the  different  States, — as  each  State  takes  what- 
ever laws  it  may  think  fit  to  adopt.     Even  the  precedents  of 
our  courts  are  held  as  precedents  in  the  American  courts,  unless 
they  chance  to  jar  against  other  decisions  given  specially  in 
their  own  courts  with  reference  to  cases  of  their  own.    In  this 
respect  the  founders  of  tho  American  law  proceedings  have 
shown  a  conservative  bias  a^d  a  predilection  for  English  writ- 


"Si; 


II 


I'  i     'I 


'( 


612 


KORTII  AMUKICA. 


I 


ten  and  traditionnl  law,  wliicli  arc  much  at  varianco  with  tli.it 
general  democratic  pasHion  for  ciianp^o  by  whicii  wo  j^encrally 
presume  the  Americans  to  liavo  been  actuated  at  their  revolu- 
tion.  But  though  they  liave  kept  our  lawH,  and  Ktill  respect 
our  reading  of  those  lawH,  they  Imve  greatly  altered  an<l  nitn- 
plified  our  practice.  Whether  a  double  set  of  courts  i'or  Law 
and  Equity  arc  or  are  not  expedient,  cither  in  the  one  country 
or  in  the  other,  I  do  not  pretend  to  know.  It  is,  however,  the 
fact  that  there  is  no  such  division  in  the  States. 

Moreover  there  is  no  division  in  the  legal  profession.  With 
us  w  '"ivo  barristers  and  attorneys.  In  the  States  the  same 
man  .oth  barrister  and  attorney ;  and,  which  is  perhaps  in 
effect  more  startling,  every  lawyer  is  presumed  to  undertake 
law  cases  of  every  description.  The  same  man  makes  your 
will,  sells  your  property,  brings  an  action  for  you  of  trespass 
against  your  neighbour,  defends  you  when  you  are  accused  of 
murder,  recovers  for  you  two-and-sixpence,  and  pleads  for  yoii 
in  an  argument  of  three  days'  length  when  you  claim  to  be  tho 
sole  heir  to  your  grandfather's  enormous  property.  I  need  not 
describe  how  terribly  distinct  with  us  is  the  difference  between 
an  attorney  and  a  barrister,  or  how  much  further  than  the  poles 
asunder  is  tho  future  Lord  Chancellor,  pleading  before  the  Lords 
Justices  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  from  tho  gentleman  who  at  the  Old 
Baih  •  is  endeavouring  to  secure  the  personal  liberty  of  the 
rul!  vho  a  week  or  two  since  walked  off  with  all  your  silver 
spoo.  In  the  States  no  such  differences  are  known.  A  law- 
yer there  is  a  lawyer,  and  is  supposed  to  do  for  any  client  any 
work  that  a  lawyer  may  be  called  on  to  perform.  But  though 
this  is  the  theory,  and  as  regards  any  difference  between  attor- 
ney and  barrister  is  altogether  the  fact,  the  assumed  practice  is 
not,  and  cannot  be  maintained  as  regards  the  various  branches 
of  a  lawyer's  work.  When  the  population  was  smaller,  and  the 
law  cases  were  less  complicated,  the  theory  and  the  practice  were 
no  doubt  alike.  As  great  cities  have  grown  up,  and  properties 
large  in  amount  have  come  under  litigation,  certain  lawyers 
have  found  it  expedient  and  practicable  to  devote  themselves 
to  special  branches  of  their  profession.  But  this,  even  up  to  the 
present  time,  has  not  been  done  openly  as  it  were,  or  with  any 
declaration  made  by  a  man  as  to  his  own  branch  of  his  calling. 
I  believe  that  no  such  declaration  on  his  part  would  be  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  rules  of  the  profession.  He  takes  a  partner, 
however,  and  thus  attains  his  object ; — or  more  than  one  part- 
ner, and  then  the  business  of  the  house  is  divided  among  them 
according  to  their  individual  specialities.    One  will  plead  in 


LAW   COURTS   AND   LAWYKIW   OP  TIIR   UNITED   RTATKS.    613 


M\  that 
r  vevoUi- 

1    Vt'S\>CCt 

an«l  «in^ 
,  i'ov  Law 
3  country 
^ever,  the 

.n.    With 
the  samo 
Dcvhaps  in 
imdertakti 
jikcs  your 
of  tref  pass 
accused  of 
ids  ibr  you 
n  to  be  tlio 
I  need  not 
ce  between 
an  t\io  poles 
re  the  Lords 
,  at  the  Old 
Levty  of  the 
your  bUvcv 
ffn.    Alaw- 
y  client  any 
But  though 
iween  attor- 
M.  practice  is 
,U8  branciies 
lUer,  and  the 
ivactice  were 
,d  properties 
ain  lawyers 
I  themselves 
en  up  to  the 
or  with  any 
If  his  calling, 
iild  be  in  ac- 
j8  a  partner, 
.an  one  part- 
among  them 
Lvill  plead  in 


court,  another  will  give  chnniber-counscl,  and  a  third  will  tako 
that  lower  business  which  uuist  bo  done,  but  which  lirst-rato 
men  hardly  like  to  do. 

It  will  easily  be  perceived  that  law  in  this  way  will  bo  mado 
cheaper  to  the  litignnt.  Whether  or  no  that  may  be  an  un- 
adulterated advantage,  I  have  my  doubts.  I  fancy  that  tho 
united  professional  incomes  of  all  tho  lawyers  in  the  States 
would  exceed  in  amount  those  mado  in  England.  In  America 
every  man  of  note  seems  to  bo  a  lawyer,  and  I  am  told  that  any 
lawyer  who  will  work  may  make  a  sure  income.  If  it  be  so,  it 
would  seem  that  Americans  per  head  pay  as  much  or  more  for 
their  law  as  men  do  in  England.  It  may  bo  answered  that  they 
get  more  law  for  their  money.  That  may  bo  possible,  and  even 
yet  they  may  not  be  gainers.  I  have  been  inchned  to  think  that 
there  is  an  unnecessarily  slow  and  expensive  ceremonial  among 
us  in  tho  employment  of  barristers  through  a  third  party ;  it 
has  seemed  that  tho  man  of  learning,  on  whoso  efforts  tho  liti- 
gant really  depends,  is  divided  oflf  from  his  client  and  employer 
by  an  unfair  barrier,  used  only  to  enhance  his  own  dignity  and 
give  an  unnecessary  grandeur  to  his  position.  I  still  think  that 
the  fault  with  us  lies  in  this  direction.  But  I  feel  that  I  am  less 
iuclined  to  demand  an  immediate  alteration  in  our  practice  than 
1  was  before  I  had  seen  any  of  the  American  courts  of  law. 

It  should  be  generally  understood  that  lawyers  are  the  lead- 
ing men  in  tho  States,  and  that  the  governance  of  the  country 
has  been  almost  entirely  in  their  hands  ever  since  the  political 
life  of  the  nation  became  full  and  strong.  All  public  business 
of  importance  falls  naturally  into  their  hands,  as  with  us  it  falls 
into  the  hands  of  men  of  settled  wealth  and  landed  property. 
Indeed,  the  fact  on  which  I  insist  is  much  more  clear  and  de- 
fined in  the  States  than  it  is  with  us.  In  England  the  lawyers 
aldo  obtain  no  inconsiderable  share  of  political  and  municipal 
power.  The  latter  is  perhaps  more  in  the  hands  of  merchants 
and  men  in  trade  than  of  any  other  class ;  and  even  the  highest 
seats  of  political  greatness  are  more  open  with  us  to  the  world 
at  large  than  they  seem  to  be  in  the  States  to  any  that  are  not 
lawyers.  Since  the  days  of  Washington  every  President  of  the 
United  States  has,  I  think,  been  a  lawyer,  excepting  General 
Taylor.  Other  Presidents  have  been  generals,  but  then  they 
have  also  been  lawyers.  General  Jackson  was  a  successful 
lawyer.  Almost  all  the  leading  politicans  of  the  present  day 
are  lawyers.  Seward,  Cameron,  Welles,  Stanton,  Chase,  Sum- 
ner, Crittenden,  Harris,  Fessenden,  are  all  lawyers.  Webster, 
Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Cass  were  lawyers.    Hamilton  and  Jay  were 

Y2 


ss 


5U 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


1'' 


■^■i 


11!   ^i 


lawyers.  Any  man  with  an  ambition  to  enter  upon  public  life 
becomes  a  lawyer  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  seems  as  though 
a  study  and  practice  of  the  law  were  necessary  ingredients  in 
a  man's  preparation  for  political  life.  I  have  no  doubt  that  a 
very  large  proportion  of  both  Houses  of  legislature  would  be 
found  to  consist  of  lawyers.  I  do  not  remember  that  I  know 
of  the  circumstance  of  more  than  one  senator  who  is  not  a  law- 
yer. Lawyers  form  the  ruling  class  in  America  as  the  land- 
owners do  with  us.  With  us  that  ruling  class  is  the  wealthiest 
class ;  but  this  is  not  so  in  the  States.  It  might  be  wished  that 
it  were  so. 

The  great  and  ever-present  difference  between  the  national 
or  federal  affairs  of  the  United  States  government,  and  the  af- 
fairs of  the  government  of  each  individual  State  should  be  boi-ne 
in  mind  at  all  times  by  those  who  desire  to  understand  the  po- 
litical position  of  the  States.    Till  this  be  realized  no  one  can 
have  any  correct  idea  of  the  bearings  of  politics  in  that  coun- 
try.   As  a  matter  of  course  we  in  England  have  been  inclined 
to  regard  the  Government  and  Congress  of  Washington  as  para- 
mount throughout  the  States,  in  the  same  way  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Downing  Street  and  the  Parliament  of  Westminster 
are  paramount  through  the  British  isles.    Such  a  mistake  is 
natural ;  but  not  the  less  would  it  be  a  fatal  bar  to  any  correct 
understanding  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.    The 
national  and  State  governments  are  independent  v/f  each  other, 
and  so  also  are  the  national  and  State  tribunals.    Each  of  these 
separate  tribunals  has  its  own  judicature,  its  own  judges,  its 
own  courts,  and  its  own  functions.    Nor  can  the  supreme  tri- 
bunal at  Washington  exercise  any  authority  over  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Courts  in  the  different  States,  or  influence  the  de- 
cisions of  their  judges.    For  not  only  are  the  national  judges 
and  the  State  judges  independent  of  each  other ;  but  the  laws 
in  accordance  with  which  they  are  bound  to  act,  may  be  essen- 
tially different.    The  two  tribunals,  those  of  the  nation  and  of 
the  State,  are  independent  and  final  in  their  several  spheres. 
On  a  matter  of  State  jurisprudence  no  appeal  lies  from  the  su- 
preme tribunal  of  New  York  or  Massachusetts  to  the  supreme 
tribunal  of  the  nation  at  Washington. 

The  national  tribunals  are  of  two  classes.  First,  there  is  the 
Supreme  Court  specially  ordained  by  the  constitution.  And 
then  there  are  such  inferior  courts  as  Congress  may  from  time 
to  time  see  fit  to  establish.  Congress  has  no  power  to  abolish 
the  Supreme  Court,  or  to  erect  another  tribunal  superior  to  it. 
This  court  sits  at  Washington,  and  is  a  final  court  of  appeal 


LA.W  COURTS   AND  LAWYERS  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.    615 


iblic  life 

I  though 
iients  in 
)t  that  a 
vould  be 

I I  know 
ot  a  law- 
the  land- 
er galthiest 
shed  that 

B  national 
nd  the  af- 
i  be  home 
nd  the  po- 
10  one  can 
that  coun- 
en  incUned 
;on  as  para- 
it  the  Gov- 
restminster 
mistake  is 
any  correct 
tates.    The 
each  other, 
ach  of  these 
I  judges,  its 
upreme  tri- 
be proceed- 
5nce  the  de- 
onal  judges 
>ut  the  laws 
ay  be  essen- 
ition  and  of 
ral  spheres, 
[rom  the  su- 
be  supremo 


from  the  inferior  national  courts  of  the  federal  empire.  A  sysr 
tem  of  inferior  courts,  inaugurated  by  C^ongress,  has  existed 
for  about  sixty  years.  Each  State  for  purposes  of  national 
jurisprudence  is  constituted  as  a  district;  some  few  large  States, 
such  as  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Illinois,  being  divided 
into  two  districts.  Each  district  has  one  district  court  presided 
over  by  one  judge.  National  causes  in  general,  both  civil  and 
crimiiial,  are  commenced  in  these  district  courts,  and  those  in- 
volving only  small  amounts  are  ended  there.  Above  these  dis- 
trict courts  are  the  national  circuit  courts,  the  districts  or  States 
having  been  grouped  into  circuits  as  the  counties  are  grouped 
with  us.  To  each  of  these  circuits  is  assigned  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Washington,  who  is  the  ex-officio  judge 
of  that  circuit,  and  who  therefore  travels  as  do  our  Common 
Law  judges.  In  each  district  he  sits  with  the  judge  of  that 
district,  and  they  two  together  form  the  circuit  court.  Appeals 
from  the  district  court  lie  to  the  circuit  court  in  cases  over  a 
certain  amount,  and  also  in  certain  criminal  cases.  It  follows 
therefore  that  appeals  lie  from  one  judge  to  the  same  judge 
when  sitting  with  another, — an  arrangement  which  would  seem 
to  be  fraught  with  some  inconvenience.  Certain  causes,  both 
civil  and  criminal,  are  commenced  in  the  circuit  courts.  From 
the  circuit  courts  the  appeal  lies  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  y?  ash- 
ington ;  but  such  appeal  beyond  the  circuit  court  is  not  r*Ilowe  J 
in  cases  which  are  of  small  magnitude  or  which  do  not  involve 
principles  of  importance.  If  there  be  a  division  of  opinion  in 
the  circuit  court  the  case  goes  to  the  Supreme  Court ; — from 
whence  it  might  be  inferred  that  all  cases  brought  from  the  dis- 
trict court  to  the  circuit  court  would  be  sent  on  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  unless  the  circuit  judge  agreed  with  the  district  judge; 
for  the  district  judge  having  given  his  judgment  in  the  inferior 
court,  would  probably  adhere  to  it  in  the  superior  court.  No 
appeal  lies  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washington  in  criminal 
cases. 

All  questions  that  concern  more  than  one  State,  or  that  are 
litigated  between  citizens  of  different  States,  or  which  are  in- 
ternational in  their  bearing,  come  before  the  national  judges. 
All  cases  in  which  foreigners  are  concerned,  or  the  rights  of 
foreigners,  are  brought  or  may  be  brought  into  the  national 
courts.  So  also  are  all  causes  affecting  the  IJnion  itself,  or  which 
are  governed  by  the  lawft  of  Congress  and  not  by  the  laws  of 
any  individual  State.  All  questions  of  Admiralty  law  and  mar- 
itime jurisdiction,  and  cases  affecting  ambassadors  or  consuls, 
are  there  tried.     Matters  relating  to  the  Post-office,  to  the  Cus- 


516 


NOliTU    AMERICA. 


% 


, 

\ 

i                » 

i 

li 


toms,  the  collection  of  national  taxes,  to  patents,  to  the  army 
and  navy,  and  to  the  mint,  are  tried  in  the  national  courts. 
The  theory  is  that  the  national  tribunals  shall  expound  and  ad- 
minister the  national  laws  and  treaties,  protect  national  offices 
and  national  rights ;  and  that  foreigners  and  citizens  of  other 
States  shall  not  be  required  to  submit  to  the  decisions  of  the 
State  tribunals ; — in  fact,  that  national  tribunals  shall  take  cog- 
nizance of  all  matters  as  to  which  the  general  government  of 
the  nation  is  responsible.  In  most  of  such  cases  the  national 
tribunals  have  exclusive  jurisdiction.  In  others  it  is  optional 
with  the  plaintiff  to  select  his  tribunal.  It  is  then  optional  with 
the  defendant,  if  brought  into  a  State  court,  to  remain  there  or 
to  remove  his  cause  into  the  national  tribunal.  The  principle 
is,  that  either  at  the  beginning,  or  ultimately,  such  questions 
shall  or  may  be  decided  by  the  national  tribunals.  If  in  any 
suit  properly  cognizable  in  a  State  court  the  decision  should 
turn  on  a  clause  in  the  constitution,  or  on  a  law  of  the  United 
States,  or  on  the  act  of  a  national  offence,  or  on  the  validity  of 
a  national  act,  an  appeal  lies  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  and  to  its  officers.  The  object  has  been  to  give  to  the 
national  tribunals  of  the  nation  full  cognizance  of  its  own  laws, 
treaties,  and  congressional  acts. 

The  judges  of  all  the  national  tribunals,  of  whatever  grade 
or  rank,  hold  their  offices  for  life,  and  are  removable  only  on 
impeachment.  They  are  not  even  removable  on  an  address  of 
Congress ;  thus  liolding  on  a  firmer  tenure  even  than  our  own 
judges,  who  may,  I  believe,  be  moved  on  an  address  by  Par- 
liament. The  judges  in  America  are  not  entitled  to  any  pen- 
sion or  retiring  allowances ;  and  as  there  is  not,  as  regards  the 
judges  of  the  national  courts,  any  proviso  that  they  shall  cease 
to  sit  after  a  certain  age,  they  are,  in  fact,  immoveable  what- 
ever may  be  their  infirmities.  Their  position  in  this  respect  is 
not  good,  seeing  that  their  salaries  will  hardly  admit  of  their 
making  adequate  provision  for  the  evening  of  life.  The  salary 
of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  is  only  1300/.  per  an- 
num. All  judges  of  the  national  courts  of  whatever  rank  are 
appointed  by  the  President,  but  their  appointments  must  be 
confirmed  by  the  Senate.  This  proviso,  however,  gives  to  the 
Senate  practically  but  little  power,  and  is  rarely  used  in  oppo 
sition  to  the  will  of  the  President.  If  the  President  name  one 
candidate,  who  on  political  grounds  is  distasteful  to  a  majority 
of  the  Senate,  it  is  not  probable  that  a  second  nomination  made 
by  him  will  be  more  satisfactory.  This  seems  now  to  be  un- 
derstood, and  the  nomination  of  the  cabinet  ministers  and  of 


ae  army 
L  courts. 
[  and  ad- 
al  offices 
of  other 
as  of  the 
take  cog- 
Qment  of 
5  national 
)  optional 
[onal  with 
Q  there  or 
(  principle 

questions 

If  in  any 
on  should 
,he  United 
validity  of 
the  United 
y'vfQ  to  the 
rown  laws, 

tever  grade 
ble  only  on 
address  of 
m  our  own 
383  by  Par- 
,o  any  peu- 
■egards  the 
shall  cease 
[cable  what- 
L8  respect  is 
fuit  of  their 
The  salary 
lOO/.  per  an- 
ler  rank  are 
Its  must  he 
yives  to  the 
led  in  oppo- 
it  name  one 
a  majority 
lation  made 
jf  to  be  un- 
ters  and  of 


LAW   COURTS   AND  LAWYERS   OF  THB   UNITED   STATES.    617 

the  judges,  as  made  by  the  President,  are  seldom  set  aside  or 
interfered  with  by  the  Senate,  unless  on  grounds  of  purely  per- 
sonal objection. 

The  position  of  the  national  judges  as  to  their  appointments 
and  mode  of  tenure  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  State 
judges,  to  whom  in  a  few  lines  I  shall  more  specially  allude. 
This  should,  I  think,  be  specially  noticed  by  Englishmen  when 
criticising  the  doings  of  the  American  courts.  I  have  observed 
statements  made  to  the  effect  that  decisions  given  by  American 
judges  as  to  international  or  maritime  affairs  affecting  English 
interests  could  not  be  trusted,  because  the  judges  so  giving 
them  would  have  been  elected  by  popular  vote,  and  would  be 
dependent  on  the  popular  voice  for  reappointment.  This  is 
not  so.  Judges  are  appointed  by  popular  vote  in  very  many 
of  the  States.  But  all  matters  affecting  shipping,  and  all  ques- 
tions touching  foreigners  are  tried  in  the  national  courts  before 
judges  who  have  been  appointed  for  life.  I  should  not  myself 
have  had  any  fear  with  reference  to  the  ultimate  decision  in 
the  affair  of  Slidell  and  Mason  had  the  *  Trent'  been  carried  into 
New  York.  I  would,  however,  by  no  means  say  so  much  had 
the  cause  been  one  for  trial  before  the  tribunals  of  the  State  of 
New  York. 

I  have  been  told  that  we  in  England  have  occasionally  fallen 
into  the  error  of  attributing  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washing- 
ton a  quasi  political  power  which  it  does  not  possess.  This 
court  can  give  no  opinion  to  any  department  of  the  Govern- 
ment, nor  can  it  decide  upon  or  influence  any  subject  that  has 
not  come  before  it  as  a  regularly  litigated  case  in  law.  Though 
especially  founded  by  the  constitution,  it  has  no  peculiar  power 
under  the  constitution,  and  stands  in  no  peculiar  relation  either 
to  that  or  to  Acts  of  Congress.  It  has  no  other  power  to  de- 
cide on  the  constitutional  legality  of  an  act  of  Congress  or  an 
act  of  a  State  legislature  or  of  a  public  officer  than  every  court. 
State  and  national,  high  and  low,  possesses  and  is  bound  to  ex- 
ercise.   It  is  simply  the  national  court  of  last  appeal. 

In  the  different  States  such  tribunals  have  been  established 
as  each  State  by  its  constitr*'on  and  legislation  has  seen  fit  to 
adopt.  The  States  are  entirely  free  on  this  point.  The  usual 
course  is  to  have  one  Supreme  Court,  sometimes  called  by  that 
name,  sometimes  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  sometimes  the 
Court  of  Errors.  Then  they  have  such  especial  courts  as  their 
convenience  may  dictate.  The  State  jurisprudence  includes  all 
causes  not  expressly  or  by  necessary  implication  secured  to  the 
national  courts.    The  tribunals  of  the  States  have  exclusive 


IV 


518 


KOBTH  AMERICA. 


l   .■) 


■•'k 


I  ^ 


control  over  domestic  relations,  religion,  education,  the  tenure 
and  descent  of  land,  the  inheritance  of  pro'  ?rty,  police  regula- 
tions, municipal  economy,  and  all  matters  of  internal  trade.  In 
this  category  of  course  come  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife, 
parent  and  child,  master  and  servant,  owner  and  slave,  guard 
ian  and  ward,  tradesman  and  apprentice.  So  also  do  all  police 
and  criminal  regulations  not  extenial  in  their  character, — high- 
ways,  railroads,  canals,  schools,  colleges,  the  relief  of  paupers, 
and  those  thousand  other  affairs  of  the  world  by  which  men  are 
daily  surrounded  in  their  own  homes  and  their  own  districts. 
As  to  such  subiects  Congress  can  make  no  law,  and  over  them 
Congress  and  the  national  tribunals  have  no  jurisdiction.  Con- 
gress cannot  say  that  a  man  shall  be  hung  for  murder  in  New 
York ;  nor  if  a  man  be  condemned  to  be  hung  in  New  York 
can  the  President  pardon  him.  The  legislature  of  New  York 
must  say  whether  or  no  hanging  shall  be  the  punisiiment  ad- 
judged to  murder  in  that  State ;  and  the  Governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York  must  pronounce  the  man's  pardon, — if  it  be  that 
he  is  to  be  pardoned.  But  Congress  must  decide  whether  or 
no  a  man  shall  be  hung  for  murder  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
or  in  the  national  forts  or  arsenals ;  and  in  such  a  case  it  is  for 
the  President  to  give  or  to  refuse  the  pardon. 

The  judges  of  the  States  are  appointed  as  the  constitution  or 
the  laws  of  each  State  may  direct  in  that  matter.  The  appoint- 
ment, I  think,  in  all  the  old  States  was  formerly  vested  in  the 
Governor.  In  some  States  such  is  still  the  case.  In  some,  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  the  nomination  is  now  made,  directly,  by  the 
legislature.  But  in  most  of  the  States  the  power  of  appointing 
has  been  claimed  by  the  people,  and  the  judges  are  voted  in  by 
popular  election,  just  as  the  President  of  the  Union  and  the 
Governors  of  the  different  States  are  voted  in.  There  has  for 
some  years  been  a  growing  tendency  in  this  direction,  and  the 
people  in  most  of  the  States  have  claimed  the  power ; — or  rath- 
er the  power  has  been  given  to  the  people  by  politicians  who 
have  wished  to  get  into  their  hands  in  this  way  the  patron- 
age of  the  courts.  But  now,  at  the  present  moment,  there  is 
arising  a  strong  feeling  of  the  inexpediencv  of  appointing 
judges  in  such  a  manner.  An  antidemocratic  bias  is  taking 
possession  of  men's  minds,  causing  a  reaction  against  that  tend- 
ency to  universal  suffrage  in  everything  which  prevailed  before 
the  war  began.  As  to  this  matter  of  the  mode  of  appointing 
judges,  I  have  heard  but  one  opinion  expressed ;  and  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  a  change  will  be  made  in  one  State  after 
another,  as  the  constitutions  of  the  different  States  are  revised. 


e  tenure 
»  regula- 
ade.    In 
ind  wife, 
e,  guaT'd 
all  police 
1-,— high- 
'  paupers, 
li  men  are 
districts. 
)ver  them 
on.    Con- 
Br  in  New 
!^ew  York 
JTew  York 
lUment  ad- 
f  the  State 
f  it  be  tbat 
whether  or 
e  high  seas, 
ase  it  is  for 

istitution  or 
'he  appoint- 
isted  in  the 
[n  some,  if  I 
fctly,  by  the 
■  appointing 
ivoted  in  by 
jon  and  the 
lere  has  for 
ion,  and  the 
p ; — or  rath- 
[ticians  who 
the  patron- 
snt,  there  is 
appointing 
Ls  is  taking 
3t  that  tend- 
[ailed  before 
•  appointing 
ind  I  am  in- 
I  State  after 
are  revised. 


LAW  COURTS   AND   LAWYERS   OF  THE   UNFIED   STATES.    519 

Such  revisions  take  place  generally  at  periods  of  about  twenty- 
five  years*  duration.  If,  therefore,  it  be  acknowledged  that  the 
system  be  bad,  the  error  can  be  soon  corrected. 

Nor  is  this  mode  of  appointment  the  only  evil  that  has  been 
adopted  in  the  State  judicatures.    The  judges  in  most  of  the 
States  are  not  appointed  for  life,  nor  even  during  good  behav- 
iour.   They  enter  their  places  for  a  certain  term  of  years,  vary- 
ing from  lifteen  down,  I  believe,  to  seven.     I  do  not  know 
whether  any  are  appointed  for  a  terra  of  less  thai  seven  years. 
When  they  go  out  they  have  no  pensions ;  and  as  a  lawyer  who 
has  been  on  the  bench  for  seven  years  can  hardly  recall  his 
practice,  and  find  himself  at  once  in  receipt  of  his  old  profes- 
sional income,  it  may  easily  be  imagined  how  great  will  be  the 
judge's  anxiety  to  retain  his  position  on  the  bench.    This  ho 
can  do  only  by  the  universal  suffrages  of  the  people,  by  polit- 
ical popularity,  and  a  general  standing  of  that  nature  which  en- 
ables a  man  to  come  forth  as  the  favourite  candidate  of  the 
lower  orders.    This  may  or  may  not  be  well  when  the  place 
sought  for  is  one  of  political  power, — when  the  duties  required 
are  political  in  all  their  bearings.    But  no  one  can  think  it  well 
when  the  place  sought  for  is  a  judge's  seat  on  the  bench ; — 
when  the  duties  required  are  solely  judicial.    Whatever  hith- 
erto may  have  been  the  conduct  of  the  judges  in  the  courts  of 
the  different  States,  whether  or  no  impurity  has  yet  crept  in, 
and  the  sanctity  of  justice  has  yet  been  outraged,  no  one  can 
doubt  the  tendency  of  such  an  arrangement.    At  present  even 
a  few  visits  to  the  courts  constituted  in  this  manner  will  con- 
vince an  observer  that  the  judges  on  the  bench  are  rather  infe- 
rior than  superior  to  the  lawyers  who  practise  before  them. 
The  manner  of  address,  the  tone  of  voice,  the  lack  of  dignity  in 
the  judge,  and  the  assumption  by  the  lawyer  before  him  of  a 
higher  authority  than  his,  all  tell  this  tale.    And  then  the 
judges  in  these  courts  are  not  paid  at  a  rate  which  will  secure 
the  services  of  the  best  men.    They  vary  in  the  different  States, 
running  from  about  600^.  to  about  1000?.  per  annum.    But  a 
successful  lawyer  practising  in  the  courts  in  which  these  judges 
sit,  not  unfrequently  earns  3000/.  a  year.    A  professional  income 
of  2000Z.  a  year  is  not  considered  very  high.    When  the  differ- 
ent conditions  of  the  bench  are  considered,  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  judge  may  lose  his  place  after  a  short  terra  of 
years,  and  that  during  that  short  terra  of  years  he  receives  a 
payment  much  less  than  that  earned  by  his  successful  profes- 
sional brethren,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  first-rate  judges 
Blionld  be  found.    The  result  is  seen  daily  in  society.    You 


520 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


li      5 


k 


:  f;. 

t 

- 

1 

/ 

j 

( 

f 

I 


I  i 

I 


W  P 


meet  Judge  This  and  Judge  That,  not  knowing  whether  they 
are  ex-judges  or  in-judges ;  but  you  soon  learn  that  your  friends 
do  not  hold  any  very  high  social  position  on  account  of  their 
forensic  dignity. 

It  is,  perhaps,  but  juBt  to  add  that  in  Massachusetts,  which  I 
cannot  but  regard  as  in  many  respects  the  noblest  of  the  States, 
the  judges  are  appointed  by  the  Governor,  and  are  appointed 
for  life. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE  FINANCIAL   POSITION. 

The  Americans  are  proud  of  much  that  they  have  done  in 
this  war,  and  indeed  much  has  been  done  which  may  justify 
pride ;  but  of  nothing  are  they  so  proud  as  of  the  noble  dimen- 
sions and  quick  growth  of  their  Government  debt.  That  Mr. 
Secretary  Chase,  the  American  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
participates  in  this  feeling  I  will  not  venture  to  say ;  but  if  he 
do  not,  he  is  well  nigh  the  only  man  in  the  States  who  does  not 
do  so.  The  amount  of  expenditure  has  been  a  subject  of  al- 
most national  pride,  and  the  two  million  of  dollars  a  day  which 
has  been  roughly  put  down  as  the  average  cost  of  the  war,  has 
always  been  mentioned  by  northern  men  in  a  tone  of  triumph. 
This  feeling  is,  I  think,  intelligible ;  and  although  we  cannot 
allude  to  it  without  a  certain  amount  of  inward  sarcasm,— a 
little  gentle  laughing  in  the  sleeve,  at  the  nature  of  this  national 
joy,  1  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  it  is  altogether  ridiculous. 
If  the  country  be  found  able  and  willing  to  pay  the  bill,  this 
triumph  in  the  amount  of  the  cost  will  hereafter  be  regarded  as 
having  been  any  thing  but  ridiculous.  In  private  life  an  indi- 
vidual will  occasionally  be  known  to  lavish  his  whole  fortune 
on  the  accomplishment  of  an  object  which  he  conceives  to  be 
necessary  to  his  honour.  If  the  object  be  in  itself  good,  and  if 
the  money  be  really  paid,  we  do  not  laugh  at  such  a  man  for 
the  sacrifices  which  he  makes. 

For  myself,  I  think  that  the  object  of  the  northern  States  in 
this  war  has  been  good.  I  think  that  they  could  not  have 
avoided  the  war  without  dishonour,  and  that  it  was  incumbent 
on  them  to  make  themselves  the  arbiters  of  the  future  position 
of  the  South,  whether  that  future  position  shall  or  shall  not  be 
one  of  secession.  This  they  could  only  do  by  fighting.  Had 
they  acceded  to  secession  without  a  civil  war,  they  would  have 
been  regarded  throughout  Europe  as  having  shown  themselves 


THE  FINANCIAL  POSITION. 


521 


VQ  done  in 
lay  justify 
►ble  dimen- 
That  Mr. 
Exchequer, 
;  but  if  l^e 
ho  does  not 
ibject  of  al- 
a  day  which 
the  war,  has 
of  triunaph. 
we  cannot 
earcasm,— a 
this  national 
•  ridiculous, 
ihe  bill,  this 
regarded  as 
life  an  indi- 
[hole  fortune 
iceives  to  he 
good,  and  if 
;h  a  man  for 


inferior  to  the  South,  and  would  for  many  years  to  come  have 
lost  that  prestige  which  their  spirit  and  energy  had  undoubted- 
ly won  for  them ;  and  in  their  own  country  such  submission  on 
their  part  would  have  practically  given  to  the  South  the  power 
of  drawing  the  line  of  division  between  the  two  new  countries. 
That  line,  so  drawn,  would  have  given  Virginia,  Maryland,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Missouri  to  the  southern  Republic.    The  great  eifect 
of  the  war  to  the  North  will  be,  that  the  northern  men  will 
draw  the  lino  of  secession,  if  any  such  line  be  drawn.     I  still 
think  that  such  lino  will  ultimately  be  drawn,  and  that  the 
southern  States  will  be  allowed  to  secede.     But  if  it  be  so, 
Virginia,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  will  not  be  found 
among  these  seceding  States ;  and  the  line  may  not  improbably 
be  driven  south  of  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee.    If  this  can 
be  so,  the  object  of  the  war  will,  I  think,  hereafter  be  admitted 
to  have  been  good.    Whatever  may  be  the  cost  in  money  of 
joining  the  States  which  I  have  named  to  a  free-soil  northern 
people,  instead  of  allowing  them  to  bo  buried  in  that  dismal 
swamp,  which  a  confederacy  of  southern  slave  States  will  pro- 
duce, that  cost  can  hardly  be  too  much.    At  the  present  mo- 
ment tliere  exists  in  England  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  South, 
produced  partly  by  the  unreasonable  vituperation  with  which 
the  North  treated  our  Government  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
and  by  the  capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell ;  partly  also  by  that 
feeling  of  good-will  which  a  looker-on  at  a  combat  always  has 
for  the  weaker  side.     But,  although  this  sympathy  does  un- 
doubtedly exist,  I  do  not  imagine  that  many  Englishmen  are 
of  opinion  that  a  confederacy  of  southern  slave  States  Avill  ever 
offer  to  the  general  civilization  of  the  world  very  many  attrac- 
tions.   It  cannot  be  thought  that  the  South  will  equal  the 
North  in  riches,  in  energy,  in  education,  or  general  well-being. 
Such  has  not  been  our  experience  of  any  slave  country ;  such 
has  not  been  our  experience  of  any  tropical  country ;  and  such 
especially  has  not  been  our  experience  of  the  southern  States 
of  the  North  American  Union.    I  am  no  abolitionist ;  but  to 
me  it  seems  impossible  that  any  Englishman  should  really  ad- 
vocate the  cause  of  slavery  against  the  cause  of  free  soil.    There 
are  the  slaves,  and  I  know  that  they  cannot  be  abolished, — nei- 
ther they  nor  their  chains ;  but,  for  myself,  I  will  not  willingly 
join  my  lot  with  theirs.    I  do  not  wish  to  have  dealings  with 
the  African  .legro  either  as  a  free  man  or  as  a  slave,  if  I  can 
avoid  them,  believing  that  his  employment  by  me  in  either 
capacity  would  lead  to  ray  own  degradation.    Such,  I  think, 
are  the  feelings  of  Englishmen  generally  on  this  matter.    And 


522 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


/ 

1 

■  ^i 

1 

• 

f 

■  i 

i 

1     ^ 

1 


if  such  bo  the  case,  will  it  not  be  acknowledged  that  the  north- 
ern men  have  done  well  to  fight  for  a  line  which  shall  add  five 
or  six  States  to  that  Union  which  will  in  truth  be  a  union  of 
free  men,  rather  than  to  that  Confederacy  which,  even  if  suc- 
cessful, must  owe  its  success  to  slavery  ?* 

In  considering  this  matter  it  must  be  remembered  that  tho 
five  or  six  States  of  which  we  are  speaking  are  at  present  slave 
States,  but  that,  with  the  exception  of  Virginia, — of  part  only 
of  Virginia, — they  are  not  wedded  to  slavery.  But  even  in 
Virginia,  groat  as  has  been  the  gain  which  has  accrued  to  that 
unhappy  State  from  the  breeding  of  slaves  for  the  southern 
market, — even  in  Virginia, — slavery  would  soon  die  out  if  she 
were  divided  from  the  South,  and  joined  to  the  North.  In 
those  other  States,  in  Maryland,  in  Kentucky,  and  in  Missouri 
there  is  no  desire  to  perpetuate  the  institution.  They  have 
been  slave  States,  and  as  such  have  resented  the  rabid  aboli- 
tion  of  certain  northern  orators.  Had  it  not  been  for  those  ora- 
tors, and  their  oratory,  the  soil  of  Kentucky  would  now  have 
been  free.  Those  five  or  six  States  are  now  slave  States ;  but 
a  line  of  secession  drawn  south  of  them  will  be  the  line  which 
cuts  off  slavery  from  the  North.  If  those  States  belong  to  the 
North  when  secession  shall  be  accomplished,  they  will  belong 
to  it  as  free  States ;  but  if  they  belong  to  the  South,  they  will 
belong  to  the  South  as  slave  States.  If  they  belong  to  the 
North,  they  will  become  rich  as  the  North  is,  and  will  share  in 
the  education  of  the  North.  If  they  belong  to  the  South  they 
will  become  poor  as  the  South  is,  and  will  share  in  the  igno- 
rance of  the  South.  If  we  presume  that  secession  will  be  ac- 
complished,— and  I  for  one  am  of  that  opinion, — has  it  not  been 
well  that  a  war  should  be  waged  with  such  an  object  as  this? 
If  those  five  or  six  States  can  be  gained,  stretching  east  and 
west  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  centre  of  the  continent,  hundreds 
of  miles  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  north  and  south  over  four 
degrees  of  latitude, — if  that  extent  of  continent  can  be  added  to 
the  free  soil  of  the  northern  territory,  will  not  the  contest  that 

*  In  saying  this  I  fear  that  I  shall  be  misunderstood,  let  me  use  what  foot- 
note or  other  mode  of  protestation  I  may  to  guard  myself.  In  thus  speaking 
of  the  African  negro,  I  do  not  venture  to  despise  the  work  of  God's  hands. 
That  he  has  made  the  negro,  for  His  own  good  purposes,  as  He  has  the  Esqui- 
maux, I  am  aware.  And  I  am  aware  that  it  is  my  duty,  as  it  is  the  duty  of 
us  all,  to  see  that  no  injury  be  done  to  him,  and,  if  possible,  to  assist  him  in 
his  condition.  When  I  declare  that  I  desire  no  dealings  with  the  negro,  I 
speak  of  him  in  the  position  in  which  I  now  find  him,  either  as  a  free  servant 
or  a  slave.  In  either  position  he  impedes  the  civilization  and  the  progress  of 
the  wiiite  man. 


THE   FINJLNCIAL  POSITION. 


623 


has  done  this  have  been  worth  any  money  that  can  have  been 
spent  on  it  ? 

So  much  as  to  the  object  to  be  gained  by  the  money  spent 
on  the  war !  And  I  think  that  in  estimating  the  nature  of  the 
financial  position  which  the  war  has  produced,  it  was  necessary 
that  we  should  consider  the  value  of  the  object  which  has  been 
in  dispute.  The  object  I  maintain  has  been  good.  Then  comes 
the  question  whether  or  no  the  bill  will  be  fairly  paid ; — wheth- 
er they  who  have  spent  the  money  will  set  about  that  disagree- 
able task  of  settling  the  account  with  a  true  purpose  and  an 
honest  energy.  And  this  question  splits  itself  into  two  parts. 
Will  the  Americans  honestly  wish  to  pay  the  bill ;  and  if  they 
do  so  wish,  will  they  have  the  power  to  pay  it  ?  Again  that 
last  question  must  be  once  more  divided.  Will  they  have  the 
power  to  pay,  as  regards  the  actual  possession  of  the  means, 
and  if  possessing  them,  will  they  have  the  power  of  access  to 
those  means  ? 

The  nation  has  obtained  for  itself  an  evil  name  for  repudia- 
tion. We  all  know  that  Pennsylvania  behaved  badly  about 
her  money  affairs,  although  she  did  at  last  pay  her  debts.  We 
all  know  that  Mississippi  has  behaved  very  badly  about  her 
money  affairs,  and  has  never  paid  her  debts,  nor  does  she  in- 
tend to  pay  them.  And,  which  is  worse  than  this,  for  it  ap- 
plies to  the  nation  generally  and  not  to  individual  States,  we 
all  know  that  it  was  made  a  matteV  of  boast  in  the  States  that 
in  the  event  of  a  \var  with  England  the  enormous  amount  of 
property  held  by  Englishmen  in  the  States  should  be  confis- 
cated. That  boast  was  especially  made  in  the  mercantile  city 
of  New  York;  and  when  the  matter  was  discussed  it  seemed 
as  though  no  American  realized  the  iniquity  of  such  a  threat. 
It  was  not  apparently  understood  that  such  a  confiscation  on 
account  of  a  war  would  be  an  act  of  national  robbery  justified 
simply  by  the  fact  that  the  power  of  committing  it  would  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  robbers.  Confiscation  of  so  large  an  amount 
of  wealth  would  be  a  smart  thing,  and  men  did  not  seem  to 
perceive  that  any  disgrace  would  attach  to  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  at  large.  I  fim  very  anxious  not  to  speak  harsh  words 
of  the  Americans ;  but  when  questions  arise  as  to  pecuniary  ar- 
rangements I  find  myself  forced  to  acknowledge  that  great  pre- 
caution is  at  any  rate  necessary. 

But,  nevertheless,  I  am  not  sure  that  we  shall  be  fair  if  we 
allow  ourselves  to  argue  as  to  the  national  purpose  in  this  mat- 
ter from  such  individual  instances  of  dishonesty  as  those  which 
I  have  mentioned.    I  do  not  think  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 


'        I. 


I 


iil 


if|| 


B24 


NOllTII    AMERICA. 


>:      * 


u 


■  r 


tho  United  States  as  a  nation  will  repudiate  its  debts  bccanso 
two  separate  Stat(?s  may  have  been  guilty  of  repudiation.  Nor 
am  I  disposed  to  judtifo  of  the  honesty  of  the  people  generally 
from  the  dishonest  thrc.itenings  of  New  York,  made  at  a  mo- 
ment in  which  a  war  with  P'ngland  was  considered  imminent. 
I  do  believe  that  tho  nation,  as  a  nation,  will  bo  as  ready  to 
pay  for  the  war  as  it  has  been  ready  to  carry  on  tho  war.  That 
"ignorant  impatience  of  taxation,"  to  which  it  is  supposed  that 
we  Britons  are  very  subject,  has  not  been  a  complaint  rifo 
among  the  Americans  generally.  We,  in  England,  are  inclined 
to  believe  that  hitherto  they  have  known  nothing  of  tho  merits 
and  demerits  of  taxation,  and  have  felt  none  of  its  annoyances, 
because  their  entire  national  expenditure  has  been  defrayed  by 
light  Custom  duties ;  but  the  levies  made  in  the  separate  States 
for  State  purposes,  or  chiefly  for  municipal  purposes,  have  been 
very  heavy.  They  are,  however,  collected  easily,  and,  as  far 
ac  1  am  aware,  without  any  display  of  ignorant  impatience. 
Indeed,  an  American  is  rarely  impatient  of  any  ordained  law. 
Whether  he  be  told  to  do  this,  or  to  pay  for  that,  or  abstain 
from  the  other,  ho  does  do  and  pay  and  abstain  without  grum- 
bling, provided  that  he  has  had  a  hand  in  voting  for  those  who 
made  the  law  and  for  those  who  carry  out  the  law.    The  peo- 

{)le  generally  have,  I  think,  recognized  tho  fact  that  they  will 
lave  to  put  their  necks  beneath  the  yoke,  as  the  peoples  of 
other  nations  have  put  theird,  and  suppor'  .;he  weight  of  a  great 
national  debt.  When  the  time  comes  for  the  struggle, — for 
the  first  uphill  heaving  against  the  terrible  load  which  they  will 
henceforth  have  to  drag  with  them  iu  their  career,  I  think  it 
will  be  found  that  they  are  not  ill-inclined  to  put  their  shoulders 
to  the  work. 

Then  as  to  their  power  of  paying  the  bill !  We  are  told  that 
the  wealth  of  a  nation  consists  in  its  labour,  and  that  that  na- 
tion is  the  most  wealthy  which  can  turn  out  of  hand  the  great- 
est amount  of  work.  If  this  be  so  the  American  States  must 
form  a  very  wealthy  nation,  and  as  such  be  able  to  support  a 
very  heavy  burden.  No  one,  I  presume,  doubts  that  that  na- 
tion which  works  the  most,  or  works  rather  to  the  best  effect, 
is  the  richest.  On  this  account  England  is  richer  than  other 
countries,  and  is  able  to  bear  almost  without  the  sign  of  an  ef- 
fort, a  burden  which  would  crush  any  other  land.  But  of  this 
wealth  the  States  own  almost  as  much  as  Great  Britain  owns. 
The  population  of  the  northern  States  is  industrious,  ambitious 
of  wealth,  and  capable  of  work  as  is  our  population.  It  pos- 
sesses, or  is  possessed  by,  that  restless  longing  for  labour  which 


THE  FINANCIAL   POSITION. 


525 


because 
1.  Nor 
cnerally 
It  a  mo- 
iminent. 

reaily  ^^ 
r.    That 

)sed  that 
iaint  rito 
5  incUnetl 
ho  merits 
tioyances, 
frayed  by 
ate  States 
have  been 
nd,  as  far 
npatience. 
allied  la^y. 
or  abstain 
lOut  grum- 
those  who 
The  peo- 
it  they  will 
peoples  of 
of  a  great 
iggle,— fov 
jh  they  will 
I  think  it 
X  Bboulders 


creates  wealth  almost  unconsciously.  Whether  this  man  bo 
rich  or  be  a  bankrupt,  whether  the  bankt'ra  of  that  city  fail  or 
make  their  millions,  the  creative  energies  of  the  American  peo- 
ple will  not  become  dull.  Idleness  is  impossible  to  them,  and 
therefore  poverty  is  impossible.  Industry  and  intellect  together 
will  always  produce  wealth ;  and  neither  industry  or  intellect 
is  ever  wanting  to  an  American.  They  are  the  two  gifts  with 
which  the  fairy  has  endowed  him.  When  she  shall  have  added 
honesty  as  a  third,  the  tax-gatherer  can  desire  no  better  coun- 
try in  which  to  exercise  his  calling. 

I  cannot  myself  think  that  all  the  millions  that  are  being 
spent  would  weigh  upon  the  country  with  much  oppression,  if 
the  weight  were  once  properly  placed  upon  the  muscles  that 
will  have  to  bear  it.  The  difficulty  will  bo  in  the  placing  of 
the  weight.  It  has,  I  know,  been  argued  that  the  circumstances 
under  which  our  national  debt  has  extended  itself  to  its  present 
magnificent  dimensions  cannot  bo  quoted  as  parallel  to  those 
of  tho  present  American  debt,  because  we,  while  we  were 
creating  the  debt,  were  taxing  ourselves  very  heavily,  whereas 
the  Americans  have  gone  a-head  with  tho  creation  of  their  debt, 
before  they  have  levied  a  shilling  on  themselves  towards  the 
payment  of  those  expenses  for  which  the  debt  has  been  en- 
countered. But  this  argument,  even  if  it  were  true  in  Us  gist, 
goes  no  way  towards  proving  that  the  Americans  will  be  un- 
able to  pay.  The  population  of  the  present  free-soil  States  is 
above  eighteen  millions ;  that  of  the  States  which  will  probably 
belong  to  the  Union  if  secession  be  accomplished  is  about  twen- 
ty-two millions.  At  a  time  when  our  debt  had  amounted  to 
six  hundred  millions  sterling,  we  had  no  population  such  as  that 
to  bear  the  burden.  It  may  be  said  that  we  had  more  amassed 
wealth  than  they  have.  But  I  take  it  that  the  amassed  wealth 
of  any  country  can  go  but  a  very  little  way  in  defraying  the 
wants  or  in  paying  the  debts  of  a  people.  We  again  come 
back  to  the  old  maxim,  that  the  labour  of  a  country  is  its 
wealth  ;  and  that  a  country  will  be  rich  or  poor  in  accordance 
with  the  intellectual  industry  of  its  people. 

But  the  argument  drawn  from  that  comparison  between  our 
own  conduct  when  we  were  creating  our  debt,  and  the  conduct 
of  the  Americans  while  they  have  been  creating  their  debt, — 
during  the  twelve  months  from  April  ],  1861,  to  March  31, 
1862,  let  us  say, — is  hardly  a  fair  argument.  We,  at  any  rate, 
knew  how  to  tax  ourselves, — if  only  the  taxes  might  be  forth- 
coming. We  were  already  well  used  to  the  work ;  and  a  min- 
ister with  a  willing  House  of  Commons,  had  all  his  material 


1! 


■t 


T 


.<>, 


It  I 


M. 


1 


/' 

( 

i 

* 

I' 

i 

1 

.    3 

520 


NOUTII    AMUUICA. 


i: 


ready  to  his  hand.  It  has  not  been  so  in  the  United  States. 
The  difficulty  has  not  been  with  the  people  who  shouhl  pay  the 
taxes,  but  with  the  minister  and  tlic  Congress  whicii  did  not 
know  how  to  levy  them.  Certainly  not  as  yet  have  those  wlio 
are  now  criticising  the  doings  on  the  other  side  of  the  water, 
a  right  to  say  that  the  American  people  are  unwilling  to  make 
ersonal  sacrifices  for  the  carrying  out  of  this  war.  No  sign 
jas  as  yet  been  shown  of  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the 
eople  to  bo  taxed.  But  %vher('vr>!r  a  sign  could  be  given,  it 
las  been  given  on  the  other  side.  The  separate  States  have 
taxed  themselves  very  heavily  for  llie  support  of  the  families 
of  the  absent  soldiers.  The  extra  allowances  made  to  maimed 
men,  amounting  generally  to  twenty-four  shillings  a  month, 
liave  been  paid  by  the  States  themselves,  and  have  been  paid 
almost  with  too  much  alacrity. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  the  Americans  will  show  no  unwilling- 
ness to  pay  the  amount  of  taxation  which  must  be  exacted 
from  them ;  and  I  also  think  that  as  regards  their  actual  means 
they  will  have  the  power  to  pay  it.  But  as  regards  their  power 
of  obtaining  access  to  those  means,  I  must  confess  that  I  sec 
many  difficulties  in  their  way.  In  the  first  place  they  have  no 
financier, — no  man  who  by  natural  aptitude  and  by  long  con- 
tinued contact  with  great  questions  ot  finance,  has  enabled  him- 
self to  handle  the  money  affairs  of  a  nation  with  a  master's 
hand.  In  saying  this  I  do  not  intend  to  impute  any  blame  to 
Mr.  Chase,  the  present  Secretary  at  the  Treasury.  Of  his  abil- 
ity to  do  the  work  properly,  had  he  received  the  proper  train- 
ing,  I  am  not  able  to  judge.  It  is  not  that  Mr.  Chase  is  incapa- 
ble. He  may  be  capable  or  incapable.  But  it  is  that  he  has 
not  had  the  education  of  a  national  financier,  and  that  he  has 
no  one  at  his  elbow  to  help  him  who  has  had  that  advantage. 
And  here  we  are  again  brought  to  that  general  absence  of 
statecraft  which  has  been  the  result  of  the  American  system 
of  government.  I  am  not  aware  that  our  Chancellors  of  the 
Exchequer  have  in  late  years  always  been  great  masters  of 
finance ;  but  they  have  at  any  rate  been  among  money  men  and 
money  matters,  and  have  had  financiers  at  their  elbows  if  they 
have  not  deserved  the  name  themselves.  The  very  fact  that  a 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  sits  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  is  forced  in  that  House  to  answer  all  questions  on  the  sub* 
ject  of  finance,  renders  it  impossible  that  he  should  be  ignorant 
of  the  rudiments  of  the  science.  If  you  put  a  white  cap  on  a 
man's  head  and  place  him  in  a  kitchen,  he  will  soon  learn  to  be 
a  cook.    But  he  will  never  be  made  a  cook  by  standing  in  the 


TIIK    FINANCIAL   POSITION. 


527 


in  willing" 

D  exacted 

ual  means 

jcir  power 

that  I  see 

jy  have  no 

r  long  con- 

labled  him- 

a  master's 

jr  blame  to 

"if  his  abil- 

oper  train- 

^  18  incapa- 

,bat  he  has 

,hat  he  has 

[advantage. 

absence  of 

san  system 

ilors  of  the 

[masters  of 

>y  men  and 

)wsifthey 

fact  that  a 
Commons 

Ion  the  sub- 

le  ignorant 

[to  cap  on  a 

learn  to  be 

[cUng  in  ^^ 


dining-room  and  seeing  the  dishes  as  tliey  are  brouglit  up. 
The  Chancellor  of  tlio  Exchequer  is  our  cook ;  and  the  1  louse 
of  Commons,  not  the  Treasury  chambers,  is  liis  kitchen.  Lrt 
the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treasury  sit  in  the  House 
of  Ucpresentatives.  Ho  would  learn  more  tliere  by  contest 
with  opposing  members  than  he  can  do  by  any  amount  of  study 
in  his  own  chamber. 

But  the  House  of  Representatives  itself  has  not  as  yet  learn- 
ed its  own  lesson  with  reference  to  taxation.  When  I  say  that 
the  United  States  are  in  want  of  a  financier,  I  do  not  mean  that 
the  deficiency  rests  entirely  with  Mr.  Ciiase.  This  necessity 
for  taxation,  and  for  taxation  at  so  tremendous  a  rate,  has  como 
suddenly,  and  has  found  the  representatives  of  the  people  un- 
prepared for  such  work.  To  us,  as  I  conceive,  the  science  of 
taxation,  in  which  we  certainly  ought  to  be  great,  has  como 
gradually.  We  have  learned  by  slow  lessons  what  taxes  will 
bo  productive,  under  what  circumstances  they  will  be  most  pro- 
ductive, and  at  what  point  they  will  be  made  unproductive  by 
tlieir  own  weight.  We  have  learned  what  taxes  may  be  levied 
so  as  to  afford  funds  themselves,  without  injuring  the  proceeds 
of  other  taxes,  and  wo  know  what  taxes  should  be  eschewed 
as  being  specially  oppressive  to  the  general  industry  and  inju- 
rious to  the  well-being  of  the  nation.  This  has  come  of  much 
practice,  and  even  we,  with  all  our  experience,  have  even  got 
something  to  learn.  But  the  public  men  in  the  States  who  are 
now  devoting  themselves  to  this  matter  of  taxing  the  people 
have,  as  yet,  no  such  experience.  That  they  have  inclination 
enough  for  the  work  is,  I  think,  sufliciently  demonstrated  by 
the  national  tax  bill,  the  wording  of  which  is  now  before  me, 
and  which  will  have  been  passed  into  law  before  this  volume 
can  be  published.  It  contains  a  list  of  every  taxable  article  on 
the  earth  or  under  the  earth.  A  more  sweeping  catalogue  of 
taxation  was  probably  never  put  forth.  The  Americans,  it  has 
been  said  by  some  of  us,  have  shown  no  disposition  to  tax  them- 
selves for  this  war ;  but  before  the  war  has  as  yet  been  well 
twelve  months  in  operation,  a  bill  has  come  out  with  a  list  of 
taxation  so  oppressive,  that  it  must,  as  regards  many  of  its 
items,  *ict  against  itself  and  cut  its  own  throat.  It  will  pro- 
duce terrible  fraud  in  its  evasion,  and  create  an  army  of  excise 
officers  who  will  be  as  locusts  over  the  face  of  the  country. 
Taxes  are  to  be  laid  on  articles  which  I  should  have  said  that 
universal  consent  had  declared  to  be  unfit  for  taxation.  Salt, 
soap,  candles,  oil  and  other  burning  fluids,  gas,  pins,  paper,  ink, 
and  leather,  are  to  be  taxed.    It  was  at  first  proposed  that 


528 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


\ 


I      »   '1, 


h 


uh'^ 


TV 


wheat-flour  should  bo  taxed,  but  that  item  has,  I  believe,  been 
struck  out  of  the  bill  in  its  passage  through  the  House.     All 
articles  manufactured  of  cotton,  wool,  silk,  worsted,  flax,  hemp, 
jute,  India-rubber,  gutta  percha,  wood  (?),  glass,  pottery  wares, 
leather,  paper,  iron,  steel,  lead,  tin,  copper,  zinc,  brass,  gold  and 
silver,  horn,  ivory,  bone,  bristles,  wholly  or  in  part,  or  of  other 
materials,  are  to  be  taxed ; — provided  always  that  books,  mag- 
azines, pamphlets,  newspapers,  and  reviews  sliall  not  be  regard- 
cd  as  manufactures.     It  will  be  said  that  the  amount  of  taxa- 
tion to  be  levied  on  the  immense  number  of  manufactured  ar- 
ticles which  must  be  included  in  this  list  will  be  light, — the  tax 
itself  being  only  3  per  cent,  ad  valorem.     But  with  reference 
to  every  article,  there  will  be  the  necessity  of  collecting  this  3 
per  cent. !     As  regards  each  article  that  is  manufactured,  some 
government  official  must  interfere  to  appraise  its  value  and  to 
levy  the  tax.    Who  shall  declare  the  value  of  a  barrel  of  wood- 
en nutmegs ;  or  how  shall  the  Excise-officer  get  his  tax  from 
every  cobbler's  stall  in  the  country  ?    And  then  tradesmen  are 
to  pay  licenses  for  their  trades, — a  confectioner  2L,  a  tallow- 
chandler  2^.,  a  horsedealer  21.    Every  man  whose  business  it  is 
to  sell  horses  shall  be  a  horsedealer.    True.     But  who  shall 
ffay  whether  or  no  it  be  a  man's  business  to  sell  horses  ?    An 
apothecary  2/.,  a  photographer  2^.,  a  pedlar  41.,  31.,  21.,  or  ]/., 
according  to  his  mode  of  travelling.    But  if  the  gross  receipts 
of  any  of  the  confectioners,  tallow-chandlers,  horsedealers, 
apothecaries,  photographers,  pedlars,  or  the  like,  do  not  exceed 
200^.  a  year,  then  such  tradesmen  shall  not  be  required  to  pay 
for  any  license  at  all.    Surely  such  a  proviso  can  only  have 
been  inserted  with  the  express  view  of  creating  fraud  and  ill 
blood !     But  the  greatest  audacity  has,  I  think,  been  shown  in 
the  levying  of  personal  taxes, — such  taxes  as  have  been  held  to 
be  peculiarly  disagreeable  among  us,  and  have  specially  brought 
down  upon  us  the  contempt  of  lightly-taxed  people,  who,  like 
the  Americans,  have  known  nothing  of  domestic  interference. 
Carriages  arc  to  be  taxed, — as  they  are  with  us.    Pianos  also 
are  to  be  taxed,  and  plate.     It  is  not  signified  by  this  clause 
t;hat  such  articles  shall  pay  a  tax,  once  for  all,  while  in  the 
maker's  hands,  which  tax  would  no  doubt  fall  on  the  future 
owner  of  such  piano  or  plate ;  in  such  case  the  owner  would 
pay,  but  would  pay  without  any  personal  contact  with  the  tax- 
gatherer.    But  every  owner  of  a  piano  or  of  plate  is  to  pay  an- 
nually according  to  the  value  of  the  articles  he  owns.    But  per- 
haps the  most  audacious  of  all  the  proposed  ta?:es  is  that  on 
watches.    Every  owner  of  a  watch  is  to  pay  4s.  a  year  for  a 


THE   FINANC1..L   POSITION. 


520 


ve,  been 

ise.  All 
x,hemp, 
•y  waves, 
gold  and 

of  other 
aks,  mag- 
►e  regard- 
ti  of  taxa  • 
jtured  ar- 
, — the  tax 

reference 
ing  this  3 
ired,  some 
hie  and  to 
si  of  wood- 
s  tax  from 
iesmen  are 
I,  a  tallow- 
isiness  it  is 
,  who  shall 
Dvses?    An 

,,  2?.,  ^^}^"> 
loss  receipts 
orsedealers, 
not  exceed 
lired  to  pay 
only  have 
•aud  and  ill 
jn  shown  in 
►een  held  to 
dly  brought 
le,  who,  like 
[nterference. 
Pianos  also 
this  clause 
bile  in  the 
.  the  future 
[wner  would 
ith  the  tax- 
is to  pay  an- 
.s.    Butper- 
»s  is  that  on 
[a  year  for  a 


gold  watch  and  25.  a  year  for  a  silver  watch !  The  American 
tax-gatherers  will  not  like  to  be  cheated.  They  will  be  very 
keen  in  searching  for  watches.  But  who  can  say  whether  they 
or  the  carriers  of  watches  will  have  the  best  of  it  in  such  a 
hunt.  The  tax-gatherers  will  be  as  hounds  ever  at  work  on  a 
cold  scent.  They  will  now  be  hot  and  angry,  and  then  dull  and 
disheartened.  But  the  carriers  of  watches  who  do  not  choose 
to  pay  will  generally,  one  may  predict,  be  able  to  make  their 
points  good. 

With  such  a  tax  bill, — which  I  believe  came  into  action  on 
the  1st  of  May,  1862, — the  Americans  are  not  fairly  open  to 
the  charge  of  being  unwilling  to  tax  themselves.  They  have 
avoided  none  of  the  irritating  annoyances  of  taxation,  as  aUo 
they  have  not  avoided,  or  attempted  to  light  .n  for  themselves, 
the  dead  weight  of  the  burden.  The  dead  weight  they  are 
right  to  endure  without  flinching ;  but  their  mode  of  laying  it 
on  their  o\7n  backs  justifies  me,  I  think,  in  saying  that  they  do 
not  yet  know  how  to  obtain  access  to  their  own  means.  But 
this  bill  applies  simply  to  matters  of  excise.  As  I  have  said  be- 
fore, Congress,  which  has  hitherto  supported  the  government 
by  custom  duties,  has  also  the  power  of  levying  excise  duties, 
and  now,  in  its  first  session  since  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
has  begun  to  use  that  power  without  much  hesitation  or  bash- 
fulness.  As  regards  their  taxes  levied  at  the  Custom  House, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  has  always  been  inclined 
to  high  duties,  w  vti  the  view  of  protecting  the  internal  trade 
and  manufactures  of  the  country.  The  amount  required  for  na- 
donal  expenses  was  easily  obtained,  and  these  duties  were  not 
regulated,  as  I  think,  so  much  with  a  view  to  the  amount  which 
might  be  collected,  as  to  that  of  the  effect  which  the  tax  might 
have  in  fostering  native  industry.  That,  if  I  understand  it,  was 
the  meaning  of  Mr.  Morrill's  bill,  which  was  passed  immediate- 
ly on  the  secession  of  the  southern  members  of  Congress,  and 
which  instantly  enhanced  the  price  of  all  foreign  manufactured 
goods  in  the  States.  But  now  the  desire  for  protection,  sim- 
ply as  protection,  hao  been  swallowed  up  in  the  acknowledged 
necessity  for  revenue ;  and  the  only  object  to  be  recognized  in 
the  arrangement  of  the  custom  duties  is  the  collection  of  the 
greatest  number  of  dollars.  This  is  fair  enough.  If  the  coun- 
try can  at  such  a  crisis  raise  a  better  revenue  by  claiming  a 
shilling  a  pound  on  coffee  than  it  can  by  claiming  sixpence,  the 
shilling  may  be  wisely  claimed,  even  though  many  may  thus  be 
prohibited  from  the  use  of  coffee.  But  then  comes  the  great 
question,  What  duty  wiU  reai^  give  tho  greatest  product. 


y  I 


%l 


630 


NOBTU   AMERICA. 


i  • 


•  fi. 


At  what  rate  shall  we  tax  coffee  so  as  to  get  at  the  people's 
money  ?  If  ic  bo  so  taxed  that  people  won't  use  it,  the  tax  cuts 
its  own  throat.  There  is  some  pomt  at  which  the  tax  will  be 
most  productive ;  and  also  there  is  a  point  up  to  which  the  tax 
will  not  operate  to  the  serious  injury  of  the  trade.  Without 
the  knowledge  which  should  indicate  these  points,  a  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  with  his  myrmidons,  would  be  groping  in  the 
dark.  As  far  as  we  can  yet  see,  there  is  not  much  of  such 
knowledge  either  in  the  Treasury  Chambers  or  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  Washington. 

But  the  greatest  difficulty  which  the  States  will  feel  in  ob- 
taining access  to  their  own  means  of  taxation,  is  that  which  is 
created  by  the  constitution  itself,  and  to  which  I  alluded  when 
speaking  of  the  taxing  powers  which  the  constitution  had  giv- 
en to  Congress,  and  those  which  it  had  denied  to  Congress. 
As  to  custom  duties  and  excise  duties.  Congress  can  do  what 
it  pleases,  as  can  the  House  of  Commons.  But  Congress  can- 
not levy  direct  taxation  according  to  its  own  judgment.  In 
those  matters  of  customs  and  excise,  Congress  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  will  probably  make  many  blunders ;  but 
having  the  power  they  will  blunder  through,  and  the  money 
will  be  collected.  But  direct  taxation,  in  an  available  shape,  is 
beyond  the  power  of  Congress  under  the  existing  rule  of  the 
constitution.  No  income-tax,  for  instance,  can  be  laid  on  the 
general  incomes  of  the  United  States,  that  shall  be  universal 
throughout  the  States.  An  inv^,ome-tax  can  be  levied,  but  it 
must  be  levied  in  proportion  to  the  representation.  It  is  as 
though  our  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  collecting  an  in- 
come-tax, were  obliged  to  demand  the  same  amount  of  contri- 
bution from  the  town  of  Chester  as  from  the  town  of  Liver- 
pool, because  both  Chester  and  Liverpool  return  two  Members 
to  Parliament.  In  fitting  his  tax  to  the  capacity  of  Chester,  he 
would  be  forced  to  allow  Liverpool  to  escape  unscathed.  No 
skill  in  money  matters  on  the  part  of  the  Treasury  Secretary, 
and  no  aptness  for  finance  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  can  avail  here.  The  constitution  must  .ap- 
parently be  altered  before  any  serviceable  resort  can  be  had  to 
direct  taxation.  And  yet,  at  such  an  emergency  as  that  now 
existing,  direct  taxation  would  probably  give  more  ready  assist- 
ance than  can  be  afforded  either  by  the  Customs  or  the  Excise. 

It  has  been  stated  to  me  that  this  difficulty  in  the  way  of  di- 
rect taxation  can  be  overcome  without  any  change  in  the  con- 
stitution. Congress  could  only  levy  from  Rhode  Island  the 
same  amount  of  income-tax  that  it  might  levy  from  Iowa ;  but 


THE   FINANCIAL  POSITION. 


631 


people's 
,ax  cuts 

wiU  be 

the  tax 
JV^ithout 
lancellor 
ng  in  the 

of  such 
louse  of 

eel  in  ob- 

i  wbicb  is 

ded  when 

n  had  giv- 

Congvess. 

n  do  what 

igress  can- 

rment.    In 

'the  Secre- 

indevs;  but 

the  money 

ble  shape,  is 

•  rule  of  the 
laid  on  the 

je  universal 

^vied,  but  it 

kn.    It  is  as 

Icting  an  in- 
,t  of  contn- 
n  of  Liver- 
ro  Members 
Chester,  he 

pathed.    ^o 
[y  Secretary, 
pmmittee  on 
[on  must  ap- 
m  be  had  to 
as  that  now 
ready  assist- 
.  the  Excise, 
^eway  ofdi- 
^  in  the  con- 
^e  Island  the 
Iowa;  hut 


it  will  be  competent  to  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island  itself  to 
levy  what  income-tax  it  may  please  on  itself,  and  to  devote  the 
proceeds  to  national  or  federal  purposes.     Rhode  Island  may 
do  so ;  and  so  may  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Connecticut,  and 
the  other  rich  Atlantic  States.     They  may  tax  themselves  ac- 
cording to  their  riches,  while  Iowa,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  such- 
like States  are  taxing  themselves  according  to  their  poverty. 
I  cannot  myself  think  that  it  would  be  well  to  trust  to  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  separate  States  for  the  finances  needed  by  the 
national  Government.    We  should  not  willingly  trust  to  York- 
shire or  Sussex  to  give  us  their  contributions  to  the  national 
income,  especially  if  Yorkshire  and  Sussex  had  small  Houses  of 
Commons  of  their  own,  in  which  that  question  of  giving  might 
be  debated.    It  may  be  very  well  for  Rhode  Island  or  New 
York  to  be  patriotic !     But  what  shall  be  done  with  any  State 
that  declines  to  evince  such  patriotism?    The  legislatures  of 
the  different  States  may  be  invited  to  impose  a  tax  of  5  per 
cent,  on  all  incomes  in  each  State ;  but  what  will  be  done  if 
Pennsylvania,  for  instance,  should  decline,  or  Illinois  should 
hesitate?     What  if  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  should 
offer  6  per  cent.,  or  that  of  New  Jersey  decide  that  4  per  cent, 
was  sufficient?    For  a  while  the  arrangement  might  possibly 
be  made  to  answer  the  desired  purpose.    During  the  first  ebul- 
lition of  high  feeling,  the  different  States  concerned  might  pos- 
sibly vote  the  amount  of  taxes  required  for  federal  purposes. 
I  fear  it  would  not  be  so,  but  we  may  allow  that  the  chance  is 
on  the  card.    But  it  is  not  conceivable  that  such  an  arrange- 
ment should  be  continued  when,  after  a  year  or  two,  men  came 
to  talk  over  the  war  with  calmer  feelings  and  a  more  critical 
judgment.    The  State  legislatures  would  become  inquisitive, 
opinionative,  and  probably  factious.    They  would  be  unwilling 
to  act  in  bo  great  a  matter  under  the  dictation  of  the  federal 
Congress;  and  by  degrees  one,  and  then  another,  would  de- 
cline to  give  its  aid  to  the  central  government.     However 
broadly  the  acknowledgment  may  have  been  made,  that  the 
levying  of  direct  taxes  was  necessary  for  the  nation,  each  State 
would  be  tempted  to  argue  that  a  wrong  mode  and  a  wrong 
rate  of  levying  had  been  adopted,  and  words  would  be  forth- 
coming instead  of  money.     A  resort  to  such  a  mode  of  taxa- 
tion would  be  a  bad  security  for  government  Stock. 

All  matters  of  taxation,  moreover,  should  be  free  from  any 
taint  of  generosity.  A  man  who  should  attempt  to  lessen  the 
burdens  of  his  country  by  gifts  of  money  to  its  Exchequer  would 
be  laying  his  country  under  an  obligation,  for  which  his  coun- 


11 


532 


NOKTIl    AMUBICA. 


1      '« 


try  would  not  thank  him.  The  gifts  here  would  be  from  States, 
and  not  from  individuals ;  but  the  principle  would  be  the  same. 
I  cannot  imagine  that  the  United  States'  Government  would  be 
willing  to  owe  its  revenue  to  ihe  good  will  of  difterent  States, 
or  its  want  of  revenue  to  their  caprice.  If  under  such  an  ar- 
rangement the  western  States  were  to  decline  to  vote  the  quota 
of  income-tax  or  propertv-tax  to  which  the  eastern  States  had 
agreed, — and  in  all  probability  they  would  decline, — thev  would 
in  fact  bo  seceding.  They  would  thus  secede  from  the  burdens 
of  their  general  country ;  but  in  such  event  no  one  could  accuse 
such  States  of  unconstitutional  secession. 

It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  with  precision  what  is  the  present 
amount  of  debt  due  by  the  United  States ;  nor  probably  has 
any  tolerably  accurate  guess  been  yet  given  of  the  amount  to 
which  it  may  be  extended  during  the  present  war.  A  state- 
ment made  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  Mr.  Spaulding, 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  on  the  29th 
of  January  last,  may  perhaps  be  taken  as  giving  as  trustworthy 
information  as  any  that  can  be  obtained.  I  have  changed  Mr. 
Spaulding's  fig  ares  from  dollars  into  pounds,  that  they  may  be 
more  readily  understood  by  English  readers. 

There  was  Due  up  to  July  1,  1861 £18,173,666 

'*        Added  in  July  and  August 5,379,357 

**        Borrowed  in  August 10,000,000 

**        Borrowed  in  October 10,000,000 

"        Borrowed  in  November 10,000,000 

**        Amount  of  Treasury  Demand  Notes  issued 7, 800, 000 

Je61,352,'923 

This  was  the  amount  of  the  debt  due  up  to  January 
15th,  1862.  Mr.  Spaulding  tben  calculates  that  the  sum  re- 
quired to  carry  on  the  Government  up  to  July  1st,  1862,  will 
be  68,647,077^.  And  that  a  further  sum  of  110,000,000/.  will 
be  wanted  on  or  before  the  1st  of  July,  1863.  Thus  the  debt 
at  that  latter  date  would  stand  as  follows : — 

Amount  of  Debt  up  to  January,  1862 £61,352,923 

Added  by  July  1st,  1862 68,647,077 

Again  added  by  July  Ist,  1863 110,000,000 

£240,000,000 

The  first  of  these  items  may  no  doubt  be  taken  as  accurate. 
The  second  has  probably  been  founded  on  facts  which  leave 
little  doubt  as  to  its  substantial  truth.  The  third,  which  pro- 
fesses to  give  the  proposed  expense  of  the  war  for  the  forth- 
coming year,  viz.  from  1st  July,  1862,  to  30th  June,  1863,  must 


wm 


m 


mm 


THE  FINANCIAL   POSITION. 


633 


States, 
le  same, 
ould  be 
,  States, 
jh  an  ar- 
ho  quota 
ates  bad 
ey  would 
,  burdens 
lid  accuse 

le  present 
ibably  bas 
imount  to 
A  state- 
Spaulding, 
n  tbe  29tli 
rustworthy 
ranged  Mr. 
aey  may  be 

£18,173,566 

5,379,357 

10,000,000 

10,000,000 

10,000,000 

7,800,000 

i6i;352,923 

I  to  January 
Itbe  sum  re- 
k  1862,  wi 
100,000?.  will 
lus  tbe  debt 

l£61,352,923 
68,647,077 
110^000^ 
E24O;O0O;O00 

as  accurate. 
I  wbicb  leave 
L  wbicb  pro- 
for  tbe  forth- 

3, 1863,  must  I 


necessarily  have  been  obtained  by  a  very  loose  estimate.  No 
one  can  say  what  may  be  the  condition  of  the  country  during 
the  next  year, — whether  the  war  may  then  be  raging  through- 
out the  southern  States,  or  whether  the  war  may  not  have 
ceased  altogether.  The  North  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the 
capacity  of  tho  South.  How  little  it  knows  may  be  surmised 
from  the  fact  that  the  whole  southern  army  of  Virginia  retreat- 
ed from  their  position  at  Manassas  before  the  northern  generals 
knew  that  they  were  moving ;  and  that  when  they  were  gone 
no  word  whatever  was  left  of  their  numbers.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  northern  Government  is  even  yet  able  to  make  any 
probable  conjecture  as  to  the  number  of  troops  which  the  south- 
ern confederacy  is  maintaining,  and  if  this  be  so,  they  can  cer- 
tainly make  no  trustworthy  estimates  as  to  their  own  expenses 
for  the  ensuing  year. 

Two  hundred  and  forty  millions  is,  however,  tho  sum  named 
by  a  gentleman  presumed  to  be  conversant  with  the  matter,  as 
the  amount  of  debt  which  may  be  expected  by  Midsummer, 
1863  ;  and  if  the  war  be  continued  till  then,  it  will  probably  be 
found  that  he  has  not  exceeded  the  mark.    It  is  right,  howev- 
er, to  state  that  Mr.  Chase  in  his  estimate  does  not  rate  the  fig- 
ures so  high.    He  has  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  debt  will 
be  about  one  hundred  and  four  millions  in  July,  1862,  and  one 
hundred  and  eighty  millions  in  July,  1863.    As  to  the  first 
amount,  with  reference  to  which  a  tolerably  accurate  calcula- 
tion may  probably  be  made,  I  am  inclined  to  prefer  the  esti- 
mate as  given  by  the  member  of  the  committee ;  and  as  to  the 
other,  which,  hardly,  as  I  think,  admits  of  any  calculation,  his 
calculation  is  at  any  rate  as  good  as  that  made  in  the  Treasury. 
But  it  is  the  immediate  want  of  funds,  and  not  the  prospect- 
ive debt  of  the  country,  which  is  now  doing  the  damage.    In 
this  opinion  Mr.  Chase  will  probably  agree  with  me ;  but  read- 
ers on  this  side  of  the  water  will  receive  what  I  say  with  a  smile. 
Such  a  state  of  afifairs  is  certainly  one  that  has  not  uncommonly 
been  reached  by  financiers ;  it  has  also  often  been  experienced 
by  gentlemen  in  the  management  of  their  private  affairs.    It 
has  been  common  in  Ireland,  and  in  London  has  created  the 
wealth  of  the  pawnbrokers.    In  the  States  at  the  present  time 
the  government  is  very  much  in  this  condition.    The  prospect- 
ive wealth  of  the  country  is  almost  unbounded,  but  there  is 
great  difficulty  in  persuading  any  pawnbroker  to  advance  money 
on  the  pledge.    In  February  last  Mr.  Chase  was  driven  to  ob- 
tain the  sanction  of  the  legislature  for  paying  the  national  cred- 
itors by  bills  drawn  at  twelve  months'  date,  and  bearing  6  per 


m 


•  H 


534 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


.    ..J 


cent,  interest.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  tailor  who  calls  with 
his  little  account,  and  draws  on  his  insolvent  debtor  at  ninety 
days.  If  the  insolvent  debtor  be  not  utterly  gone  as  regards 
solvency  he  will  take  up  the  bill  when  due,  even  though  he  may 
not  be  able  to  pay  a  simple  debt.  But  then,  if  he  be  utterly  in- 
solvent,  he  can  do  neither  the  one  nor  the  other !  The  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  when  he  asked  for  permission  to  accept 
these  bills, — or  to  issue  these  certificates,  as  he  calls  them, — ac- 
knowledged to  pressing  debts  of  over  five  millions  sterling 
which  he  could  not  pay ;  and  to  further  debts  of  eight  millions 
which  he  could  not  pay,  but  which  he  termed  floating ; — debts, 
if  I  understand  him,  which  were  not  as  yet  quite  pressing.  Now 
I  imagine  that  to  be  a  lamentable  condition  for  any  Chancellor 
of  an  Exchequer, — especially  as  a  confession  is  at  the  same 
time  nade  that  no  advantageous  borrowing  is  to  be  done  under 
the  existing  circumstances.  When  a  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer confesses  that  he  cannot  borrow  on  advantageous 
terms,  the  terms  within  his  reach  must  be  very  bad  indeed. 
This  position  is  indeed  a  sad  one,  and  at  any  rate  justifies  me 
in  stating  that  the  immediate  want  of  funds  is  severely  felt. 

But  the  very  arguments  which  have  been  used  to  prove  that 
the  country  will  be  ultimately  crushed  by  the  debt,  are  those 
which  I  should  use  to  prove  that  it  will  not  be  crushed.  A 
comparison  has  more  than  once  been  made  between  the  man- 
ner in  which  our  debt  was  made,  and  that  in  which  the  debt 
of  the  United  States  is  now  being  created ;  and  the  great  point 
raised  in  our  favour  is,  that  while  we  were  borrowing  money 
we  were  also  taxing  ourselves,  and  that  we  raised  as  much  by 
taxes  as  we  did  by  loans.  But  it  is  too  early  in  the  day  to 
deny  to  the  Americans  the  credit  which  we  thus  take  to  our- 
selves. We  were  a  tax-paying  nation  when  we  commenced 
those  wars  which  made  our  great  loans  necessary,  and  only 
went  on  in  that  practice  which  was  habitual  to  us.  I  do  not 
think  that  the  Americans  could  have  taxed  themselves  with 
greater  alacrity  than  they  have  shown.  Let  us  wait,  at  any 
rate,  till  they  shall  have  had  time  for  the  operation,  before  we 
blame  them  for  not  making  it.  It  is  then  argued  that  we  in 
England  did  not  borrow  nearly  so  fast  as  they  have  borrowed 
in  the  States.  That  is  true.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  dimensions  and  proportions  of  wars  now  are  infinitely 
greater  than  they  w^ere  when  we  began  to  borrow.  Does  any 
one  imagine  that  we  would  not  have  borrowed  faster,  if  by 
faster  borrowing  we  could  have  closed  the  war  more  speedily? 
Things  go  faster  now  than  they  did  then.    Borrowing  for  the 


THE   FINANCIAL   POSITION. 


535 


Is  with 

,  ninety 

regavcla 

he  may 

terly  iu- 

e  Secre- 

0  accept 

em, — ac- 
Bterliug 

,  millions 

; — debts, 

g.    Kow 

hancellor 

the  same 

one  under 

f  the  Ex- 

antageous 

id  indeed. 

astifiea  me 

ely  felt. 

prove  that 

,,  are  those 

rushed.    A 

a  the  man- 

h  the  debt 

great  point 
ing  money 

18  much  by 
the  day  to 
ake  to  our- 
jommenced 
f.  and  only 

■    I  do  not 
Iselves  with 
rait,  at  any 
i,  before  we 
that  we  in 
le  borrowed 
Lbered  that 
■e  infinitely 
Does  any 
faster,  if  l^y 
•e  speedily  r 
ing  for  the 


sake  of  a  war  may  bo  a  bad  thing  to  do, — as  also  it  may  ])e  a 
good  tiling ;  but  if  it  be  done  at  all,  it  «liould  be  so  done  as  to 
bring  the  war  to  the  end  with  what  greatest  despatch  may  be 
possible. 

The  only  fair  comparison,  as  it  seems  to  me,  which  can  bo 
drawn  between  the  two  countries  witli  reference  to  their  debts, 
and  the  condition  of  each  under  its  debt,  should  be  made  to 
depend  on  the  amount  of  the  debt  and  probable  ability  of  tiio 
country  to  bear  that  burden.  The  amount  of  the  debt  must 
be  calculated  by  the  interest  payable  on  it,  rather  than  by  the 
figures  representing  the  actual  sum  due.  If  we  debit  the  Unit- 
ed States  Government  with  seven  per  cent,  on  all  the  money 
borrowed  by  them,  and  presume  that  amount  to  have  reached 
in  July,  1863,  the  sum  named  by  Mr.  Spaulding,  they  will  then 
have  loaded  themselves  with  an  annual  charge  of  16,800,000/. 
sterling.  It  will  have  been  an  immense  achievement  to  have 
accomplished  in  so  short  a  time,  but  it  will  by  no  means  equal 
the  annual  sura  with  which  we  are  charged.  And,  moreover, 
the  comparison  will  have  been  made  in  a  manner  that  is  hardly 
fair  to  the  Americans.  We  pay  our  creditors  three  per  cent, 
now  that  we  have  arranged  our  affairs,  and  have  settled  down 
into  the  respectable  position  of  an  old  gentleman  whose  estates, 
though  deeply  mortgaged,  are  not  overmortgaged.  But  we 
did  not  get  our  money  at  three  per  cent,  while  our  wars  were 
on  hand,  and  there  yet  existed  some  doubt  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  they  might  be  terminated. 

This  attempt,  however,  at  guessing  what  may  be  the  proba- 
ble amount  of  the  debt  at  the  close  of  the  war  is  absolutely 
futile.  No  one  can  as  yet  conjecture  when  the  war  may  be 
over,  or  what  collateral  expenses  may  attend  its  close.  It  may 
be  the  case  that  the  government  in  fixing  some  boundary  be- 
tween the  future  United  States  and  the  future  southern  Con- 
federacy, will  be  called  on  to  advance  a  very  large  sum  of  mon- 
ey as  compensation  for  slaves  who  shall  have  been  liberated 
in  the  border  States,  or  have  been  swept  down  south  into  the 
cotton  regions  with  the  retreating  hordes  of  the  southern  army. 
The  total  of  the  bill  cannot  be  reckoned  up  while  the  Avork  is 
still  unfinished.  But,  after  all,  that  question  as  to  the  amount 
of  the  bill  is  not  to  us  the  question  of  the  greatest  interest. 
Whether  the  debt  shall  amount  to  two,  or  three,  or  even  to 
four  hundred  millions  sterling, — whether  it  remain  fixed  at  its 
present  modest  dimensions,  or  swell  itself  out  to  the  magnifi- 
cent proportions  of  our  British  debt, — will  the  resources  of  the 
country  enable  it  to  bear  such  a  burden?    Will  it  be  found 


536 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


,1 

I. 


1 


I 


that  tho  Americans  share  with  us  that  clastic  power  of  endur- 
ance which  has  enabled  us  to  bear  a  weii^ht  that  would  have 
ruined  any  other  people  of  the  same  number  ?  » Have  they  the 
thews  and  muscles,  the  energy  and  endurance,  the  power  of 
carrying  which  we  possess  ?  They  have  got  our  blood  in  their 
veins,  and  have  these  qualities  gone  with  the  blood  ?  It  is  of 
little  avail  either  to  us  or  to  the  truth  that  we  can  show  some 
difference  between  our  position  and  their  position  which  may 
seem  to  be  in  our  favour.  They,  doubtless,  could  show  other 
points  of  difference  on  the  other  side.  With  us,  in  the  early 
years  of  this  century,  it  was  a  contest  for  life  and  death,  in 
which  we  could  not  stop  to  count  the  cost, — in  which  we  be- 
lieved that  we  were  fighting  for  all  that  we  cared  to  call  our 
own,  and  in  which  we  were  resolved  that  we  would  not  be 
beaten,  as  long  as  we  had  a  man  to  fight  and  a  guinea  to  spend. 
Fighting  in  this  mind  we  won.  Had  we  fought  in  any  other 
mind,  I  think  I  may  say  that  we  should  not  have  won.  To 
the  Americans  of  the  northern  States  this  also  is  a  contest  for 
life  and  death.  I  will  not  here  stay  to  argue  whether  this  need 
have  been  so.  I  think  they  are  right ;  but  this  at  least  must 
be  accorded  to  them — that  having  gone  into  this  matter  of 
civil  war,  it  behoves  them  to  finish  it  with  credit  to  themselves. 
There  are  many  Englishmen  who  think  that  we  were  wrong  to 
undertake  the  French  war ;  but  there  is,  I  take  it,  no  English- 
man who  thinks  that  we  ought  to  have  allowed  ourselves  to  be 
beaten  when  we  had  undertaken  it.  To  the  Americans  it  is 
now  a  contest  of  life  and  death.  They  also  cannot  stop  to 
count  the  cost.  They  also  will  go  on  as  long  as  they  have  a 
dollar  to  spend  or  a  man  to  fight. 

It  appears  that  we  were  paying  fourteen  millions  a  year  in- 
terest on  our  national  debt  in  the  year  1796.  I  take  this  state- 
ment from  an  article  in  *  The  Times,'  in  which  the  question  of 
the  finances  of  the  United  States  is  handled.  But  our  popula- 
tion in  1796  was  only  sixteen  millions.  I  estimate  the  popula- 
tion of  the  northern  section  of  the  United  States,  as  the  States 
will  be  after  the  war,  at  twenty-two  millions.  In  the  article 
alluded  to  these  northern  Americans  are  now  stated  to  be  twen- 
ty millions.  If  then  we,  in  1796,  could  pay  fourteen  millions  a 
year  with  a  population  of  sixteen  millions,  the  United  States, 
with  a  population  of  twenty  or  twenty-two  millions,  will  be 
able  to  pay  the  sixteen  or  seventeen  millions  sterling  of  inter- 
est which  will  become  due  from  them, — if  their  circumstances 
of  payment  are  as  good  as  were  ours.  They  can  do  that  and 
more  than  that  if  they  have  the  same  means  per  man  as  we  had. 


THE   P08T-0FP1CE. 


537 


endnr- 
Id  have 
hey  the 
)wer  of 
in  their 
It  is  of 
)W  some 
ich  may 
5W  other 
[,be  early 
death,  in 
;h  wo  be- 
)  call  our 
Id  not  be 
to  spend, 
any  other 
won.    To 
jontest  for 
r  this  need 
least  must 
matter  of 
ibemselves. 
[e  wrong  to 
10  English- 
ielves  to  be 

icans  it  is 
iot  stop  to 
[hey  have  a 


And  as  the  moans  per  man  resolves  itself  at  last  into  the  labour 
per  man,  it  may  bo  said  that  they  can  pay  what  wo  could  pay, 
if  they  can  and  will  work  as  hard  as  wo  could  and  did  work. 
That  which  did  not  crush  us  will  not  crush  them,  if  their  future 
energy  bo  equal  to  our  past  energy. 

And  on  this  question  of  energy  I  think  that  there  is  no  need 
for  doubt.  Taking  man  for  man  and  million  for  million,  the 
Americans  are  equal  to  the  English  in  intellect  and  industry. 
They  create  wealth  at  any  rate  as  fast  as  we  have  done.  They 
develop  their  resources,  and  open  out  the  currents  of  trade, 
with  an  energy  equal  to  our  own.  They  are  always  at  work, 
improving,  utilizing,  and  creating.  Austria,  as  I  take  it,  is  suc- 
cumbing to  monetary  difficulties,  not  because  she  has  been  ex- 
travagant, but  because  she  has  been  slow  at  progress ; — because 
it  has  been  the  work  of  her  rulers  to  repress  rather  than  encour- 
age the  energies  of  her  people;  because  sho  does  not  improve, 
utilize,  and  create.  England  has  mastered  her  moi.  jtary  diffi- 
culties, because  the  genius  of  her  government  and  her  people 
has  been  exactly  opposite  to  the  genius  of  Austria.  And  the 
States  of  America  will  master  their  money  difficulties,  because 
they  are  born  of  England,  and  are  not  born  of  Austria.  What ! 
Shall  our  eldest  child  become  bankrupt  in  its  first  trade  diffi- 
culty ;  be  utterly  ruined  by  its  first  little  commercial  embar- 
rassment ?  The  child  bears  much  too  strong  a  resemblance  to 
its  parent  for  me  to  think  so. 


CHAPTER  :^XIII. 

THE  POST-OFFICE. 

Any  Englishman  or  Frenchman  residing  in  the  American 
States  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  inferiority  of  the  Post- 
office  arrangements  in  that  country  to  those  by  which  they  are 
accommodated  in  their  own  country.  I  have  not  been  a  resi- 
dent in  the  States,  and  as  a  traveller  might  probably  have  passed 
the  subject  without  special  remark,  were  it  not  that  the  service 
of  the  Post-office  has  been  my  own  profession  for  many  years. 
I  could  therefore  hardly  fail  to  observe  things  which  to  another 
man  would  have  been  of  no  material  moment.  At  first  I  was 
inclined  to  lean  heavily  in  my  jucfgment  upon  the  deficiencies 
of  a  department  which  must  be  of  primary  importance  to  a 
commercial  nation.  It  seemed  that  among  a  people  so  intelli- 
gent, and  so  quick  in  all  enterprises  of  trade,  a  well-arranged 
Post-office  would  have  been  held  to  be  absolutely  necessary, 

Z2 


V 


fi38 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


•1 


n 


i" 


and  that  all  difficulties  would  havo  been  made  to  succumb  in 
their  efforts  to  put  that  establishment,  if  no  other,  upon  a  proper 
footing.  Hut  as  I  looked  into  the  matter,  and  in  becommg  ac- 
quainted with  the  circumstances  of  the  Post-office  learned  the 
extent  of  the  difficulties  absolutely  existing,  I  began  to  think 
that  a  very  great  deal  had  been  done,  and  that  the  fault,  as  to 
that  which  had  been  left  undone,  rested,  not  with  the  Post-oflice 
officials,  but  was  attributable  partly  to  political  causes  altogeth- 
er outside  the  Post-office,  and  partly, — perhaps  chiefly, — to  tiiu 
nature  of  the  country  itself. 

It  is,  I  think,  undoubtedly  true  that  the  amount  of  accommo- 
dation given  by  the  Post-office  of  the  States  is  small, — as  com- 
pared with  that  liftbrded  in  some  other  countries,  and  that  that 
accommodation  is  lessened  by  delays  and  uncertainty.  Tlio 
point  which  first  struck  me  was  the  inconvenient  hours  at  which 
mails  were  brought  in  and  despatched.  Here,  in  England,  it 
is  the  object  of  our  Post-office  to  carry  the  bulk  of  our  letters 
at  night ;  to  deliver  them  as  early  as  possible  in  the  morninj^, 
and  to  collect  them  and  take  them  away  for  despatch  as  late  as 
may  be  in  the  day ; — so  that  the  merchant  may  receive  his  let- 
ters before  the  beginning  of  his  day's  business,  and  despatch 
them  after  its  close.  The  bulk  of  our  letters  is  handled  in  this 
manner,  and  the  advantage  ol"  siich  an  arrangement  is  manifest. 
But  it  seemed  that  in  the  Stttes  no  such  practice  prevailed. 
Letters  arrived  at  any  hour  in  the  day  miscellaneously,  and 
were  despatched  at  any  hour,  and  I  found  that  the  postmaster 
at  one  town  could  never  tell  me  with  certaintv  when  letters 
would  arrive  at  another.  If  the  towns  were  distant,  I  would 
be  told  that  the  conveyance  might  take  about  two  or  three 
days ;  if  they  were  near,  that  my  letter  would  get  to  hand, 
"  some  time  to-morrow."  I  ascertained,  moreover,  by  painful 
experience  that  the  whole  of  a  mail  would  not  always  go  for- 
ward by  the  first  despatch.  As  regarded  myself  this  had  ref- 
erence chiefly  to  EngHsh  letters  and  newspapers. — "Only  a 
part  of  the  mail  has  come,"  the  clerk  would  tell  me.  With  us 
the  owners  of  that  part  which  did  not "  come,"  would  consider 
themselves  greatly  aggrieved  and  make  loud  complaint.  But, 
in  the  States,  complaints  made  against  official  departments  are 
held  to  be  of  little  moment. 

Letters  also  in  the  States  are  subject  to  great  delays  by  ir- 
regularities on  railways.  One  train  does  not  hit  the  town  of 
its  destination  before  another  train,  to  which  it  is  nominally 
fitted,  has  been  started  on  its  journey.  The  mail  trains  are 
not  bound  to  wait ;  and  thus,  in  the  large  cities,  far  distant 


^\\\ 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


530 


'A 


imb  in 
propel* 
ling  ac- 
iicd  the 
o  ibink 
it,  ftR  ti) 
,Rt-oflice 
Itogotli- 
— to  tlie 

3Commo- 
-as  corn- 
that  thftt 

ty.    Tim 
at  which 
ngland,  it 
uv  letters 
morninfif, 
as  late  as 
[ve  his  let- 
[  despatch 
[led  in  this 
3  manifest, 
prevailed. 

iously,  and 
lostraaster 
ien  letters 
jt,  I  would 
fo  or  three 
It  to  hand, 
by  painful 
lys  go  for- 
118  had  ret- 
"Only  a 
With  us 
id  consider 
int.    But, 
•tments  are 


Lys  by  iv- 
^e  town  ot 
nominally 
trains  are 
[far  distant 


from  New  York,  groat  irregularity  prevails.  It  is,  I  think, 
owing  to  this, — at  any  rate  partly  to  this, — that  ihu  system  of 
telegraphing  has  become  so  prevalent.  It  is  natural  that  this 
should  be  so  between  towns  which  are  in  the  due  course  of 
post  perhaps  forty-eight  hours  asunder ;  but  the  uncertainty  of 
the  post  increases  the  habit,  to  the  profit,  of  course,  of  the  coni- 

ranies  which  own  the  wires, — but  to  the  manifest  loss  of  the 
*ost-office. 

But  the  deficiency  which  struck  mo  most  forcibly  in  the 
American  Post-office,  was  the  absence  of  any  recognized  offi- 
cial delivery  of  letters.  The  United  States  Post-ofHce  does 
not  assume  to  itself  the  duty  of  taking  letters  to  the  liouses  of 
those  for  whom  they  are  intended,  but  holds  itself  as  having 
completed  the  work  for  which  the  original  postage  has  been 
})aid,  when  it  has  brought  them  to  the  window  of  the  Post- 
office  of  the  town  to  which  they  are  addressed.  It  is  true  that 
in  most  largo  towns, — though  by  no  means  in  all, — a  separate 
arrangement  ia  made  by  which  a  delivery  is  affi^rded  to  those 
who  are  willing  to  pay  a  further  sum  for  that  further  service  ; 
hut  the  recognized  official  mode  of  delivery  is  from  the  office 
window.  The  merchants  and  persons  in  trade  have  boxes  at 
the  windows,  for  which  they  pay.  Other  old-established  in- 
habitants in  towns,  and  persons  in  receipt  of  a  considerable 
correspondence,  receive  their  letters  by  the  subsidiary  carriers 
and  pay  for  them  separately.  But  the  poorer  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, those  persons  among  which  it  is  of  such  paramount 
importance  to  increase  the  blessing  of  letter  writing,  obtain 
their  letters  from  the  Post-office  windows. 

In  each  of  these  cases  the  practice  acts  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
department.  In  order  to  escape  the  tax  on  delivery,  which 
varies  from  two  cents  to  one  cent  a  letter,  all  men  in  trade, 
and  many  who  are  not  in  trade,  hold  office  boxes ;  consequently 
immense  space  is  required.  The  space  given  at  Chicago,  both 
to  the  public  without  and  to  the  officials  within,  for  such  de- 
livery, is  more  than  four  times  that  required  at  Liverpool  for 
the  same  purpose.  But  Liverpool  is  three  times  the  size  of 
Chicago.  The  corps  of  clerks  required  for  the  window  de- 
livery is  very  great,  and  the  whole  affiiir  is  cumbrous  in  the 
extreme.  The  letters  at  most  offices  are  given  out  through 
little  windows,  to  which  the  inquirer  is  obliged  to  stoop. 
There  he  finds  himself  opposite  to  a  pane  of  glass  with  a  little 
hole;  and  when  the  clerk  within  shakes  his  head  at  him,  he 
rarely  believes  but  what  his  letters  are  there  if  he  could  only 
reach  them.    But  in  the  second  case,  the  tax  on  the  delivery, 


540 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


r 


I  \ 


V ., 


which  is  intcnclofl  Rimply  to  pay  tho  wncfos  of  tho  men  who 
take  thorn  out,  is  paid  with  a  oad  grace ;  it  robs  tho  letter  of 
its  cliarm,  and  forces  it  to  present  itself  in  tho  guise  of  a 
burden.  It  makes  that  disagreeable  which  for  its  own  sake 
tho  Post-office  should  strive  in  every  way  to  make  agreeable. 
This  practice,  moreover,  operates  as  a  direct  prevention  to  a 
class  of  correspondence,  which  furnishes  in  England  a  largo 
proportion  of  the  revenue  of  tho  Post-office.  Mercantile  houses 
in  our  large  cities  send  out  thousands  of  trade  circulars,  paying 
postage  on  them;  but  such  circulars  would  not  bo  received, 
either  in  England  or  elsewhere,  if  a  demand  for  postage  wore 
mado  on  their  delivery.  Who  does  not  receive  these  circulars 
in  our  country  by  the  dozen,  consigning  them  generally  to  the 
waste-paper  basket,  after  a  most  cursory  inspection  ?  As  re- 
gards the  sender,  the  transaction  seems  to  us  often  to  be  very 
vain ;  but  the  Post-office  gets  its  penny.  So  also  would  the 
American  Post-office  get  its  three  cents. 

But  tho  main  objection  in  my  eyes  to  the  American  Post- 
office  system,  is  this, — that  it  is  not  brought  nearer  to  the 
poorer  classes.  Everybody  writes  or  can  write  in  America, 
and  therefore  the  correspondence  of  their  millions,  should  be, 
million  for  million,  at  any  rate  equal  to  ours.  But  it  is  not  so ; 
and  this,  I  think,  comes  from  the  fact  that  communication  by 
Post-office  is  not  made  easy  to  the  people  generally.  Such 
communication  is  not  found  to  be  easy  by  a  man  who  has  to 
attend  at  a  post  office  window  on  the  chance  of  receiving  a 
letter.  When  no  arrangement  more  comfortable  than  that  is 
provided,  the  Post-office  will  be  used  for  the  necessities  of  letter- 
writing,  but  will  not  be  esteemed  as  a  luxury.  And  thus  not 
only  do  tho  people  lose  a  comfort  which  they  might  enjov,  but 
the  Post-office  also  loses  that  revenue  which  it  might  make. 

I  have  said  that  the  correspondence  circulating  in  the  United 
States  is  less  than  that  of  the  United  Kingdom.  In  making 
any  comparison  between  them  I  am  obliged  to  arrive  at  facts, 
or  rather  at  the  probabilities  of  facts,  in  a  somewhat  circuitous 
mode,  as  the  Americans  have  kept  no  account  of  the  number 
of  letters  which  pass  through  their  post-offices  in  a  year.  We 
can,  however,  make  an  estimate  which,  if  incorrect,  shall  not  at 
any  rate  be  incorrect  against  them.  The  gross  postal  revenue 
of  the  United  States,  for  the  year  ended  30th  June,  1861,  was 
in  ro'md  figures  1,700,000/.  This  was  the  amount  actually 
earned,  exclusive  of  a  sura  of  140,000/.  paid  to  the  Post-office 
by  the  government  for  the  carriage  of  what  is  called  in  that 
country  free  mail  matter ;  otherwise,  books,  letters,  and  parcels 


TOE   P08T-0FPICE. 


641 


Iter  of 
)0  of  a 
n\  Bjxko 
recs\blo. 
on  to  a 
a  lavRO 
0  houses 


IgO  WGVO 

circulars 
ily  to  the 
•  As  rc- 
5  be  vLM-y 
vould  tbe 

Lcan  Post- 
rcr  to  the 
America, 
should  be, 
,  is  not  80 ; 
kication  by 

Jly.      Such 

vho  has  to 
•eceiving  a 
lan  that  is 
.8  of  letter- 
id  thus  not 
enjoy,  but 
it  make, 
ithe  United 
In  making 
|ve  at  facts, 
t  circuitous 
.ho  number 
year.    We 
shall  not  at 
tal revenue 
I  1861,  was 
nt  actually 
post-office 

lied  in  that 
tnd  parcels 


franked  by  members  of  Congress.  The  gross  postal  revenue 
of  the  United  Kingdom  was  in  the  last  year,  in  round  figures, 
3,368,000/.,  exclusive  of  a  sum  of  170,000/.  claimed  as  earned 
for  carrying  official  postage,  and  also  •exclusive  of  127, 800/., 
that  b(ing  the  amount  of  money  order  commission  which  in 
this  country  is  considered  a  part  of  the  l*ost-office  revenue. 
In  the  United  States  there  is  at  present  no  money  order  office. 
In  the  United  Kingdom  the  sum  of  3,368,000/.  was  earned  by 
the  convcyauco  and  delivery  of 

503  millions  of  letters, 
73  millions  of  newspapers, 
12  millions  of  books. 

What  number  of  each  was  conveyed  through  the  post  in  the 
United  States  we  have  no  means  of  knowing ;  but  presuming 
the  average  rate  of  postage  on  each  letter  in  the  States  to  bo 
the  same  as  it  is  in  England,  and  presuming  also  that  letters, 
newspapers,  and  books  circulated  in  the  same  proportion  there 
as  they  do  with  us,  the  sum  above  named  of  1,700,000/.  will 
have  been  earned  by  carrying  about  300  millions  of  letters. 
But  the  avevago  rate  of  postage  in  the  States  is,  in  fact,  higher 
than  it  is  in  England.    The  ordinary  single  rate  of  postage 
there  is  three  cents  or  three  half-pence,  whereas  with  us  it  is  a 
penny ;  and  if  three  half-pence  might  he  taken  as  the  average 
rate  in  the  United  States,  the  number  of  letters  would  be  re- 
duced from  300  to  200  millions  a  year.    There  is  however  a 
class  of  letters  which  in  the  States  are  passed  through  the  Post- 
office  at  the  rate  of  one  half-penny  a  letter,  whereas  there  is  no 
rate  of  postage  with  us  less  than  a  penny.    Taking  these  half- 
penny letters  into  consideration,  I  am  disposed  to  regard  the 
average  rate  of  American  postage  at  about  five  farthings,  which 
would  give  the  number  of  letters  at  250  millions.    We  shall  at 
any  rate  be  safe  in  saying  that  the  number  is  considerably  less 
than  300  millions,  and  that  it  does  not  amount  to  half  the  num- 
ber circulated  with  us.     But  the  difference  between  our  popu- 
lation and  their  population  is  not  great.    The  population  of  the 
States  during  the  year  in  question  was  about  27  millions,  ex- 
clusive of  slaves,  and  that  of  the  British  isles  was  about  20  mill- 
ions.   No  doubt,  in  the  year  named,  the  correspondence  of  the 
States  had  been  somewhat  disturbed  by  the  rebellion ;  but  that 
disturbance,  up  to  the  end  of  June,  1861,  had  been  very  trifling. 
The  division  of  the  southern  from  the  northern  States,  as  far  as 
the  Post-ofl5ce  was  concerned,  did  not  take  place  till  the  end 
of  May,  1861 ;  and  therefore  but  one  month  in  the  year  was  af- 


:| 


'I 


I 


wmm 


i 


642 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'1 


^ 


^ 


!!■ 


fected  by  the  actual  secession  of  the  South.  The  gi'oss  postal 
revenue  of  the  States  which  have  seceded  was,  for  the  year  prior 
to  secession,  twelve  hundred  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and 
for  that  one  month  of  tTune  it  would  thereiore  have  been  a  lit- 
tle over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  20,000/.  That  sum 
may  therefore  be  presumed  to  have  been  abstracted  by  seces- 
sicn  from  the  gross  annual  revenue  of  the  Post-office.  Trade, 
pLso,  was  no  doubt  injured  by  the  disturbance  iu  the  country, 
and  the  circulation  of  letters  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  some 
degree  affected  by  this  injury ;  but  it  seems  that  the  gross  rev- 
enue of  1861  was  less  than  that  of  1860  by  only  one  thirty- 
sixth.  I  think,  therefore,  that  we  may  say,  making  all  allow- 
ance that  can  be  fairly  made,  that  the  number  of  letters  circu- 
lating in  the  United  Kingdom  is  more  than  double  th-at  which 
circulates,  or  ever  has  circulated,  in  the  United  States. 

That  this  is  so,  I  attribute  not  to  any  difference  in  the  people 
of  the  two  countries, — not  to  an  aptitude  for  letter  writing 
among  ms  which  is  wanting  with  the  Americans, — but  to  tlie 
greater  convenience  and  wider  accommodation  of  our  own 
Post-office.  As  I  have  before  stated,  and  will  presently  en- 
deavour to  show,  this  wider  accommodation  is  not  altogctber 
the  result  of  better  management  on  our  part.  Our  circum- 
stances as  regards  the  Post-office  have  had  in  them  less  of  dif- 
ficulties than  theirs.  But  it  has  arisen  in  great  part  from  bet- 
ter management ;  and  in  nothing  is  their  deficiency  so  conspic- 
uous as  in  the  absence  of  a  free  delivery  for  their  letters. 

In  order  that  the  advantages  of  the  Post-office  should  reach 
all  persons,  the  delivery  of  letters  should  extend  not  only  to 
towns,  but  to  the  country  also.  In  France  all  letters  are  deliv- 
ered free.  However  remote  may  be  the  position  of  a  house  or 
cottage,  it  is  not  too  remote  for  the  postman.  With  us  all  let- 
ters are  not  delivered ;  but  the  exceptions  refer  to  distant  soli- 
tary houses  and  to  localities  which  are  almost  without  corre- 
spondence, liut  in  the  United  States  there  is  no  free  delivery, 
and  there  is  no  delivery  at  all  except  in  the  large  cities.  In 
small  towns,  in  villages,  even  in  the  suburbs  of  the  largest  cit- 
ies, no  such  accommodation  is  given.  Whatever  may  be  the 
distance,  people  expecting  letters  must  send  for  them  to  the 
Post-office ; — and  they  who  do  not  expect  them  leave  their  let- 
ters uncalled  for.  Brother  Jonathan  goes  out  to  fish  in  these 
especial  waters  with  a  very  large  net.  The  little  fish,  which 
are  profitable,  slip  through ;  but  the  big  fish,  which  are  by  no 
means  profital  ie,  are  caugh*, — often  at  an  expense  greater  than 
their  value. 


ar  prior 
ars,  and 
en  a  lit- 
tiat  Bum 
»y  Beces- 
Trade, 
country, 
,  to  some 
ross  rev- 
io  thirty- 
all  allow- 
ers  circu- 
it wbicli 

i. 

he  people 
;r  -writing 
but  to  the 
our  own 
jsently  en- 
altogcthev 
ur  circum- 
iless  of  clif- 
b  from  bet- 
so  conspic- 
.ters. 

lould  reach 
,ot  only  to 
s  are  deliv- 
a  house  or 
.  us  all  let- 
iatant  soli- 
iiout  corre- 
le  delivery, 
cities.    Ifl 
largest  cit- 
tnay  be  the 
[lem  to  the 
,  e  their  let- 
sh  in  these 
fish,  which 
.  are  by  no 
Teater  than 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


543 


There  are  other  smaller  sins  upon  which  I  could  put  my  fin- 
ger,— and  would  do  so  were  I  writing  an  ofticial  report  upon 
the  subject  of  the  American  Post-ottice.  In  lieu  of  doing  so,  I 
will  endeavour  to  explain  how  much  the  States'  oftice  has  done 
in  this  matter  of  affording  Post-ofiice  accommodation, — and 
how  great  have  been  the  difticulties  in  the  way  of  Post-office 
reformers  in  that  country. 

In  the  first  place,  when  we  compare  ourselves  to  them,  we 
must  remember  that  we  live  in  a  tea-cup,  and  they  in  a  wash- 
ing-tub. As  compared  with  them  we  inhabit  towns  which  are 
close  to  each  other.  Our  distances,  as  compared  with  theirs, 
are  nothing.  From  Loi:don  to  Liverpool  the  line  of  railway 
traverses  about  two  hundred  miles,  but  the  mail  train  which 
conveys  the  bags  for  Liverpool  carries  the  correspondence  of 
probably  four  or  five  millions  of  persons,  ^^he  mail  train  from 
New  York  to  Buffalo  passes  over  about  four  hundred  miles, 
and  on  its  route  serves  not  one  million.  A  comparison  of  this 
kind  might  be  made  with  the  same  effect  between  any  of  our 
great  internal  mail  routes  and  any  of  theirs.  Consequently,  the 
expense  of  conveyance  to  them  is,  per  letter,  very  much  greater 
than  with  us,  and  the  American  Post-ofiice  is  as  a  matter  of 
necessity  driven  to  an  economy  in  the  use  of  railways  for  the 
Post-ofiice  service  which  we  are  not  called  on  to  practise. 
From  New  York  to  Chicago  is  nearly  1000  miles.  From  New 
York  to  St.  Louis  is  over  1600.  I  need  not  say  that  in  En- 
gland we  know  nothing  of  such  distances,  and  that  therefore 
our  task  has  been  comparatively  easy.  Nevertheless  the  States 
have  followed  in  our  track,  aiid  have  taken  advantage  of  Sir 
Rowland  Hill's  wise  audacity  in  the  reduction  of  postage  with 
greater  quickness  than  any  other  nation  but  our  own.  Through 
all  the  States  letters  pass  for  three  cents  over  a  distance  less 
than  3000  miles.  For  distances  above  3'jOO  miles  the  rate  is 
ten  cents,  or  five-pence.  This  increased  rate  has  special  refer- 
ence to  the  mails  for  California,  which  are  carried  daily  across 
the  whole  continent  at  a  cost  to  the  States  Government  of  two 
hundred  thousand  poundr  a  year. 

With  us  the  chief  mail  trains  are  legally  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Postmaster-General.  He  fixes  the  hours  at  which 
they  shall  start  and  arrive,  being  of  course  bound  by  certain 
stipulations  as  to  pace.  He  can  demand  trains  to  run  over  any 
line  at  any  hour,  and  can  in  this  way  secure  the  punctualitj'  of 
mail  transportation.  Of  course  such  interference  on  the  part 
of  a  government  ofiicial  in  the  working  of  a  railway  is  attended 
with  a  very  heavy  expense  to  the  Government.    Though  the 


I 


' 

(■„ 

■ 

544 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I,, 


n 


•  i 


M 


British  Post-office  can  demand  the  use  of  trains  at  any  hour, 
and  as  regards  those  trains  can  make  the  despatch  of  mails  par- 
amount to  all  other  matters,  the  British  Post-office  cannot  fix 
the  price  to  be  paid  for  such  work.  This  is  generally  done  by 
arbitration,  and  of  course  for  such  services  the  payment  is  very 
high.  No  such  practice  prevails  in  the  States.  The  Govern- 
ment has  no  power  of  using  the  mail  lines  as  they  are  used  by 
our  Post-office,  nor  could  the  expense  of  such  a  practice  be 
borne  or  nearly  borne  by  the  proceeds  of  letters  in  the  States. 
Consequently  the  Post-office  is  put  on  a  par  with  ordinary  cus- 
tomers, and  such  trains  are  used  for  mail  matter  as  the  direct- 
ors of  each  line  may  see  fit  to  use  for  other  matter.  Hence  it 
occurs  that  no  offence  against  the  Post-office  is  committed 
when  the  connection  between  different  mail  trains  is  broken. 
The  Post-office  takes  the  best  it  can  get,  paying  as  other  cus- 
tomers pay,  and  grumbling  as  other  customers  grumble  when 
the  service  rendered  falls  short  of  that  which  has  been  prom- 
ised. 

It  may,  I  think,  easily  be  seen  that  any  system  such  as  ours, 
carried  across  so  large  a  country,  would  go  on  increasing  in 
cost  at  an  enormous  ratio.  The  greater  the  distance,  the 
greater  is  the  difficulty  in  securing  the  proper  fitting  of  fast- 
running  trains.  And  moreover,  it  roust  be  remembered  that 
the  American  lines  have  been  got  up  on  a  very  different  foot- 
ing from  ours,  at  an  expense  per  mile  of  probably  less  than  a 
fifth  of  that  laid  out  on  our  railways.  Single  hues  of  rail  are 
common,  even  between  great  towns  with  large  traffic.  At  the 
present  moment — May,  1862 — the  only  railway  running  into 
Washington,  that  namely  from  Baltimore,  is  a  single  line  over 
the  greater  distance.  The  whole  thing  is  necessarily  worked 
at  a  cheaper  rate  than  with  us ;  not  because  the  people  are 
poorer,  but  because  the  distances  are  greater.  As  this  is  the 
case  throughout  the  whole  railway  system  of  the  country,  it 
cannot  be  expected  that,  such  despatch  and  punctuality  should 
be  achieved  in  America  as  are  achieved  here,  in  England,  or  in 
France.  As  population  and  wealth  increase,  it  will  come.  In 
the  mean  time  that  which  has  been  already  done  over  the  ex- 
tent of  the  vast  North  American  continent  is  very  wonderful. 
I  think,  therefore,  that  complaint  should  not  be  made  against 
the  Washington  Post-office,  either  on  account  of  the  inconven- 
ience of  the  hours,  or  on  the  head  of  occasional  irregularity. 
So  much  has  been  done  in  reducing  the  rate  to  three  cents,  and 
in  giving  a  daily  mail  throughout  the  States,  that  the  depart- 
ment should  be  praised  for  energy,  and  not  blamed  for  apathy. 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


545 


y  hour, 
ails  par- 
aiiot  fix 
Jone  by 
t  is  very 
Govern- 
used  by 
ictice  be 
e  States, 
aary  cus- 
le  direct- 
Hence  it 
)mmitted 
3  broken. 
Dther  cus- 
ible  when 
een  prom- 

;h  as  ours, 
reasing  in 
tance,  the 
ng  of  fast- 
bered  that 
ferent  foot- 
less than  a 

of  rail  are 
ic.    At  the 

nning  into 
Je  line  over 

ily  worked 

people  are 
this  is  the 

country,  it 
llity  should 
;land,  or  in 
come.    In 
ver  the  ex- 
wonderful, 
ide  against 
t  inconven- 
fregularity. 
'  cents,  and 
,;he  depart- 
for  apathy. 


In  the  year  ended  30th  June,  1861,  the  gross  revenue  of  the 
Post-office  of  the  States  was,  as  I  have  stated,  1,700,000/.  In 
the  same  year  its  expenditure  was  in  round  figures  2,720,000/. 
Consequently  there  was  an  actual  loss,  to  be  made  up  out  of 
general  taxation,  amounting  to  1,020,000/.  In  the  accounts  of 
the  American  officers  this  is  lessened  by  140,000/.,  that  sura 
having  been  arbitrarily  fixed  by  the  Government  as  the  amount 
earned  by  the  Post-office  in  carrying  free  mail  matter.  We 
have  a  similar  system  in  computing  the  value  of  the  service 
rendered  by  our  Post-office  to  the  Government  in  carrying 
government  despatches;  but  with  us  the  amount  named  as 
the  compensation  depends  on  the  actual  weight  carried.  If 
the  matter  so  carried  be  carried  solely  on  the  Government 
service,  as  is  I  believe  the  case  with  us,  any  such  claim  on  be- 
half of  the  Post-office  is  apparently  unnecessary.  The  Crown 
works  for  the  Crown,  as  the  right  hand  works  for  the  left.  The 
Post-office  pays  no  rates  or  taxes,  contributes  nothing  to  the 
poor,  runs  its  mails  on  turnpike  roads  free  of  toll,  and  gives 
receipts  on  unstamped  paper.  With  us  no  payment  is  in  truth 
made,  though  the  Post-office  in  its  accounts  presumes  itself  to 
have  received  the  money.  But  in  the  States  the  sum  named  is 
handed  over  by  the  State  Treasury  to  the  Post-office  Treasury. 
Any  such  statement  of  credit  does  not  in  effect  alter  the  real 
fact,  that  over  a  million  sterling  is  required  as  a,  subsidy  by  the 
American  Post-office,  in  order  that  it  may  be  enabled  to  pay  its 
way.  In  estimating  the  expenditure  of  the  office  the  depart- 
ment at  Washington  debits  itself  with  the  sums  paid  for  the 
ocean  transit  of  its  mails,  amounting  to  something  over  150,000/. 
We  also  now  do  the  same,  with  the  much  greater  sum  paid  by 
us  for  such  service,  which  now  amounts  to  949,228/.,  or  nearly 
a  million  sterling.  Till  lately  this  was  not  paid  out  of  the  Post- 
office  moneys,  and  the  Post-office  revenue  was  not  debited  with 
the  amount. 

Our  gross  Post-office  revenue  is,  as  I  have  said,  3,358,250/. 
As  before  explained,  this  is  exclusive  of  the  amount  earned  by 
the  money  order  department,  which,  though  managed  by  the 
authorities  of  the  Post-office,  cannot  be  called  a  part  of  the 
Post-office ;  and  exclusive  also  of  the  official  postage,  which  is, 
in  fact,  never  received.  The  expenditure  of  our  British  Post- 
office,  inclusive  of  the  sum  paid  for  the  ocean  mail  service,  is 
3,064,527/.  We  therefore  make  a  net  profit  of  293,723/.  out  of 
the  Post-office,  as  compared  with  a  loss  of  1,020,000/.,  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  difficulty  with  which  the  American 


f 


1: 


546 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


Mr'      'i 


I 


4 


;1 


k 


Post-office  is  burdened,  is  that  "  free  mail  matter"  to  which  I 
liiive  alluded,  for  carrying  which,  the  Post-office  claims  to  earn 
140,000/.,  and  for  the  carriage  of  which,  it  might  as  fairly  claim 
to  earn  1,350,000/.,  or  half  the  amount  of  its  total  expenditure, 
for  I  was  informed  by  a  gentleman  whose  knowledge  on  the 
subject  could  not  be  doubted,  that  the  free  mail  matter  so  car- 
ried, equalled  in  bulk  and  weight  all  that  other  matter  which 
was  not  carried  free.  To  such  an  extent  has  the  privilege  of 
franking  been  carried  in  the  States !  All  members  of  both 
Houses  frank  what  they  please, — for  in  effect  the  privilege  is 
stretched  to  that  extent.  All  Presidents  of  the  Union,  past 
and  present,  can  frank,  as,  also,  all  Vice-Presidents,  past  and 
present;  and  there  is  a  special  act,  enabling  the  widow  of 
President  Polk  to  frank.  Why  it  is  that  widows  of  other  Pres- 
idents do  not  agitate  on  the  matter,  I  cannot  understand.  And 
all  the  Secretaries  of  State  can  frank ;  and  ever  so  many  other 
public  officers.  There  is  no  limit  in  number  to  the  letters  so 
franked,  and  the  nuisance  has  extended  itself  to  so  huge  a  size, 
that  members  of  Congress  in  giving  franks,  cannot  write  the 
franks  themselves.  It  is  illegal  for  them  to  depute  to  others 
the  privile<_^e  of  signing  their  names  for  this  purpose,  but  it  is 
known  at  the  Post-office  that  it  is  done.  But  even  this  is  not 
the  worst  of  it.  Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  have 
the  power  of  sending  through  the  post  all  those  huge  books 
which,  with  them  as  with  us,  grow  out  of  Parliamentary  de- 
bates and  workings  of  Committees.  This,  under  certain  stip- 
ulations, is  the  case  also  in  England ;  but  in  England,  luckily 
no  one  values  them.  In  America,  however,  it  is  not  so.  A 
voter  considers  himself  to  be  noticed  if  he  gets  a  book.  He  likes 
to  have  vhe  book  bound,  and  the  bigger  the  book  may  be,  the 
more  the  compliment  is  relished.  Hence  it  comes  to  pass  that 
an  enormous  quantity  of  useless  matter  is  printed  and  bound, 
only  that  it  may  be  sent  down  to  constituents  and  make  a  show 
on  the  parlor  shelves  of  constituents'  wives.  The  Post-office 
groans  and  becomes  insolvent,  and  the  country  pays  for  the 
paper,  the  printing,  and  the  binding.  While  the  public  ex- 
penses of  the  nation  were  very  small,  there  was,  perhaps,  no 
reason  why  voters  should  not  thus  be  indulged ;  but  now  the 
matter  is  different,  and  it  would  be  well  that  the  conveyance 
by  post  of  these  Congressional  libraries  should  be  brought  to 
an  end.  I  was  also  assured  that  members  very  frequently  ob- 
tain permission  for  the  printing  of  a  speech  which  has  never 
been  delivered, — and  which  never  will  be  delivered, — in  order 
that  copies  may  be  circulated  among  their  constituents.    There 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


547 


:o  earn 

y  claim 

iditure, 
on  the 
so  car- 

f  which 

[lege  of 

of  both 

vilege  is 

on,  past 

past  and 

idow  of 

her  Pres- 

nd.   And 

my  other 

letters  so 

ige  a  size, 

write  the 

to  others 

!,  but  it  is 

this  is  not 

.tives  have 

uge  books 

entary  de- 
irtain  stip- 
id,  Uickily 
lOt  so.  A 
He  likes 

ay  be,  the 
3  pass  that 
^nd  bound, 
Lke  a  show 
Fost-offiee 
lys  for  the 
[public  ex- 
[erhaps,  no 
it  now  tbe 
Conveyance 
brought  to 
[uently  oh- 
[has  never 
l^u  order 
Its.   There 


is  in  such  an  arrangement  an  ingenuity  which  is  peculiarly 
American  in  its  nature.  Everybody  concerned  is  no  doubt 
cheated  by  the  system.     The  constituents   are  cheated ;   the 

SLiblic,  which  pays,  is  cheated ;  and  the  Post-office  h  cheated, 
ut  the  House  is  spared  the  liearing  of  the  speech,  and  the  re- 
sult on  the  whole  is  perhaps  beneficial. 

We  also,  within  the  memory  of  many  of  us,  had  a  franking 
privilege,  which  was  peculiarly  objectionable  inasmuch  as  it 
operated  towards  giving  a  fret  transmission  of  their  letters  by 
post  to  the  rich,  while  no  such  privilege  was  within  reach  of 
the  poor.  But  with  us  it  never  stretched  itself  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  it  has  now  achieved  in  the  States.  The  number  of  let- 
ters for  members  was  limited.  The  whole  address  was  written 
by  the  franking  member  himself,  and  not  much  was  sent  in  this 
way  that  was  bulky.  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  all  govern- 
ment and  Congressional  jobs  in  the  States  bear  the  same  pro- 
portion to  government  and  Parliamentary  jobs  which  have  been 
in  vogue  among  us.  There  has  been  an  unblushing  audacity 
in  the  public  dishonesty, — what  I  may  perhaps  call  the  State 
dishonesty, — at  Washington,  which  1  think  was  hardly  ever 
equalled  in  London.  Bribery,  I  know,  was  disgracefully  cur- 
rent in  the  days  of  Walpole,  of  Newcastle,  and  even  of  Castle- 
reagh ; — so  current,  that  no  Englishman  has  a  right  to  hold  up 
his  own  past  government  as  a  model  of  purity.  But  the  cor- 
ruption with  us  did  blush  and  endeavour  to  hide  itself.  It  was 
disgraceful  to  be  bribed,  if  not  so  to  offer  bribes.  But  at  Wash- 
ington corruption  has  been  so  common  that  I  can  hardly  un- 
derstand how  any  honest  man  can  have  held  up  his  head  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Capitol,  or  of  the  State  office. 

But  the  country  has,  I  think,  become  tired  of  this.  Hitherto 
it  has  been  too  busy  about  its  more  important  concerns,  in  ex- 
tending commerce,  in  making  railways,  in  providing  education 
for  its  youth,  to  think  very  much  of  what  was  being  done 
at  Washington.  While  the  taxes  were  light  and  property 
was  secure,  while  increasing  population  gave  daily  increasing 
strength  to  the  nation,  the  people  as  a  body  were  content  with 
that  theory  of  being  governed  by  their  little  men.  They  gave 
a  bad  name  to  politicians,  and  allowed  politics,  as  they  say,  "  to 
slide."  But  all  this  will  be  altered  now.  The  tremendous  ex- 
penditure of  the  last  twelve  months  has  allowed  dishonesty  of 
so  vast  a  grasp  to  make  its  ravages  in  the  public  pockets,  that 
the  evil  will  work  its  own  cure.  Taxes  will  be  very  high,  and 
the  people  will  recognize  the  necessity  of  having  honest  men  to 
look  after  them.    The  nation  can  no  longer  affi^rd  to  be  indif- 


H 


!'!'i 


548 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I 


ferent  about  its  Government,  and  will  require  to  know  wliere 
its  money  goes,  and  why  it  goes.  This  franking  privilege  is  iil. 
ready  doomed,  if  not  already  dead.  When  1  was  in  Washing- 
ton a  Bill  was  jiassed  through  the  Lower  House  by  which  it 
would  be  abolished  altogether.  When  I  left  America  its  fate 
in  the  Senate  was  still  doubtful,  and  I  was  told  by  many  that 
that  Bill  would  not  bo  allowed  to  become  law  without  sundry 
alterations.  But,  nevertheless,  I  regard  the  franking  privilege 
as  doomed,  and  offer  to  the  Washington  Post-office  officials  my 
best  congratulations  on  their  coming  deliverance. 

The  Post-office  in  the  States  is  also  burdened  by  another  ter- 
rible political  evil,  which  in  itself  is  so  heavy,  that  one  would 
at  first  sight  declare  it  to  be  enough  to  prevent  any  thing  like 
efficiency.  The  whole  of  its  staff  is  removeable  every  fourth 
year, — that  is  to  say,  on  the  election  of  every  new  President. 
And  a  very  large  proportion  of  its  staff  is  thus  removed  period- 
ically to  make  way  for  those  for  whom  a  new  President  is  bound 
to  provide,  by  reason  of  their  services  in  sending  him  to  the 
Whi'te  House.  They  have  served  him  and  he  thus  repays  them 
by  this  use  of  his  patronage  in  their  favour.  At  four  hundred 
and  thirty-four  Post-offices  in  the  States, — those  being  the  of- 
fices to  which  the  highest  salaries  are  attached, — the  President 
has  this  power,  and  exercises  it  as  a  matter  of  course.  He  has 
the  same  power  with  reference,  I  believe,  to  all  the  appoint- 
ments held  in  the  Post-office  at  Washington.  This  practice  ap- 
plies by  no  means  to  the  Post-office  only.  All  the  government 
clerks, — clerks  employed  by  the  central  government  at  Wash- 
ington,— are  subject  to  the  same  rule.  And  the  rule  has  also 
been  adopted  in  the  various  States  with  reference  to  State 
offices. 

To  a  stranger  this  practice  seems  so  manifestly  absurd,  that 
he  can  hardly  conceive  it  possible  that  a  government  service 
should  be  conducted  on  such  terms.  Hs  cannot,  in  the  first 
place,  believe  that  men  of  sufficient  standing  before  the  world 
could  be  found  to  accept  office  under  such  circumstances ;  and 
is  led  to  surmise  that  men  of  insufficient  standing  must  be  em- 
ployed, and  that  there  are  other  allurements  to  the  office  be- 
yond the  very  moderate  salaries  which  are  allowed.  Pie  can- 
not, moreover,  understand  how  the  duties  can  be  conducted, 
seeing  that  men  must  be  called  on  to  resign  their  places  as  soon 
as  they  have  learned  to  make  themselves  useful.  And,  finally, 
he  is  lost  in  amazement  as  he  contemplates  this  barefaced  pros- 
titution of  the  public  employ  to  the  vilest  purposes  of  political 
manoeuvring.     With  us  also  patronage  has  been  used  for  polit- 


*¥'* 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


540 


ther  ter- 
le  would 
ling  like 
•y  fourth 
'resident. 
d  period- 
i  is  bound 
im  to  the 
)ays  them 
L'  hundred 
ng  the  of- 
President 
He  has 
appoint- 
actice  ap- 
(vernraent 
at  Wash- 
le  has  also 
to  State 


ical  purposes,  and  to  some  small  extent  is  still  so  used.  We 
have  not  yet  sufficiently  recognized  the  fact,  that  in  selecting  a 
public  servant  notliing  should  be  regarded  but  the  advantage 
of  the  service  in  which  he  is  to  be  employed.  But  we  never, 
in  the  lowest  times  of  our  political  corruption,  ventured  to  throw 
over  the  question  of  service  altogether,  and  to  declare  publicly, 
that  the  one  and  only  result  to  be  obtained  by  Government  em- 
ployment was  political  support.  In  the  States  political  corrup- 
tion has  become  so  mudi  a  matter  of  course,  that  no  American 
seems  to  be  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  whole  system  is  a  sys- 
tem of  robbery. 

From  sheer  necessity  some  of  the  old  hands  are  kept  on  when 
these  changes  are  made.  Were  this  not  done  the  work  would 
come  absolutely  to  a  dead  lock.  But  it  may  be  imagined  how 
difficult  it  must  be  for  men  to  carry  through  an}-  improvements 
in  a  great  department,  when  they  have  entered  an  office  under 
such  a  system,  and  are  liable  to  be  expelled  under  the  same. 
It  is  greatly  to  the  praise  of  those  who  have  been  allowed  to 
grow  old  in  the  service  that  so  much  has  been  done.  No  men, 
however,  are  more  apt  at  such  work  than  Americans,  or  more 
able  to  exert  themselves  at  their  posts.  They  are  not  idle.  In- 
dependently of  any  question  of  remuneration,  they  are  not  in- 
different to  the  well-being  of  the  work  they  have  in  hand.  They 
are  good  public  servants,  unless  corruption  come  in  their  way. 

While  speaking  on  the  subject  of  patronage,  I  cannot  but  al- 
lude to  two  appointments  which  had  been  made  by  political  in- 
terest, and  with  the  circumstances  of  which  I  became  acquaint- 
ed. In  both  instances  a  good  place  had  been  given  to  a  gen- 
tleman by  the  in-coming  President, — not  in  return  for  political 
support,  but  from  motives  of  private  friendship, — either  his  own 
friendship  or  that  of  some  mutual  friend.  In  both  instances  I 
heard  the  selection  spoken  of  with  the  warmest  praise,  as  though 
a  noble  act  had  been  done  in  the  nomination  of  a  private  friend 
instead  of  a  political  partisan.  And  yet  in  each  case  a  man  was 
appointed  who  knew  nothing  of  his  work ;  who,  from  age  and 
circumstances,  was  not  likely  to  become  acquainted  with  his 
work ;  who,  by  his  appointment,  kept  out  of  the  place  those 
who  did  understand  the  work,  and  had  earned  a  right  to  pro- 
motion by  so  understanding  it.  Two  worthy  gentlemen, — ^for 
they  were  both  worthy, — were  pensioned  on  the  government 
for  a  term  of  years  under  a  false  pretence.  That  this  should 
have  been  done  is  not  perhaps  remarkable ;  but  it  did  seem  re- 
markable to  me  that  everybody  regarded  such  appointments  as 
a  good  deed — as  a  deed  so  exceptionably  good  as  to  be  worthy 


i 


650 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


'1 ' 


u      I 


of  great  praise.  I  do  not  allude  to  these  selections  on  account 
of  the  political  vice  shown  by  the  Presidents  in  making  them, 
but  on  account  of  the  political  virtue ; — in  order  that  the  na- 
ture of  political  virtue  in  the  States  may  be  understood.  It 
had  never  occurred  to  any  one  to  whom  I  spoke  on  the  subject, 
that  a  President  in  bestowing  such  places  was  bound  to  look 
for  efficient  work  in  return  for  the  public  money  which  was  to 
be  paid. 

Before  I  end  this  chapter  I  must  insert  a  few  details  respect- 
ing the  Post-office  of  the  States,  which,  though  they  may  not 
be  specially  interesting  to  the  general  reader,  will  give  some 
idea  of  the  extent  of  the  department.  The  total  number  of 
post-offices  in  the  States  on  30th  June,  1861,  was  28,586.  With 
us  the  number  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  at  the  same 
period  was  about  11,400.  The  population  served  may  be  re- 
garded as  nearly  the  same.  Our  lowest  salary  is  3/.  per  annum. 
In  the  States  the  remuneration  is  often  much  lower.  It  con- 
sists of  a  commission  on  the  letters,  and  is  sometimes  less  than 
ten  shillings  a  year.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  persons  to  hold 
these  offices,  and  the  amount  of  work  which  must  thereby  be 
thrown  on  what  is  called  the  "  appointment  branch,"  may  be 
judged  by  the  fact  that  9235  of  these  offices  were  filled  up  by 
new  nommations  during  the  last  year.  When  the  patronage 
is  of  such  a  nature  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  give  most  trouble, 
the  places  which  nobody  wishes  to  have,  or  those  which  every- 
body wishes  to  have. 

The  total  amount  of  postage  on  European  letters,  i.e.,  letters 
passing  between  the  States  and  Europe,  in  the  last  year  as  to 
which  accounts  were  kept  between  Washington  and  the  Eu- 
ropean post-offices,  was  275,000^.  Of  this  over  150,000^.  was 
on  letters  for  the  United  Kingdom;  and  130,000/.  was  on  let- 
ters carried  by  the  Cunard  packets. 

According  to  the  accounts  kept  by  the  Washington  office, 
the  letters  passing  from  the  States  to  Europe  and  from  Europe 
to  the  States  are  very  nearly  equal  in  number,  about  101  going 
to  Europe  for  every  100  received  from  Europe.  But  the  num- 
ber of  newspapers  sent  from  the  States  is  more  than  double  the 
number  received  in  the  States  from  Europe. 

On  30th  June,  1861,  mails  were  carried  through  the  then  loy- 
al States  of  the  Union  over  140,400  miles  daily.  Up  to  31st 
May  preceding,  at  which  time  the  Government  mails  were  run- 
ning all  through  the  United  States,  96,000  miles  were  covered 
in  those  States  which  had  then  virtually  seceded,  and  which  in 
the  following  month  were  taken  out  from  the  Post-office  ac^ 


THE   POST-OFFICE. 


561 


.ccount 
;  them, 
llic  na- 
od.  It 
subject, 
to  look 
i  was  to 

respect- 
may  not 
ve  some 
mber  of 
5.    With 
the  same 
ay  be  re- 
;r  annum. 
.    It  con- 
,  less  than 
ns  to  hold 
hereby  he 
,"  may  be 
lUed  up  by 
patronage 
,st  trouble, 
lich  every- 

i.e.,  letters 
year  as  to 
id  the  Eiv 
),000Z.  was 
ras  on  let- 

[rton  office, 

Dtn  Europe 

101  going 

It  the  num- 

jdouble  the 

le  then  loy- 
Jp  to  31st 
were  run- 
Ire  covered 
Id  which  in 
It-office  ac. 


counts, — making  a  total  of  236,400  miles  daily.  Of  this  mile- 
age something  less  than  one  third  is  crtectod  by  railways,  at  an 
average  cost  of  about  sixpence  u  mile.  Our  total  mileage  per 
day  is  151,000  miles,  of  which  43,823  are  done  by  railway,  at  a 
cost  of  about  sevenpence-halfpenny  per  mile. 

As  far  as  I  could  learn  the  servants  of  the  Post-office  are  less 
liberally  paid  in  the  States  than  with  us, — excepting  as  regards 
two  classf^s.  The  first  of  these  is  that  class  which  is  paid  by 
weekly  wages, — such  as  letter-carriers  and  porters.  Their  re- 
muneration is  of  course  ruled  by  the  rate  of  ordinary  wages  in 
the  country;  and  as  ordinary  wages  are  higher  in  the  States 
than  with  us,  such  men  are  paid  accordingly.  The  other  class 
is  that  of  postmasters  at  second-rate  towns.  They  receive  the 
same  compensation  as  those  at  the  largest  towns; — unless  in- 
deed there  be  other  compensation  than  those  written  in  the 
books  at  Washington.  A  postmaster  is  paid  a  certain  commis- 
sion on  letters,  till  it  amounts  to  400/.  per  annum :  all  above 
that  going  back  to  the  Government.  So  also  out  of  the  feos 
paid  for  boxes  at  the  window  he  receives  any  amount  forth- 
coming, not  exceeding  400/.  a  y^ar ;  making  in  all  a  maximum 
of  80oX  The  postmaster  of  New  York  can  get  no  more.  But 
any  moderately  large  town  will  give  as  much,  and  in  this  way 
an  amount  of  patronage  is  provided  which  in  a  political  view 
is  really  valuable. 

But  with  all  this  the  people  have  made  their  way,  because 
they  have  been  intelligent,  industrious,  and  in  earnest.     And 
as  the  people  have  made  their  way,  so  has  the  Post-office.    The 
number  of  its  offices,  the  mileage  it  covers,  its  extraordinary 
cheapness,  the  rapidity  with  which  it  has  been  developed,  are 
all  proofs  of  great  things  done;  and  it  is  by  no  means  standing 
still  even  in  these  evil  days  of  war.    Improvements  are  even 
now  on  foot,  copied  in  a  great  measure  from  ourselves.     Hith- 
erto the  American  office  has  not  taken  upon  itself  the  task  of 
returning  to  their  writers  undelivered  and  undeliverable  let- 
ters.   This  it  is  now  going  to  do.     It  is,  as  I  have  "rJd,  shak- 
ing off  from  itself  that  terrible  incubus  the  franking  privilege. 
And  the  expediency  of  introducing  a  money-order  oflice  into 
the  States,  connected  with  the  Post-office  as  it  is  with  us,  is 
even  now  under  consideration.     Such  an  accommodation  is 
much  needed  in  the  country ;  but  I  doubt  whether  the  present 
moment,  looking  at  the  fiscal  state  of  the  country,  is  well  adapt- 
ed for  establishing  it. 

I  was  much  struck  by  the  great  extravagance  in  small  things 
manifested  by  the  Post-office  through  the  States,  and  have  rea- 


m 


I 


/. 


>l\\ 


662 


NOBTH    AMURICA. 


son  to  believe  that  the  flame  remark  would  be  equally  true  with 
regard  to  other  public  establishments.  They  use  needless  forms 
without  end, — making  millions  of  entries  which  no  one  is  ever 
expected  to  regard.  Their  expenditure  in  stationery  might,  I 
think,  bo  reduced  by  one  half,  and  the  labour  might  be  saved 
which  is  now  wasted  iu  the  abuse  of  that  useless  stationery. 
Their  mail-bags  are  made  in  a  costly  manner,  and  are  often 
large  beyond  all  proportion  or  necessity.  I  could  greatly  length- 
en this  list  if  I  were  addressing  myself  solely  to  Post-office  peo- 
ple ;  but  as  I  am  not  doing  so  I  will  close  these  semi-official  re- 
marks, with  an  assurance  to  my  colleagues  in  Post-office  work 
on  the  other  side  of  the  water  that  I  greatly  respect  what  they 
have  done,  and  trust  that  before  long  they  may  have  renewed 
opportunities  for  the  prosecution  of  their  good  work. 


h 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


AMERICAN   HOTELS. 


I  FIND  it  impossible  to  resist  the  subject  of  inns.  As  I  havo 
gone  on  with  my  journey,  I  have  gone  on  with  my  book,  and 
Eave  spoken  here  and  there  of  American  hotels  as  I  have  en- 
countered them.  But  in  the  States  the  hotels  are  so  large  an 
institution,  having  so  much  closer  and  wider  a  bearing  on  social 
life  than  they  do  in  any  other  country,  that  I  feel  myself  bound 
to  treat  them  in  a  separate  chapter  as  a  great  national  feature 
in  themselves.  They  are  quite  as  much  thought  of  in  the  na* 
tion  as  the  legislature,  or  judicature,  or  literature  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and  any  falling  off  in  them,  or  any  improvement  in  the  ac- 
commodation given,  would  strike  the  community  as  forcibly  as 
a  change  in  the  constitution,  or  an  alteration  in  the  franchise. 

Moreover  I  consider  myself  as  qualified  to  write  a  chapter  on 
hotels ; — not  only  on  the  hotels  of  America  but  on  hotels  gen- 
erally. I  have  myself  been  much  too  frequently  a  sojourner  at 
hotels.  I  think  I  know  what  an  hotel  should  be,  and  what  it 
should  not  be ;  and  am  almost  inclined  to  believe,  in  my  pride, 
that  I  could  myself  fill  the  position  of  a  landlord  with  some 
chance  of  £OciaI  success,  though  probably  with  none  of  satis- 
factory pecuniary  results. 

Of  all  hotels  known  to  me,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the 
Swiss  are  the  best.  The  things  wanted  at  an  hotel  are,  I  fancy, 
mainly  as  follows : — a  clean  bedroom  with  a  good  and  clean 
bed, — and  with  it  also  plenty  of  water.  Good  food,  well  dress- 
ed and  served  at  convenient  hours,  which  hours  should  on  oc- 


AMERICAN   HOTELS. 


W3 


tto  with 
is  forms 
1 18  ever 
might,  I 
le  saved 
itioncry. 
,ro  often 
y  length- 
ftico  peo- 
•fticial  re- 
ico  work 
vbat  they 
renewed 


As  I  have 
book,  and 
I  have  en- 
50  large  an 
g  on  social 
■self  bound 
,nal  feature 
in  the  na* 
the  coun- 
in  the  ac- 
forcibly  as 
Ifranchise. 
chapter  on 
[hotels  gen- 
ojourner  at 
tnd  what  it 

my  pi'i<i<^» 
with  some 
^e  of  satis- 

ok  that  the 

ive,  I  fancy, 

and  clean 

well  dress- 

lould  on  oc- 


casions bo  allowed  to  stretch  tliomsolvos.  Wines  that  shall  bo 
drinkable.  Quick  attendance,  liills  that  shall  not  bo  absohtte- 
Iv  extortionate,  sniiliiij^  faces,  and  an  absence  of  foul  sindlH. 
There  are  many  who  desire  more  than  this ; — who  expect  ex- 
quisite cookery,  choice  wines,  subservient  domestics,  distin- 
guished consideration,  and  tho  strictest  economy.  But  they 
are  uneducated  travellers  who  are  going  through  tho  appren- 
ticeship of  their  hotel  lives ; — who  may  probably  never  become 
free  of  tho  travellers'  guild,  or  learn  to  distinguish  that  wiiich 
they  may  fairly  hope  to  attain  from  that  which  they  can  never 
accomplish. 

Taknig  them  as  a  whole  T  think  that  the  Swiss  hotels  are  tho 
best.  They  are  perhaps  a  little  close  in  the  matter  of  cold  wa- 
ter, but  even  as  to  this,  they  generally  givo  way  to  pressure. 
The  pressure,  however,  must  not  bo  violent,  but  gentlo  rather, 
;uul  well  continued.  Their  bedrooms  are  excellent.  Their 
cookery  is  good,  and  to  tho  outward  senses  is  cleanly.  Tho 
people  are  civil.  The  whole  work  of  tho  house  is  carried  on 
upon  fixed  rules  which  tend  to  tho  comfort  of  tho  establish- 
ment. They  are  not  cheap,  and  not  always  quite  honest,  lint 
the  exorbitance  or  dishonesty  of  their  charges  rarely  exceeds  a 
certain  reasonable  scale,  and  hardly  ever  demands  the  bitter 
misery  of  a  remonstrance. 

The  inns  of  the  Tyrol  are,  I  think,  tho  cheapest  I  have  known, 
affording  the  traveller  what  ho  requires  for  half  the  price,  or 
less  than  half,  that  demanded  in  Switzerland.  But  the  other 
half  is  taken  out  in  stench  and  nastiness.  As  tourists  scatter 
themselves  more  profusely^  tho  prices  of  tho  Tyrol  will  no  doubt 
rise.  Let  us  hope  that  increased  prices  will  bring  with  them 
besoms,  scrubbing-brushes,  and  other  much  nseded  articles  of 
cleanliness. 

The  inns  of  the  north  of  Italy  are  very  good,  and  indeed,  the 
Italian  inns  throughout,  as  far  as  I  know  them,  are  much  better 
than  tho  name  they  bear.  Tho  Italians  are  a  civil,  kindly  peo- 
ple, and  do  for  you,  at  any  rate,  the  best  they  can.  Perhaps 
the  unwiiry  traveller  may  be  cheated.  Ignorant  of  tho  language, 
he  may  be  called  on  to  pay  more  than  the  man  who  speaks  it, 
and  who  can  bargain  in  the  Italian  fashion  as  to  price.  It  has 
often  been  my  lot,  I  doubt  not,  to  be  so  cheated.  But  then  I 
have  been  cheated  with  a  grace  that  has  been  worth  all  the  mon- 
ey.   The  ordinary  prices  of  Italian  inns  are  by  no  means  high. 

I  have  seldom  thoroughly  liked  the  inns  of  Germany  which 
I  have  known.  They  are  not  clean,  and  water  is  very  scarce. 
Smiles  too  are  generally  wanting,  and  I  have  usually  fancied 

A  J. 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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myself  to  be  regarded  as  a  piece  of  goods  out  of  which  so  much 
profit  was  to  be  made. 

The  dearest  hotels  I  know  are  the  French; — and  certainly 
not  the  best.  In  the  provinces  they  are  by  no  means  so  clean- 
ly as  those  of  Italy.  Their  wines  are  generally  abominable, 
and  their  cookery  often  disgusting.  In  Paris  grand  dinners 
may  no  doubt  be  had,  and  luxuries  of  every  description, — ex- 
cept the  luxury  of  comfort.  Cotton-velvet  sofas  and  ormolu 
clocks  stand  in  the  i^lace  of  convenient  furniture,  and  logs  of 
wood  at  a  franc  a  log  fail  to  impart  to  you  the  heat  which  the 
freezing  cold  of  a  Paris  winter  demands.  They  used  to  make 
goof^  coffee  in  Paris,  but  even  that  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  I 
fancy  that  they  import  their  brandy  from  England,  and  manu- 
facture their  own  cigars.  French  wines  you  may  get  good  at 
a  Paris  hotel ;  but  you  would  drink  them  as  good  and  much 
cheaper  if  you  bought  them  in  London  and  took  them  with 
you. 

The  worst  hotels  I  know  are  in  the  Havana.  Of  course  I  do 
not  speak  here  of  chance  mountain  huts,  or  small  far-off  road- 
side hostels  in  which  the  traveller  may  find  himself  from  time 
to  time.  All  such  are  to  be  counted  apart,  and  must  be  judged 
on  their  merits,  by  the  circumstances  which  surround  them. 
But  with  reference  to  places  of  wide  resort,  nothing  can  beat 
the  hotels  of  the  Havana  in  filth,  discomfort,  habits  of  abomina- 
tion, and  absence  of  everything  which  the  traveller  desires. 
All  the  world  does  not  go  to  the  Havana,  and  the  subject  is 
not,  therefore,  ore  of  general  interest.  But  in  speaking  of  ho- 
tels at  large,  so  much  I  find  myself  bound  to  say. 

In  all  the  countries  to  which  I  have  alluded  the  guests  of  the 
house  are  expected  to  sit  down  together  at  one  table.  Con- 
versation is  at  any  rate  possible,  and  there  is  the  show  if  not 
the  reality  of  society. 

And  now  one  word  as  to  English  inns.  I  do  not  think  that 
we  Englishmen  have  any  great  right  to  be  proud  of  them.  The 
worst  about  them  is  that  they  deteriorate  from  year  to  year  in- 
stead of  becoming  better.  We  used  to  hear  much  of  the  com- 
fort of  the  old  English  wayside  inu,  but  the  old  English  way- 
side inn  has  gone.  The  railway  hotel  has  taken  its  place,  and 
the  railway  hotel  is  too  frequently  gloomy,  desolate,  comfort- 
Itiss,  and  almost  suicidal.  In  England  too,  since  the  old  days 
are  gone,  there  are  wanting  the  landlord's  bow,  and  the  kindly 
smile  of  his  stout  wife.  Who  now  knows  the  landlord  of  an 
inn,  or  cares  to  inquire  whether  or  no  there  be  a  landlady? 
The  old  welcome  is  wanting,  and  the  cheery  warm  air  which 


Wll 


AMEBICAN  HOTELS. 


555 


3n, — ex- 
ormolu 
logs  of 
bich  iho 
to  make 
past.    I 
id  manu- 
;  good  at 
ud  much 
tiem  with 

Durse  I  do 
r-off  roatl- 
frora  time 
be judged 
and  them. 
y  can  beat 
t*  abomina- 
er  desires, 
subject  is 
ing  of  ho- 


used to  at  one  for  the  bad  port  and  tough  beef  has  passed  away 
— while  the  port  is  still  bad  and  the  beef  too  often  tough. 

In  England,  and  only  in  England,  as  I  believe,  is  maintained 
in  hotel  life  the  theory  of  solitary  existence.    The  sojourner  at 
an  English  inn, — unless  he  be  a  commercial  traveller,  and,  as 
such,  a  member  of  a  universal,  peripatetic,  tradesman's  club, — 
lives  alone.    He  has  his  breakfast  alone,  his  dinner  alone,  his 
pint  of  wine  alone,  and  his  cup  of  tea  alone.    It  is  not  consid- 
ered practicable  that  two  strangers  should  sit  at  the  same  ta- 
ble, or  cut  from  the  same  dish.     Consequently  his  dinner  is 
cooked  for  him  separately,  and  the  hotel  keeper  can  hardly  af- 
ford to  give  him  a  good  dinner.    He  has  two  modes  of  life 
from  which  to  choose.     He  either  lives  in  a  public  room, — call- 
ed a  coffee-room,  and  there  occupies  during  his  comfortless 
meal  a  separate  small  table  too  frequently  removed  from  fire 
and  light,  though  generally  exposed  to  draughts ;  or  else  he  in- 
dulges in  the  luxury  of  a  private  sitting-room,  and  endeavours 
to  find  solace  on  an  old  horse-hair  sofa,  at  the  cost  of  se^en 
shillings  a  day.    His  bedroom  is  not  so  arranged  that  he  can 
use  it  as  a  sitting-room.    Under  either  phase  of  life  he  can 
rarely  find  himself  comfortable,  and  therefore  he  lives  as  little 
at  an  hotel  as  the  circumstances  of  his  business  or  of  his  pleas- 
ure will  allow.     I  do  not  think  that  any  of  the  requisites  of 
a  good  inn  are  habitually  to  be  found  in  perfection  at  our 
Kings'  Heads  and  White  Horses,  though  the  falling  off  is 
not  so  lamentably  distressing   as  it  sometimes  is   in  other 
countries.    The  bedrooms  are  dingy  rather  than  dirty.     Ex- 
tra payment  to  servants  will  generally  produce  a  tub  of  cold 
water.    The  food  is  never  good,  but  it  is  usually  eatable,  and 
you  may  have  it  when  you  please.    The  wines  are  almost  al- 
ways bad,  but  the  traveller  can  fall  back  upon  beer.    The  at- 
tendance is  good,  provided  always  that  the  payment  for  it  is 
liberal.     The   cost  is  generally  too  high,  and  unfortunately 
grows  larger  and  larger  from  year  to  year.     Smiling  faces  are 
out  of  the  question  unless  specially  paid  for ;  and  as  to  that 
matter  of  foul  smells  there  is  often  room  for  improvement. 
An  English  inn  to  a  solitary  traveller  without  employment  is 
an  embodiment  of  dreary  desolation.    The  excuse  to  be  made 
for  this  is  that  English  men  and  women  do  not  live  much  at 
inns  in  their  own  country. 

The  American  inn  differs  from  all  those  of  which  I  have  made 
mention,  and  is  altogether  an  institution  apart,  and  a  thing  of 
itself.  JEotels  in  America  are  very  much  larger  and  more  nu- 
merous than  in  other  countries.    They  are  to  be  found  in  all 


■li 


656 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


,'     i 


',v 


Vi   'J 


% 


towns,  and  I  may  almost  say  in  all  villages.  In  England  and 
on  the  Continent  we  find  them  on  the  recognized  routes  of 
travel  and  in  towns  of  commercial  oi  social  importance.  On 
unfrequented  roads  and  in  villages  there  is  usually  some  small 
house  of  public  entertainment  in  which  '  he  unexpected  travel- 
ler may  obtain  food  and  shelter,  and  ia  which  the  expected 
boon  companions  of  the  neighbourhood  smoke  their  nightly 
pipes,  and  drink  their  nightly  tipple.  But  in  the  States  of 
America  the  first  sign  of  an  incipient  settlement  is  an  hotel 
five  stories  high,  with  an  ofiice,  a  bar,  a  cloak-room,  three  gen- 
tlemen's parlours,  two  ladies'  parlours,  a  ladies'  entrance,  and 
two  hundred  bedrooms. 

These,  of  course,  are  all  built  with  a  view  to  profit,  and  it 
may  be  presumed  that  in  each  case  the  originators  of  the  spec- 
ulation enter  into  some  calculation  as  to  their  expected  guests. 
Whence  are  to  come  the  sleepers  in  those  two  hundred  bed- 
rooms, and  who  is  to  pay  for  the  gaudy  sofas  and  numerous 
lounging  chairs  of  the  ladies'  parlours  ?  In  all  other  countries 
the  expectation  would  extend  itself  simply  to  travellers ; — to 
travellers  or  to  strangers  sojourning  in  the  land.  But  this  is 
by  no  means  the  case  as  to  these  speculations  in  America. 
When  the  new  hotel  rises  up  in  the  wilderness,  it  is  presumed 
that  people  will  come  there  with  the  express  object  of  inhabit- 
ing it.  The  hotel  itself  will  create  a  population, — as  the  rail- 
ways do.  With  us  railways  run  to  the  towns ;  but  in  the 
States  the  towns  run  to  the  railways.  It  is  the  same  thing 
with  the  hotels. 

Housekeeping  is  not  popular  with  young  married  people  in 
America,  and  there  are  various  reasons  why  this  should  be  so. 
Men  there  are  not  fixed  in  their  employment  as  they  are  with 
us.  If  a  young  Benedict  cannot  get  along  as  a  lawyer  at  Sa- 
lem, perhaps  he  may  thrive  as  a  shoemaker  at  Thermopylae. 
Jefierson  B.  Johnson  fails  m  the  lumber  line  at  Eleutheria,  but 
hearing  of  an  opening  for  a  Baptist  preache v  at  Big  Mud  Creek 
moves  himself  off  with  his  wife  and  three  children  at  a  week's 
notice.  Aminadab  Wiggs  takes  an  engagement  as  a  clerk  at 
a  steam-boat  office  on  the  Pongowonga  river,  but  he  goes  to 
his  employment  with  an  inward  conviction  that  six  months  will 
see  him  earning  his  bread  elsewhere.  Under  such  circumstan- 
ces even  a  large  wardrobe  is  a  nuisance,  and  a  collection  of  furni- 
ture would  be  as  appropriate  as  a  drove  of  elephants.  Then, 
again,  young  men  and  women  marry  without  any  means  already 
collected  on  which  to  commence  their  life.  They  are  content  to 
look  forward  and  to  hope  that  such  means  will  come.    In  so 


AMERICAN  HOTELS. 


657 


doing  they  arc  guilty  of  no  imprudence.  It  is  the  way  of  the 
country ;  and,  if  the  man  be  useful  for  anything,  employment 
will  certainly  come  to  him.  But  he  must  live  on  the  fruits  of 
that  employment,  and  can  only  pay  his  way  from  week  to 
week  and  from  day  to  day.  And  as  a  third  reason  I  think  I 
may  allege  that  the  mode  of  life  found  in  these  hotels  is  liked 
by  the  people  who  frequent  them.  It  is  to  their  taste.  They 
are  happy,  or  At  any  rate  contented  at  these  hotels,  and  do  not 
wish  for  household  cares.  As  to  the  two  first  reasons  which  I 
have  given  I  can  agree  as  to  the  necessity  of  the  case,  and  quite 
concur  as  to  the  expediency  of  marriage  under  such  circum- 
stances. But  as  to  that  matter  of  taste,  I  cannot  concur  at  all. 
Anything  more  forlorn  than  a  young  married  woman  at  an 
American  hotel,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive. 

Such  are  the  guests  expected  for  those  two  hundred  bed- 
rooms. The  chance  travellers  are  but  chance  additiors  to 
these,  and  are  not  generally  the  main  stay  of  the  house.  As  a 
matter  of  course  the  accommodation  for  travellers  which  these 
hotels  afibrd  increases  and  creates  travelling.  Men  come  be- 
cause they  know  they  will  be  fed  and  bedded  at  a  moderate 
cost,  and  in  an  easy  way,  suited  to  their  tastes.  With  us,  and 
throughout  Europe,  inquiry  is  made  before  an  unaccustomed 
journey  is  commenced,  on  that  seriouo  question  of  wayside 
food  and  shelter.  But  in  the  States  no  such  question  is  need- 
ed. A  big  hotel  is  a  matter  of  course,  and  therefore  men  travel. 
Everybody  travels  in  the  States.  The  railways  and  the  hotels 
have  between  them  so  churned  up  the  people  that  an  untrav- 
elled  man  or  woman  is  a  rare  animal.  We  are  apt  to  suppose 
that  travellers  make  roads,  and  that  guests  create  hotels ;  but 
the  cause  and  effect  run  exactly  in  the  other  way.  I  am  almost 
disposed  to  think  that  we  should  become  cannibals  if  gentle- 
men's legs  and  ladies'  arms  were  hung  up  for  sale  in  purvey- 
ors' shops. 

After  this  fashion  and  with  these  intentions  hotels  are  built. 
Size  and  an  imposing  exterior  are  the  first  requisitions.  Every- 
thing about  them  must  be  on  a  large  scale.  A  commanding 
exterior,  and  a  certain  interior  dignity  of  demeanour  is  more 
essential  than  comfort  or  civility.  Whatever  an  hotel  may 
he  it  must  not  be  "  mean."  In  the  American  vernacular  the 
word  "  mean"  is  very  significant.  A  mean  white  in  the  South 
is  a  man  who  owns  no  slaves.  Men  are  often  mean,  but  ac- 
tions are  seldom  so  called.  A  man  feels  mean  when  the  blus- 
ter is  taken  out  of  him.  A  mean  hotel,  conducted  in  a  quiet 
unostentatious  manner,  in  which  the  only  endeavour  made  had 


i 


v: 


658 


NOBTU    AMi£KICA. 


l/, 


reference  to  the  comfort  of  a  few  guests,  would  find  no  favour 
in  the  States.  These  hotels  are  not  called  by  the  name  of  any 
sign,  as  with  us  in  our  provinces.  There  are  no  "  Presidents' 
Heads"  or  "  Genwal  Sootts."  Nor  by  the  name  of  the  land- 
lord,  or  of  some  former  landlord,  as  with  us  in  London,  and  in 
many  cities  of  the  Continent.  Nor  are  they  called  from  some 
country  or  city  which  may  have  been  presumed  at  some  time 
to  have  had  special  patronage  for  the  establishment.  In  the 
nomenclature  of  American  hotels  the  speciality  of  American 
hero-worship  is  shown,  as  in  the  nomenclature  of  their  children. 
Every  inn  is  a  house,  and  these  houses  are  generally  named  af- 
ter some  hero,  little  known  probably  in  the  world  at  large,  but 
highly  estimated  in  that  locality  at  the  moment  of  the  chris- 
tening. 

They  ai'e  always  built  on  a  plan  which  to  a  European  seems 
to  be  most  unnecessarily  extravagant  in  space.  It  is  not  unfre- 
quently  the  case  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  ground-floor  is 
occupied  by  rooms  and  halls  which  make  no  return  to  the  house 
whatever.  The  visitor  enters  a  great  hall  by  the  front  door, 
and  almost  invariably  finds  it  full  of  men  who  are  idling  about, 
sitting  round  on  stationary  seats,  talking  in  a  listless  manner, 
and  getting  through  their  time  as  though  the  place  were  a  pub- 
lic lounging  room.  And  so  it  is.  The  chances  are  that  not 
half  the  crowd  are  guests  at  the  hotel.  I  will  now  follow  the 
visitor  as  he  makes  his  way  up  to  the  oflSce.  Every  hotel  has 
an  office.  To  call  this  place  the  bar,  as  I  have  done  too  fre- 
quently, is  a  lamentable  error.  The  bar  is  held  in  a  separate 
room  appropriated  solely  to  drinking.  To  the  office,  which  ia 
in  fact  a  long  open  counter,  the  guest  walks  up,  and  there  in- 
scribeb  his  name  in  a  book.  This  inscription  was  to  me  a  mo- 
ment of  misery  which  I  could  never  go  through  with  equanim- 
ity. As  the  name  is  written,  and  as  the  request  for  accommo- 
dation is  made,  half  a  dozen  loungers  look  over  your  name  and 
listen  to  what  you  say.  They  listen  attentively,  and  spell  your 
name  carefully,  but  the  great  man  behind  the  bar  does  not  seem 
to  listen  or  to  heed  you.  Your  destiny  is  never  imparted  to 
you  on  the  instant.  If  your  wife  or  any  other  woman  be  with 
you,  (the  word  "lady"  is  made  so  absolutely  distasteful  in 
American  hotels  that  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  use  it  in  writing 
of  them,)  she  has  been  carried  off  to  a  lady's  waiting  room, 
and  there  remains  in  august  wretchedness  till  the  great  man  at 
the  bar  shall  have  decided  on  her  fate.  I  have  never  been  quite 
able  to  fathom  the  mystery  of  these  delays.  I  think  they  must 
have  originated  in  the  necessity  of  waiting  to  see  what  might 


fmi 


AMEBICAN  HOTELS. 


659 


be  the  influx  of  travellers  at  the  moment,  and  then  have  be- 
come exaggerated  and  brought  to  their  present  normal  state 
by  the  gratified  feeling  of  almost  divine  power  with  which  for 
the  time  it  invests  that  despotic  arbiter.  I  have  found  it  al- 
ways the  same,  though  arriving  with  no  crowd,  by  a  convey- 
ance of  my  own,  when  no  other  expectant  guests  were  follow- 
ing me.  The  great  man  has  listened  to  my  request  in  silence, 
with  an  imperturbable  face,  and  has  usually  continued  his  con- 
versation with  some  loafing  friend,  who  at  the  time  is  probably 
scrutinizing  my  name  in  the  book.  I  liave  often  sufiered  in 
patience ;  but  patience  is  not  specially  the  badge  of  my  tribe, 
and  I  have  sometimes  spoken  out  rather  freely.  If  I  may  pre- 
sume to  give  advice  to  my  travelling  countrymen  how  to  act 
under  such  circumstances  I  should  recommend  to  them  free- 
dom of  speech  rather  than  patience.  The  great  man  when 
freely  addressed  generally  opens  his  eyes,  and  selects  the  key 
of  your  room,  without  further  delay.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  selection  will  not  be  made  in  any  way  to  your  detri- 
ment by  reason  of  that  freedom  of  speech.  The  lady  in  the 
ballad  who  spoke  out  her  own  mind  to  Lord  Bateman  was  sent 
to  her  home  honourably  in  a  coach  and  three.  Had  she  held 
her  tongue  we  are  justified  in  presuming  that  she  would  have 
been  returned  on  a  pillion  behind  a  servant. 

I  have  been  greatly  annoyed  by  that  silence  on  the  part  of 
the  hotel  clerk.  I  have  repeatedly  asked  for  room,  and  received 
no  syllable  in  return.  I  have  persisted  m  my  request,  and  the 
clerk  has  nodded  his  head  at  me.  Until  a  traveller  is  known, 
these  gentlemen  are  singularly  sparing  of  speech, — especially 
in  the  West.  The  same  economy  of  words  runs  down  from 
the  great  man  at  the  office  all  through  the  servants  of  the  es- 
tablishment. It  arises,  I  believe,  entirely  from  that  want  of 
courtesy  which  democratic  institutions  create.  The  man  whom 
you  address,  has  to  make  a  battle  against  the  state  of  subserv- 
ience, presumed  to  be  indicated  by  his  position,  and  he  does  so 
by  declaring  his  indifference  to  the  person  on  whose  wants  he 
is  paid  to  attend.  I  have  been  honoured  on  one  or  two  occa- 
sions by  the  subsequent  intimacy  of  these  great  men  at  the  ho- 
tel offices,  and  have  then  found  them  ready  enough  at  conver- 
sation. 

That  necessity  of  making  your  request  for  rooms  before  a 
public  audience,  is  not  in  itself  agreeable,  and  sometimes  entails 
a  conversation  which  might  be  more  comfortably  made  in  pi-i- 
vate.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  a  dressing-room,  and  why  do 
you  want  one  ?"    Now  that  is  a  question  which  an  English- 


H 


500 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


A 


t  n- 


1 


i!    '.■ 


If   W 


man  feels  Jiwkwanl  at  answering  before  five-antl-twcnty  Amer- 
icana, with  open  months  and  eager  eyes ;  but  it  has  to  be  an- 
swered. When  I  left  England,  1  was  assured  that  I  should  not 
find  any  need  for  a  separate  sitting-room,  seeing  that  drawing- 
rooms  more  or  less  sumptuous  were  prepared  for  the  accom- 
modation of  "  ladies."  At  first  we  attempted  to  follow  the  ad- 
vice given  to  us,  but  we  broke  down.  A  man  and  his  wife 
travelling  from  town  to  town,  and  making  no  sojourn  on  his 
way,  may  eat  and  sleep  at  an  hotel  without  a  private  parlour. 
But  an  English  woman  cannot  live  in  comfort  for  a  week,  or 
even,  in  comfort,  for  a  day,  at  any  of  these  houses,  without  a  sit- 
ting-room for  herself.  The  ladies*  drawing-room  is  a  desolate 
wilderness.  The  American  women  themselves  do  not  use  it. 
It  is  generally  empty,  or  occupied  by  some  forlorn  spinster,  elic- 
iting narsh  sounds  from  the  wretched  piano  which  it  contains. 
The  price  at  these  hotels  throughout  the  Union  is  nearly  al- 
ways the  same,  viz.,  two  and  a  half  dollars  a  day,  for  which  a 
bedroom  is  given,  and  as  many  meals  as  the  guest  can  contrive 
to  eat.  This  is  the  price  for  chance  guests.  The  cost  to  monthly 
boarders  is,  I  believe,  not  more  than  the  half  of  this.  Ten  shil- 
lings a  day,  therefore,  covers  everything  that  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary, servants  included.  And  this  must  be  said  in  praise  of 
these  inns :  that  the  traveller  can  compute  his  expenses  accu- 
rately, and  can  absolutely  bring  them  within  that  daily  sum  of 
ten  snillings.  This  includes  a  great  deal  of  eating,  a  great  deal 
of  attendance,  the  use  of  reading-rooms  and  smoking-rooms — 
which,  however,  always  seem  to  be  open  to  the  public  as  well 
as  to  the  guests, — and  a  bedroom  with  accommodation  which 
is  at  any  rate  as  good  as  the  average  accommodation  of  hotels 
in  Europe.  In  the  large  Eastern  towns  baths  are  attached  to 
many  of  the  rooms.  I  always  carry  my  own,  and  have  never 
failed  in  getting  water.  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 
price  is  very  low.  It  is  so  low  that  I  believe  it  affords,  as  a 
rule,  no  profit  whatsoever.  The  profit  is  made  upon  extra 
charges,  and  they  are  higher  than  in  any  other  country  that  I 
have  visited.  They  are  so  high  that  I  consider  travelling  in 
America,  for  an  Englishman  with  his  wife  or  family,  to  be  more 
expensive  than  travelling  in  any  part  of  Europe.  First  in  the 
list  of  extras  comes  that  matter  of  the  sitting-room,  and  by  that 
for  a  man  and  his  wife  the  whole  first  expense  is  at  once  doub- 
led. The  ordinary  charge  is  five  dollars,  or  one  pound  a  day ! 
A  guest  intending  to  stay  for  two  or  three  weeks  at  an  hotel,  or 
perhaps  for  one  week,  may,  by  agreement,  have  this  charge  re- 
duced.    At  one  inn  I  stayed  a  fortnight,  and  having  made  no 


■MM 


mmmmim 


AMERICAN   HOTELS. 


561 


Amer- 

be  an- 

ild  not 

awing- 

accom- 

the  ad- 

As  wife 
on  hia 

)arlour. 

reek,  or 

lUt  a  sit- 

iesolate 

t  use  it. 

,tcr,  cUc- 

jontains. 

Lcarly  al- 

wliicli  a 

contrive 

monthly 

Ten  shil' 

itely  nec- 

praise  of 

ises  accu- 

iy  sum  of 

;reat  deal 

;.rooms — 

.c  as  well 

[on  which 
of  hotels 
,ached  to 
i\e  never 
that  the 
.rds,  as  a 
,on  extra 
[ry  that  I 
'elling  in 
,  be  more 
•St  in  the 
|d  by  that 
ice  doub- 
id  a  day ! 
hotel,  or 
|harge  re- 
made no 


such  agreement  was  charged  the  full  sum.  I  felt  myself  sth-rcd 
up  to  complain,  and  did  in  that  case  remonstrate.  I  was  asked 
how  nmch  I  wislicd  to  have  returned, — for  the  bill  had  been 
paid, — and  the  sum  I  suggested  was  at  once  handed  to  me. 
But  even  with  such  reduction  the  price  is  very  high,  and  at 
once  makes  the  American  hotel  expensive.  Wine  also  at  these 
houses  is  very  costly,  and  very  bad.  The  usual  price  is  two 
dollars,  or  eight  shillings,  a  bottle.  The  people  of  the  country 
rarely  drink  wine  at  dinner  in  the  hotels.  When  they  do  so, 
they  drink  champagne ;  but  their  normal  drinking  is  done  sep- 
arately, at  the  bar,  chiefly  before  dirmer,  and  at  a  cheap  rate. 
"  A  drink,"  let  it  bo  what  it  may,  invariably  costs  a  dime,  or 
fivepence.  But  if  you  must  have  a  glass  of  sherry  with  your 
dinner,  it  costs  two  dollars ;  for  sherry  does  not  grow  into  pint 
bottles  in  the  States.  But  the  guest  who  remains  for  two  days 
can  have  Iiis  wine  kept  for  him.  Washing  also  is  an  expensive 
luxury.  The  price  of  this  is  invariable,  being  always  fourpenco 
for  everything  washed.  A  cambric  handkerchief  or  muslin 
dress  all  come  out  at  the  same  price.  For  those  who  are  cun- 
ning in  the  matter  this  may  do  very  well;  but  for  men  and 
women  whose  cuffs  and  collars  are  numerous  it  becomes  ex- 
pensive. The  craft  ot  those  who  are  cunning  is  shown,  I  think, 
m  little  internal  washings,  by  which  the  cambric  handkerchiefs 
are  kept  out  of  the  list,  while  the  muslin  dresses  are  placed  upon 
it.  I  am  led  to  this  surmise  by  the  energetic  measures  taken 
by  the  hotel  keepers  to  prevent  such  domestic  washings,  and 
by  the  denunciations  which  in  every  hotel  are  pasted  up  in  every 
room  against  the  practice.  I  could  not  at  first  understand  why 
I  was  always  warned  against  washing  my  own  clothes  in  my 
own  bedroom,  and  told  that  no  foreign  laundress  could  on  any 
account  be  admitted  into  the  house.  The  injunctions  given  on 
this  head  are  almost  frantic  in  their  energy,  and  therefore  I 
conceive  that  hotel  keepers  find  themselves  exposed  to  much 
suffering  in  the  matter.  At  these  hotels  they  wash  with  great 
rapidity,  sending  you  back  your  clothes  in  four  or  five  hours  if 
you  desire  it. 

Another  very  stringent  order  is  placed  before  the  face  of  all 
visitors  at  American  hotels,  desiring  them  on  no  account  to 
leave  valuable  property  in  their  rooms.  I  presume  that  there 
must  have  been  some  difficulty  in  this  matter  in  bygone  years, 
for  in  every  State  a  law  has  been  passed  declaring  that  hotel 
keepers  shall  not  be  held  responsible  for  money  or  jewels  stolen 
out  of  rooms  in  their  houses,  provided  that  they  are,  furnished 
with  safes  for  keeping  such  money,  and  give  due  caution  to 

A  a2 


ti 


1^1 


662 


NORTH   AMBBICA. 


t 


1' 


m 


^  f 


■-,,.1 


their  guests  on  the  subject.  The  duo  caution  is  always  given, 
but  I  have  seldom  myself  taken  any  notice  of  it.  I  have  always 
left  my  portmanteau  open,  and  have  kept  my  money  usually  in 
a  travelling  desk  in  my  room.  But  I  never  to  my  knowledge 
lost  anything.  The  world,  I  think,  gives  itself  credit  for  more 
thieves  than  it  possesses.  As  to  the  female  servants  at  Amer- 
ican inns,  they  are  generally  all  that  is  disagreeable.  They  are 
uncivil,  impudent,  dirty,  slow, — provoking  to  a  degree.  But 
I  believe  that  they  keep  their  hands  from  picking  and  stealing. 

I  never  yet  made  a  single  comfortable  meal  at  an  American 
hotel,  or  rose  from  my  breakfast  or  dinner  with  that  feeling  of 
satisfaction  which  should,  I  think,  be  felt  at  such  moments  in 
a  civilized  land  in  which  cookery  prevails  as  an  art.  I  have 
had  enough,  and  have  been  healthy,  and  am  thankful.  But 
that  thankfulness  is  altogether  a  matter  apart,  and  does  not 
bear  upon  the  question.  If  need  be  I  can  eat  food  that  is  dis- 
agreeable to  my  palate,  and  make  no  complaint.  But  I  hold 
it  to  be  compatible  with  the  principles  of  an  advanced  Chris- 
tianity to  prefer  food  that  is  palatable.  I  never  could  get  any 
of  that  kind  at  an  American  hotel.  All  meal-times  at  such 
houses  were  to  me  periods  of  disagreeable  duty ;  and  at  this 
moment,  as  I  write  these  lines  at  the  hotel  in  which  I  am  still 
staying,  I  pine  for*  an  English  leg  of  mutton.  But  I  do  not 
wish  it  to  be  supposed  that  the  fault  of  which  I  complain, — for 
it  is  a  grievous  fault, — is  incidental  to  America  as  a  nation.  I 
have  stayed  in  private  houses,  and  have  daily  sat  down  to  din- 
ners quite  as  good  as  any  my  own  kitchen  could  afford  me. 
Their  dinner  parties  are  generally  well  done,  and  as  a  people 
they  are  by  no  means  indifferent  to  the  nature  of  their  comes- 
tibles. It  is  of  the  hotels  that  I  speak,  and  of  them  I  again 
say  that  eating  in  them  is  a  disagreeable  task, — a  painful  la- 
bour. It  is  as  a  schoolboy's  lesson,  or  the  six  hours'  confine- 
ment of  a  clerk  at  his  desk. 

The  mode  of  eating  is  as  follows.  Certain  feeding  hours  are 
named,  which  generally  include  nearly  all  the  day.  Breakfast 
from  six  till  ten.  Dinner  from  one  till  five.  Tea  from  six  till 
nine.  Supper  from  nine  till  twelve.  When  the  guest  presents 
himself  at  any  of  these  hours  he  is  marshalled  to  a  seat,  and  a 
bill  is  put  into  his  hand  containing  the  names  of  all  the  eatables 
then  offered  for  his  choice.  The  list  is  incredibly  and  most  un- 
necessarily long.  Then  it  is  that  you  will  see  care  written  on 
the  face  of  the  American  hotel  liver,  as  he  studies  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  coming  performance.  With  men  this  passes 
off  unnoticed,  but  with  young  girls  the  appearance  of  the  thing 


■M 


■■MMMM 


I'M 


AMKEICAN  HOTELS. 


563 


is  not  attractive.  The  anxious  study,  tho  elaborate  reading 
of  tlio  dail^  book,  and  then  the  choice  prochiimed  with  clear 
articulation.  "Boiled  mutton  and  caper  sauce,  roast  duck, 
hashed  venison,  mashed  potatoes,  poached  eggs  and  spinach, 
stewed  tomatoes.  Yes;  and  waiter, — some  scjuash."  Thero 
is  no  false  delicacy  in  the  voice  by  which  this  order  is  given, 
no  desire  for  a  gentle  whisper.  The  dinner  is  ordered  with 
the  firm  determination  of  an  American  heroine,  and  in  some 
five  minutes'  time  all  the  little  dishes  appear  at  once,  and  tho 
lady  is  surrounded  by  her  banquet. 

How  I  did  learn  to  hate  those  little  dishes  and  their  greasy 
contents  I  At  a  London  eating-house  things  arc  often  not  very 
nice,  but  your  meat  is  put  on  a  plato  and  comes  before  you  in 
an  ediblo  shape.  At  these  hotels  it  is  brought  to  you  m  hor- 
rid little  oval  dishes,  and  swims  in  grease.  Gravy  is  not  an 
institution  at  American  hotels,  but  grease  has  taken  its  place. 
It  is  palpable,  undisguised  grease,  floating  in  rivers, — not  grease 
caused  by  accidental  bad  cookery,  but  grease  on  purpose.  A 
beef-steak  is  not  a  beef-steak  unless  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of 
butter  be  added  to  it.  Those  horrid  little  dishes!  If  one 
thinks  of  it  how  could  they  have  been  made  to  contain  Chris- 
tian food  ?  Every  article  in  that  long  list  is  liable  to  the  call 
of  any  number  of  guests  for  four  hours.  Under  such  circum- 
stances how  can  food  be  made  eatable  ?  Your  roast  mutton 
is  brought  to  you  raw ; — if  you  object  to  that  you  aro  supplied 
with  meat  that  has  been  four  times  brought  before  the  public. 
At  hotels  on  the  continent  of  Europe  different  dinners  are 
cooked  at  different  hours,  but  here  the  same  dinner  is  kept  d- 
ways  going.  The  house  breakfast  is  maintained  on  a  similar 
footing.  Huge  boilers  of  tea  and  coffee  are  stewed  dowu  and 
kept  hot.  To  me  those  meals  were  odious.  It  is  of  course 
open  to  any  one  to  have  separate  dinners  and  separate  break- 
fasts in  his  own  room ;  but  by  this  little  is  gained  and  much 
is  lost.  He  or  she  who  is  so  exclusive  pays  twice  over  for 
such  meals, — as  they  are  charged  as  extras  on  the  bill ;  and, 
after  all,  receives  the  advantage  of  no  exclusive  cooking.  Par- 
ticles from  the  public  dinners  are  brought  to  the  private  room, 
and  the  same  odious  little  dishes  make  their  appearance. 

But  the  most  striking  peculiarity  of  the  American  hotels  is 
in  their  public  rooms.  Of  the  ladies'  drawing-room  I  have 
spoken.  There  are  two  and  sometimes  three  in  one  hotel,  and 
they  are  generally  furnished,  at  any  rate  expensively.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  space  and  the  furniture  are  almost  thrown  away. 
At  watering  places,  and  sea-side  summer  hotels  they  are,  I 


504 


NORTU  A&IEBICA. 


r 


m 


1 


jircsumo,  uscrl ;  but  at  orclinary  hotels  they  arc  empty  deserts. 
The  int<!nti('!j  is  j^ood,  for  tliey  are  established  with  the  view 
of  giviuj^  lo  ladies  at  hotels  the  comforts  of  ordinary  domestio 
life ;  but  they  fail  in  their  effect.  Ladies  will  not  make  them- 
selves happy  in  any  room,  or  with  ever  so  much  gilded  furni- 
ture, unless  some  means  of  happiness  be  provided  for  them. 
Into  these  rooms  no  book  is  ever  brought,  no  needle-work  is 
introduced ;  from  them  no  clatter  of  many  tongues  is  ever 
heard.  On  a  marble  table  in  the  nnddle  of  the  room  always 
stands  a  large  pitcher  of  iced  water,  and  from  this  a  cold,  damp, 
uninviting  air  is  spread  through  the  atmosphere  of  the  ladies' 
drawing-room. 

Below,  on  the  ground  floor,  there  is,  in  the  first  place,  the 
huge  entrance  liall,  at  the  back  of  which,  behind  a  bar,  the 
great  man  of  the  place  keeps  the  keys  and  holds  his  court. 
There  art)  generally  seats  around  it,  in  which  smokers  sit, — or 
men  not  smoking  but  ruminating.  Opening  off  from  this  are 
reading  rooms,  smoking  rooms,  shaving  rooms,  drinking  rooms, 
parlours  for  gentlemen  in  which  smoking  is  prohibited,  and 
which  are  generally  as  desolate  as  the  ladies'  sitting-rooms 
above.  In  those  other  more  congenial  chambers  is  always 
gathered  together  a  crowd,  apparently  belonging  in  no  way  to 
the  hotel.  It  would  seem  that  a  great  portion  of  an  American 
inn  is  as  open  to  the  public  as  an  Exchange,  or  as  the  wayside 
of  the  street.  In  the  West,  during  the  months  of  this  war, 
the  traveller  would  always  see  many  soldiers  among  the  crowd, 
— not  only  oflicers,  but  privates.  They  sit  in  public  seats,  si- 
lent but  apparently  contented,  sometimes  for  an  hour  together. 
All  Americans  are  given  to  gat-herings  such  as  these.  It  is 
the  much-loved  institution  to  which  the  name  ol  "  loafing"  has 
been  given. 

I  do  not  like  the  mode  of  life  which  prevails  in  the  Ameri- 
can hotels.  I  have  come  across  exceptions,  and  know  one  or 
two  that  are  comfortable, — always  excepting  that  matter  of 
eating  and  drinking.  But  taking  them  as  a  whole  I  do  not 
like  their  mode  oflife.  I  feei,  however,  bound  to  add  that  the 
hotels  of  Canada,  which  are  kept,  I  think,  always  after  the 
same  fashion,  are  infinitely  worse  than  those  of  the  United 
States.  I  do  not  like  the  American  hotels ;  but  I  must  say  in 
their  favour  that  they  afford  an  immense  amount  of  accommo- 
dation. The  traveller  is  rarely  told  that  an  hotel  is  full,  so 
that  travelling  in  America  is  without  one  of  those  great  perils 
to  which  it  is  subject  in  Eiu-ope.  It  must  also  be  acknowl- 
edged that  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  a  traveller  they  are 
very  cheap. 


I     1 


LITEllATUnE, 


565 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


LITEKATURE. 


In  speaking  of  the  litcr&tuce  of  any  country  wo  arc,  I  think,  too 
much  inclined  to  regard  the  question  as  one  appertaining  exclu- 
sively to  the  writers  of  books, — not  acknowledging,  as  we  should 
do,  that  the  literary  character  of  a  people  will  depend  much  more 
upon  what  it  reads  than  what  it  writes.  If  we  can  suppose  any 
people  to  have  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Inist  literary  ef- 
forts of  other  countries,  wo  should  hardly  be  correct  in  saying  that 
such  a  people  had  no  literary  history  of  their  own  because  it  had 
itself  produced  nothing  in  literature.  And,  with  reference  to  those 
countries  which  have  been  most  fertile  in  the  production  of  good 
books,  I  doubt  whether  their  literary  histories  would  not  have 
more  to  tell  of  those  ages  in  which  much  has  been  read  than  of 
those  in  which  much  has  been  written. 

The  United  States  have  been  by  no  means  barren  in  the  produc- 
tion of  literature.  The  truth  is  so  far  from  this  that  their  literary 
triumphs  arc  perhaps  those  which  of  all  their  triumphs  are  the 
most  honourable  to  them,  and  which,  considering  their  position 
as  a  young  nation,  are  the  most  permanently  satisfactory.  But 
though  they  have  done  much  in  writing,  they  have  done  much 
more  in  reading.  As  producers  they  are  more  than  respectable, 
but  as  consumers  they  are  the  most  conspicuous  people  on  the 
earth.  It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  the  subject  of  literature  in 
America  without  thinking  of  the  readers  rather  than  of  the  writ- 
ers. In  this  matter  their  position  is  different  from  that  of  any 
other  great  people,  seeing  that  they  share  the  advantages  of  our 
language.  An  American  will  perhaps  consider  himself  to  be  as 
little  like  an  Englishman  as  he  is  like  a  Frenchman.  But  he  reads 
Shakespeare  through  the  medium  of  his  own  vernacular,  and  has 
to  undergo  the  penance  of  a  foreign  tongue  before  he  can  under- 
stand Moliere.  He  separates  himself  from  England  in  politics 
and  perhaps  in  affection ;  but  he  cannot  separate  himself  from  En- 
gland in  mental  culture.  It  may  be  suggested  that  an  English- 
man has  the  same  advantages  as  regards  America ;  and  it  is  true 
that  he  is  obtaining  much  of  such  advantage.  Irving,  Prescott, 
and  Longfellow  are  the  same  to  England  as  though  she  herself  had 
])i()duced  them.  But  the  balance  of  advantage  must  be  greatly  in 
favour  of  America.  We  have  given  her  tiie  work  of  four  hundred 
years,  and  have  received  back  in  return  the  work  of  Hfty. 


[I* 

1 


566 


NOBTII   AMERICA. 


,      I 


V    I 


>A 


u 


u.. 


Is 


And  of  this  advantage  the  Americans  have  not  been  slow  to 
avail  themselves.  As  consumers  of  literature  they  are  certainly 
the  most  conspicuous  people  on  the  earth.  Where  an  English 
publisher  contents  himself  with  thousands  of  copies  an  American 
publisher  deals  with  ten  thousands.  The  sale  of  a  new  book, 
which  in  numbers  would  amount  ta  a  considerable  success  with 
us,  would  with  them  be  a  lamentable  failure.  This,  of  course,  is 
accounted  for,  as  regards  the  author  and  the  publisher,  by  the  dif- 
ference of  price  at  which  the  book  is  produced.  One  thousand  in 
England  will  give  perhaps  as  good  a  return  as  the  ten  thousand  in 
America.  Bat  as  regards  the  readers  there  can  be  no  such  equal- 
ivation.  The  thousand  copies  cannot  spread  themselves  as  do  the 
ten  thousand.  The  one  book  at  a  guinea  cannot  multiply  itself, 
let  Mr.  Mudie  do  what  he  will,  as  do  the  ten  books  at  a  dollar. 
Ultimately  there  remain  the  ten  books  against  the  one ;  and  if 
there  be  not  the  ten  readers  against  the  one,  there  are  five,  or  four, 
or  three.  Everybody  in  the  States  has  books  about  his  house. 
"  And  so  has  everybody  in  England,"  will  say  my  English  reader, 
mindful  of  the  libraries,  or  book-rooms,  or  book-crowded  drawing- 
rooms  of  his  friends  and  acquaintances.  But  has  my  English 
reader  who  so  replies  examined  the  libraries  of  many  English  cab- 
men, of  ticket  porters,  of  warehousemen,  and  of  agricultural  la- 
bourers *?  I  cannot  take  upon  myself  to  say  that  I  have  done  so 
with  any  close  search  in  the  States.  But  when  it  has  been  in  my 
power  I  have  done  so,  and  I  have  always  found  books  in  such 
houses  as  I  have  entered.  The  amount  of  printed  matter  which 
is  poured  forth  in  streams  from  the  printing-presses  of  the  great 
American  publishers  is,  however,  a  better  proof  of  the  truth  of 
what  I  say  than  anything  that  I  can  have  seen  myself. 

But  of  wbtkt  class  are  the  books  that  are  so  read  *?  There  are 
many  who  think  that  reading  in  itself  is  not  good  unless  the  mat- 
ter read  be  excellent.  I  do  not  myself  quite  agree  with  this,  think- 
7  ng  that  almost  any  reading  is  better  than  none ;  but  I  will  of 
course  admit  that  good  matter  is  better  than  bad  matter.  The 
bulk  of  the  literature  consumed  in  the  States  is  no  doubt  composed 
of  novels, — as  it  is  also,  now-a-days,  in  this  country.  Whether  or 
no  an  unlimited  supply  of  novels  for  young  people  is  or  is  not  ad- 
vantageous, I  will  not  here  pretend  to  say.  The  general  opinion 
with  ourselves  I  take  it  is,  that  novels  are  bad  reading  if  they  be 
bad  of  their  kind.  Novels  that  arc  not  bad  are  now-a-days  ac- 
cepted generally  as  indispensable  to  our  households.  Whatever 
may  be  the  weakness  of  the  American  literary  tasto  in  this  re- 
spect, it  is,  I  think,  a  weakness  which  we  share.     There  are  more 


LITEKATUBE. 


567 


novel  readers  among  them  than  with  us,  but  only,  I  think,  in  the 
proportion  that  there  are  more  readers. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  works  by  English  authors 
are  more  popular  in  the  States  than  those  written  by  themselves ; 
and,  among  English  authors  of  the  present  day,  they  by  no  means 
confine  themselves  to  the  novelists.  The  English  names  of  whom 
I  heard  most  during  my  sojourn  in  the  States,  were  perhaps  those 
of  Dickens,  Tennyson,  Buckle,  Tom  Hughes,  Martin  Tupper,  and 
Thackeray.  As  the  owners  of  all  these  names  are  still  living,  I 
am  not  going  to  take  upon  myself  the  delicate  task  of  criticising 
the  American  taste.  I  may  not  perhaps  coincide  with  them  in 
every  respect.  But  if  I  be  right  as  to  the  names  which  I  have 
given,  such  a  selection  shows  that  they  do  get  beyond  novels.  I 
have  little  doubt  but  that  many  more  copies  of  Dickens's  novels 
have  been  sold  during  the  last  three  years,  than  of  the  works  ei- 
ther of  Tennyson  or  of  Buckle ;  but  such  also  has  been  the  case 
in  England.  It  will  probably  be  admitted  that  one  copy  of  the 
"Civilization"  should  be  held  as  being  equal  to  five-and-twenty 
of  "  Nicholas  Nickleby,"  and  that  a  single  "In  Memoriam"  may 
fairly  weigh  down  half-a-dozen  "  Pickwicks."  Men  and  women 
after  their  day's  work  are  not  always  up  to  the  "  Civilization." 
As  a  rule  they  are  generally  up  to  "  Proverbial  Philosophy,"  and 
this,  perhaps,  may  have  had  sometliing  to  do  with  the  great  popu- 
larity of  that  very  popular  work. 

I  would  not  have  it  supposed  that  American  readers  despise 
their  own  authors.  The  Americans  are  very  proud  of  having  a 
literature  of  their  own.  Among  the  literary  names  which  they 
honour,  there  are  none,  I  think,  more  honourable  than  those  of 
Cooper  and  Irving.  They  like  to  know  that  their  modern  histo- 
rians are  acknowledged  as  great  authors,  and  as  regards  their  own 
poets  will  sometimes  demand  your  admiration  for  strains  with 
which  you  hardly  find  yourself  to  be  familiar.  But  English  books 
are,  I  think,  the  better  loved ; — even  the  English  books  of  the 
present  day.  And  even  beyond  this, — with  those  who  choose  to 
indulge  in  the  costly  luxuries  of  literature, — books  printed  in  En- 
gland are  more  popular  than  those  which  are  printed  in  their  own 
country ;  and  yet  the  manner  in  which  the  American  publishers 
put  out  their  work  is  very  good.  The  book  sold  there  at  a  dollar, 
or  a  dollar  and  a  quarter,  quite  equals  our  ordinary  five  shilling 
volume.  Nevertheless  English  books  are  preferred, — almost  as 
strongly  as  are  French  bonnets.  Of  books  absolutely  printed  and 
produced  in  England  the  supply  in  the  States  is  of  course  small. 
They  must  necessarily  be  costly,  and  as  regards  new  books,  are 


5G8 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


"       I 


:4 


r? 


v^: 


always  subjected  to  the  rivalry  of  a  cheaper  American  copy.  But 
of  the  reprinted  works  of  English  authors  the  supply  is  unlimited 
and  the  sale  very  great.  Almost  everything  is  reprinted ;  cer- 
tainly everything  which  can  be  said  to  £.ttain  any  home  popular- 
ity. I  do  not  know  how  far  English  authors  may  be  aware  of  the 
fact ;  but  it  is  undoubtedly  a  fact  that  their  influence  as  authors, 
is  greater  on  the  othcF  side  of  the  Atlantic  than  on  this.  It  is 
there  that  they  have  their  most  numerous  school  of  pupils.  It  is 
there  that  they  are  recognized  as  teachers  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. It  is  of  those  thirty  millions  that  they  should  think,  at  any 
rate  in  part,  when  they  discuss  within  their  own  hearts  that  ques- 
tion which  all  authors  do  discuss,  whether  that  which  they  write 
shall  in  itself  be  good  or  bad, — be  true  or  false.  A  writer  in  En- 
gland may  not,  perhaps,  think  very  much  of  this  with  reference  to 
some  trifle  of  which  his  English  publisher  proposes  to  sell  some 
seven  or  eight  hundred  copies.  But  he  begins  to  feel  that  he  should 
have  thought  of  it  when  ho  learns  that  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
copies  of  the  same  have  been  scattered  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  United  States.  The  English  author  should  feel 
that  he  writes  for  the  widest  circle  of  readers  ever  yet  obtained 
by  the  literature  of  any  country.  He  provides  not  only  for  his 
own  country  and  for  the  States,  but  for  the  readers  who  are  rising 
by  millions  in  the  British  colonies.  Canada  is  supplied  chiefly 
from  the  presses  of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  but  she 
is  supplied  with  the  works  of  the  mother  country.  India,  as  I  take 
it,  gets  all  her  books  direct  from  London,  as  do  the  West  Indies. 
Whether  or  no  the  Australian  colonies  have  as  yet  learned  to  re- 
print our  books  I  do  not  know,  but  I  presume  that  they  cannot  do 
80  as  cheaply  as  they  can  import  them.  London  with  us,  and  the 
three  cities  which  I  have  named  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
are  the  places  at  which  this  literature  is  manufactured ;  but  the 
demand  in  the  western  hemisphere  is  becoming  more  brisk  than 
that  which  the  old  world  creates.  There  is,  I  have  no  doubt, 
more  literary  matter  printed  in  London  than  in  all  America  put 
together.  A  greater  extent  of  letter-press  is  put  up  in  London 
than  in  the  three  publishing  cities  of  the  States.  But  the  num- 
ber of  copies  issued  by  the  American  publishers  is  so  much  great- 
er than  those  which  ours  put  forth,  that  the  greater  bulk  of  litera- 
ture is  with  them.  If  this  be  so,  the  demand  with  them  is  of 
course  greater  than  it  is  with  us. 

I  have  spoken  here  of  the  privilege  which  an  English  author  en- 
joys by  reason  of  the  ever  widening  circle  of  readers  to  whom  he 
writes.     I  speak  of  the  privilege  of  an  English  author  as  distin- 


'I 


LITERATURE. 


569 


.    But 

imited, 

\ ;  cer- 

opular- 

j  of  the 

,uthors, 

.     It  is 

.     It  is 

)f  thou- 

:,  at  any 

at  ques- 

ey  write 

r  in  En- 

trence  to 

lell  some 

le  should 

thousand 

igth  and 

iould  feel 
obtained 

\j  for  his 

are  rising 

id  chiefly 

^i,  but  she 
as  I  take 
st  Indies. 
led  to  rc- 
annot  do 
i,  and  the 
Atlantic, 
;  but  the 
frisk  than 
lO  doubt, 
icrica  put 
London 
[the  num- 
ich  great- 
of  litera- 
lem  is  of 

luthor  en- 
Iwhom  he 
las  distiU' 


guishcd  from  that  of  an  American  authon  I  profess  my  belief 
that  in  the  United  States  an  English  au.hor  has  an  advantage 
over  one  of  that  country  merely  in  the  fact  of  his  being  English, 
as  a  French  milliner  has  undoubtedly  an  advantage  in  her  nation- 
ality let  her  merits  or  demerits  as  a  milliner  be  what  they  may.  I 
think  that  English  books  are  better  liked  because  they  are  En- 
glish. But  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  feeling  with  us  either 
for  or  against  an  author  because  he  is  American.  I  believe  that 
Longfellow  stands  in  our  judgment  exactly  where  he  would  have 
stood  had  he  been  a  tutor  at  a  college  in  Oxford  instead  of  a  Pro- 
fessor at  Cambridge  in  Massachusetts.  Prescott  is  read  among  us 
as  an  historian  without  any  reference  as  to  his  nationality,  and  by 
many,  as  I  take  it,  in  absolute  ignorance  of  his  nationality.  Haw- 
thorne, the  novelist,  is  quite  as  well  known  in  England  as  he  is  in 
his  own  country.  But  I  do  not  know  that  to  either  of  these  three 
is  awarded  any  favour  or  is  denied  any  justice  because  he  is  an 
American.  Washington  Irving  published  many  of  his  works  in 
this  country,  receiving  very  large  sums  for  them  from  Mr.  Mur- 
ray, and  I  fancy  that  in  dealing  with  his  publisher  he  found  nei- 
ther advantage  ner  disadvantage  in  his  nationality ; — that  is,  of 
course,  advantage  or  disadvantage  in  reference  to  the  light  in 
which  his  works  would  be  regarded.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
there  is  no  jealousy  in  the  States  against  English  authors.  I  think 
that  there  is  a  feeling  in  their  favour,  but  no  one  can  at  any  rate 
allege  that  there  is  a  feeling  against  them.  I  think  I  may  also  as- 
sert on  the  part  of  my  own  country  that  therr  is  no  jealousy  here 
against  American  authors.  As  regards  the  tastes  of  the  people, 
the  works  of  each  country  flow  freely  through  the  other.  That  is 
as  it  should  be.  But  when  we  come  to  the  mode  of  supply,  things 
are  not  exactly  as  they  should  be ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
one  will  contradict  me  when  I  say  that  the  fault  is  with  the  Amer- 
icans. 

I  presume  that  all  my  readers  know  the  meaning  of  the  word 
copyright.  A  man's  copyright,  or  right  in  his  copy,  is  that  amount 
of  legal  possession  in  the  production  of  his  brains  which  has  been 
secured  to  him  by  the  laws  of  his  own  country  and  by  the  laws  of 
others.  Unless  an  author  were  secured  by  such  laws,  his  writings 
would  be  of  but  little  pecuniary  value  to  him,  as  the  right  of  print- 
ing and  selling  them  would  be  open  to  all  the  world.  In  England 
and  in  America,  and  as  I  conceive  in  all  countries  possessing  a  lit- 
erature, there  is  such  a  law  securing  to  authors  and  to  their  heirs 
for  a  term  of  years  the  exclusive  right  over  their  own  productions. 
That  this  should  be  so  in  England  as  regards  English  authors  is 


1 


670 


MOBTn   AMERICA. 


n  V  4 


,  t 


m 


V      .M 


\ 


')         ■ 


iBo  much  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  copyright  of  an  author  would 
seem  to  be  as  naturally  his  own  as  a  gentleman's  deposit  at  his 
bank  or  his  little  investment  in  the  three  per  cents.  The  right  of 
an  author  to  the  value  of  his  own  productions  in  other  countries 
than  his  own  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  course ;  but  nevertheless, 
if  such  productions  have  any  value  in  other  countries,  that  value 
should  belong  to  him.  This  has  been  felt  to  be  the  case  between 
Englar.d  and  France,  and  treaties  have  been  made  securing  his  own 
property  to  the  author  in  each  country.  The  fact  that  the  lan- 
guages of  England  and  France  are  different  makes  the  matter  one 
of  comparatively  small  moment.  But  it  has  been  found  to  be  for 
the  honour  and  profit  of  the  two  countries,  that  there  should  be 
such  a  law,  and  an  international  copyright  does  exist.  But  if  such 
an  arrangement  be  needed  between  two  such  countries  as  France 
and  England, — between  two  countries  which  do  not  speak  the 
same  language  or  share  the  same  literature,— how  much  more  nec- 
essary must  it  be  between  England  and  the  United  States  *?  The 
literature  of  the  one  country  is  the  literature  of  the  other.  The 
poem  that  is  popular  in  London  will  certainly  be  popular  in  New 
York.  The  novel  that  is  effective  among  Amevican  ladies  will  be 
equally  so  with  those  of  England.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
the  importance  of  having  a  law  of  copyright  betwcc  n  the  two 
countries.  The  only  question  can  be  as  to  the  expediency  and  the 
justice.  At  present  there  is  no  international  copyright  between 
England  and  the  United  States,  and  there  is  none  because  the 
States  have  declined  to  sanction  any  such  law.  It  is  known  by 
all  who  are  concerned  in  the  matter  on  either  side  of  the  water 
that  as  far  as  Great  Britain  is  concerned  such  a  law  would  meet 
with  no  impediment. 

Therefore  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  legislators  of  the  States 
think  it  expedient  and  just  to  dispense  with  any  such  law.  I  have 
said  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  importance  of  the  ques- 
tion, seeing  that  the  price  of  English  literature  jn  the  States  must 
be  most  materially  affected  by  it.  Without  such  a  law  the  Amer- 
icans are  enabled  to  import  English  literature  without  paying  for 
it.  It  is  open  to  any  American  publisher  to  reprint  any  work 
from  an  English  copy,  and  to  sell  his  reprints  without  any  permis- 
sion obtained  from  the  English  author  or  from  the  English  pub- 
lisher. The  absolute  material  which  the  American  publisher  sells, 
he  takes,  or  can  take,  for  nothing.  The  paper,  ink,  and  composi- 
tion he  supplies  in  the  ordinary  way  of  business ;  but  of  the  very 
matter  which  he  professes  to  sell, — of  the  book  which  is  the  object 
of  his  trade,  he  is  enabled  to  possess  huusclf  for  nothing.    If  you, 


"3: 


LITERATUIIE. 


671 


my  reader,  be  a  popular  author,  an  American  publisher  will  take 
the  choicest  work  of  your  brain  and  make  dollars  out  of  it,  selling 
thousands  of  copies  of  it  in  his  country,  whereas  you  can,  perhaps, 
only  sell  hundreds  of  it  in  your  own ;  and  will  either  give  you 
nothing  for  that  ho  takes, — or  else  will  explain  to  you  that  he 
need  give  you  nothing,  and  that  in  paying  you  anything  he  sub- 
jects himself  to  the  danger  of  seeing  the  property  which  he  has 
bought  taken  again  from  him  by  other  persons.  If  this  be  so  that 
question  whether  or  no  there  shall  be  a  law  of  international  copy- 
right between  the  two  countries  cannot  be  unimportant. 

But  it  may  be  inexpedient  that  there  shall  bo  such  a  law.  It 
may  bo  considered  well,  that  as  the  influx  of  English  books  into 
America  is  much  greater  than  the  out-flux  of  American  books 
back  to  England,  the  right  of  obtaining  such  books  for  nothing 
should  be  reserved,  although  the  country  in  doing  so  robs  its  own 
authors  of  the  advantage  which  should  accrue  to  them  from  the 
English  market.  It  might  perhaps  be  thought  anything  but  smart 
to  surrender  such  an  advantage  by  the  passing  of  an  international 
copyright  bill.  There  are  not  many  trades  in  which  the  trades- 
man can  get  the  chief  of  his  goods  for  nothing ;  and  it  may  be 
thought,  that  the  advantage  arising  to  the  States  from  such  an  ar- 
rangement of  circumstances  should  not  be  abandoned.  But  how 
then  about  the  justice?  It  would  seem  that  the  less  said  upon 
that  subject  the  better.  I  have  heard  no  one  say  that  an  author's 
property  in  his  own  works  should  not,  in  accordance  with  justice, 
be  insured  to  him  in  the  one  country  as  well  as  in  the  other.  I 
have  seen  no  defence  of  the  present  position  of  affairs,  on  the  score 
of  justice.  The  price  of  books  would  be  enhanced  by  an  interna- 
tional copyright  law,  and  it  is  well  that  books  should  be  cheap. 
That  is  the  only  argument  used.  So  would  mutton  be  cheap,  if  it 
could  be  taken  out  of  a  butcher's  shop  for  nothing ! 

But  I  absolutely  deny  the  expediency  of  the  present  position  of 
the  matter,  looking  simply  to  the  material  advantage  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  in  the  matter,  and  throwing  aside  altc^ether  that  ques- 
tion of  justice.  I  must  here,  however,  explain  that  I  bring  no 
charge  whatsoever  against  the  American  publishers.  The  English 
author  is  a  victim  in  their  hands,  but  it  is  by  no  means  their  fault 
that  he  is  so.  As  a  rule,  they  are  willing  to  pay  for  the  works  of 
popular  English  writers,  but  in  arranging  as  to  what  payments 
they  can  make,  they  must  of  course  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that 
they  have  no  exclusive  right  whatsoever  in  the  things  which  they 
purchase.  It  is  natural,  also,  that  they  should  bear  in  mind  when 
making  their  purchases,  and  axi'anging  their  prices,  that  they  can 


'ill 


i!l 


»\a(P  '' 


''■» 


k 


r'"r 


If  \i 


K^^ 


v»vf 


^IJ 


572 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


have  the  very  thing  they  are  buying  without  any  payment  at  all, 
if  the  price  asked  do  not  suit  them.  It  is  not  of  the  publishers 
that  I  complain,  or  of  any  advantage  which  they  take  ;  but  of  the 
legislators  of  the  country,  and  of  the  advantage  which  accrues,  or 
is  thought  by  them  to  accrue  to  the  American  people  from  the  ab- 
sence of  an  international  copyright  law.  It  is  mean  on  their  part 
to  take  such  advantage  if  it  existed ;  and  it  is  foolish  in  them  to 
suppose  that  any  such  advantage  can  accrue.  The  absence  of  any 
law  of  copyright  no  doubt  gives  to  the  American  publisher  the 
power  of  reprinting  the  works  of  English  authors  without  paying 
for  them, — seeing  that  the  English  author  is  undefended.  But  the 
American  publisher  who  brings  out  such  a  reprint  is  equally  un- 
defended in  Kis  property.  When  he  shall  have  produced  his  book, 
his  rival  in  the  next  street  may  immediately  reprint  it  from  him, 
and  destroy  the  value  of  his  property  by  underselling  him.  It  is 
probable  that  the  first  American  publisher  will  have  made  some 
payment  to  the  English  author  for  the  privilege  of  publishing  the 
book  honestly, — of  publishing  it  without  recurrence  to  piracy, — 
and  in  arranging  his  price  with  his  customers  he  will  be,  of  course, 
obliged  to  debit  the  book  with  the  amount  so  paid.  If  the  author 
receive  ten  cents  a  copy  on  every  copy  sold,  the  publisher  must  add 
that  ten  cents  to  the  price  he  charges  for  it.  But  he  cannot  do 
this  with  security,  because  the  book  can  be  immediately  reprinted, 
and  sold  without  any  such  addition  to  the  price.  The  only  secur- 
ity which  the  American  publisher  has  against  the  injury  which 
may  be  so  done  to  him,  is  the  power  of  doing  other  injury  in  re- 
turn. The  men  who  stand  high  in  the  trade,  and  who  are  power- 
ful because  of  the  largeness  of  their  dealings,  can  in  a  certain  meas- 
ure secure  themselves  in  this  way.  Such  a  firm  would  have  the 
power  of  crushing  a  small  tradesman  who  should  interfere  with 
him.  But  if  the  large  firm  commits  any  such  act  of  injustice,  the 
little  men  in  the  trade  have  no  power  of  setting  themselves  right 
by  counter  injustice.  I  need  hardly  point  out  what  must  be  the 
effect  of  such  a  state  of  things  upon  the  whole  publishing  trade ; 
nor  need  I  say  more  to  prove  that  some  law  which  shall  regulate 
property  in  foreign  copyrights  would  be  as  expedient  with  refer- 
ence to  America,  us  it  would  be  just  towards  England.  But  the 
wrong  done  by  America  to  herself  does  not  rest  here.  It  is  true 
that  more  English  books  are  read  in  the  States  than  American 
books  in  England,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  literature  of 
America  is  daily  gaining  readers  among  us.  That  injury  to  which 
English  authors  are  subjected  from  the  want  of  protection  in  the 
States,  American  authors  suffer  from  the  want  of  protection  here. 


LITERATURE. 


573 


One  can  hardly  believe  that  the  legislators  of  the  States  would 
willingly  place  the  brightest  of  their  own  fellow  countrymen  in 
this  position,  because  in  the  event  of  a  copyright  bill  being  passed, 
the  balance  of  advantage  would  seem  to  accrue  to  England ! 

Of  the  literature  of  the  United  States,  speaking  of  literature  in 
its  ordinary  sense,  I  do  not  know  that  I  need  say  much  more.  I 
regard  the  literature  of  a  country  as  its  highest  produce,  believing 
it  to  be  more  powerful  in  its  general  effect,  and  more  beneficial  in 
its  results,  than  cither  statesmanship,  professional  ability,  religious 
teaching,  or  commerce.  And  in  no  part  of  its  national  career  have 
the  United  States  been  so  successful  as  in  this.  I  need  hardly  ex- 
plain that  I  should  commit  a  monstrous  injustice  were  I  to  mako 
a  comparison  in  this  matter  between  England  and  America.  Lit- 
erature is  the  child  of  leisure  and  wealth.  It  is  the  produce  of 
minds  which  by  a  happy  combination  of  circumstances  have  been 
enabled  to  dispense  with  the  ordinary  cares  of  the  world.  It  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  come  from  a  young  country,  or  from  a  new 
and  still  struggling  people.  Looking  around  at  our  own  magnifi- 
cent colonies  I  hardly  remember  a  considerable  name  which  they 
have  produced,  except  that  of  my  excellent  old  friend,  Sam  Slick. 
Nothing,  therefore,  I  think,  shows  the  settled  greatness  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  States  more  significantly  than  their  firm  establishment 
of  a  national  literature.  This  literature  runs  over  all  subjects. 
American  authors  have  excelled  in  poetry,  in  science,  in  history, 
in  metaphysics,  in  law,  in  theol(^,  and  in  fiction.  They  have  at- 
tempted all,  and  failed  in  none.  What  Englishman  has  devoted  a 
room  to  books,  and  devoted  no  portion  of  that  room  to  the  pro- 
ductions of  America  ? 

But  I  must  say  a  word  of  literature  in  which  I  shall  not  speak 
of  it  in  its  ordinary  sense,  and  shall  yet  speak  of  it  in  that  sense 
which  of  all  perhaps,  in  the  present  day,  should  be  considered  the 
most  ordinary.  I  mean  the  every-day  periodical  literature  of  the 
press.  Most  of  those  who  can  read,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  read  books ; 
but  all  who  can  read  do  read  newspapers.  Newspapers  in  this 
country  are  so  general  that  men  cannot  well  live  without  them ; 
but  to  men,  and  to  women  also,  in  the  United  States  they  may  be 
said  to  be  the  one  chief  necessary  of  life.  And  yet  in  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  the  United  States  there  is  not  published  a 
single  newspaper  which  seems  to  me  to  be  worthy  of  praise. 

A  really  good  newspaper, — one  excellent  at  all  points, — would 
indeed  be  a  triumph  of  honesty  and  of  art !  Not  only  is  such  a 
publication  much  to  be  desired  in  Ameiica,  but  it  is  still  to  be  de- 
sired in  Great  Britain  also.     I  used,  in  my  younger  days,  to  think 


"^ 


574 


NORTII  AMERICA. 


'    .     ' 


k 


'^\ 


.-^ 


I 


.:j 


of  such  a  newspaper  an  a  possible  publication,  and  in  a  certain  de- 
gree I  then  looked  for  it.  Now  I  expect  it  only  in  ray  dreams. 
It  should  bo  powerful  without  tyranny,  popular  without  triumph, 
political  without  party  passion,  critical  without  personal  feeling, 
right  in  its  statements  and  just  in  its  judgments,  but  right  and  juNt 
without  pride.  It  should  be  all  but  omniscient,  but  not  conscious 
of  its  omniscience  ;  it  should  bo  moral,  but  not  strait-laced ;  it 
should  be  well-assured,  but  yet  modest ;  though  never  humble,  it 
should  be  free  from  boasting.  Above  all  these  things  it  should  be 
readable ;  and  above  that  again  it  should  be  true.  I  used  to  think 
that  such  a  newspaper  might  be  produced,  but  I  now  sadly  ac- 
knowledge to  myself  the  fact  that  humanity  is  not  capable  of  any 
work  so  divine. 

The  newspapers  of  the  States  generally  may  not  only  be  said  to 
have  reached  none  of  the  virtues  here  named,  but  to  have  fallen 
into  all  the  opposite  vices.  In  the  first  place  they  are  never  true. 
In  requiring  truth  from  a  newspaper  the  public  should  not  be  anx- 
ious to  strain  at  gnats.  A  statement  setting  forth  that  a  certain 
gooseberry  was  five  inches  in  circumference,  whereas  in  truth  its 
girth  was  only  two  and  a  half,  would  give  me  no  ofience.  Nor 
would  I  be  offended  at  being  told  that  Lord  Derby  was  appointed 
to  the  premiership,  while  in  truth  the  Queen  had  only  sent  for  his 
lordship,  having  as  yet  come  to  no  definite  arrangement.  The  de- 
mand for  truth  which  may  reasonably  be  made  upon  a  newspaper 
amounts  to  this, — that  nothing  should  be  stated  not  believed  to 
be  true,  and  that  nothing  should  be  stated  as  to  which  the  truth  is 
important,  without  adequate  ground  for  such  belief.  If  a  newspa- 
per accuse  me  of  swindling,  it  is  not  sufficient  that  the  writer  be- 
lieve me  to  be  a  swindler.  He  should  have  ample  and  sufficient 
ground  for  such  belief; — otherwise  in  making  such  a  statement  he 
will  write  falsely.  In  our  private  life  we  all  recognize  the  fact 
that  this  is  so.  It  is  understood  that  a  man  is  not  a  whit  the  less 
a  slanderer  because  he  believes  the  slander  which  he  promulgates. 
But  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  not  sufficiently  recognized  by  many 
who  write  for  the  public  press.  Evil  things  are  said,  and  are  prob- 
ably believed  by  the  writers ;  they  are  said  with  that  special  skill 
for  which  newspaper  writers  have  in  our  days  become  so  conspicu- 
ous, defying  alike  redress  by  law  or  redress  by  argument ;  but  they 
are  too  often  said  falsely.  The  words  are  not  measured  when  they 
are  written,  and  they  are  allowed  to  go  forth  without  any  sufficient 
inquiry  into  their  truth.  But  if  there  be  any  ground  for  such 
complaint  here  in  England,  that  ground  is  multiplied  ten  times — 
twenty  times — in  the  States.     This  is  not  only  shown  in  the  abuse 


mrj^ 


LITERATURE. 


675 


of  individuals,  in  abuso  which  is  as  yiolcnt  as  it  is  perpetual,  but 
in  the  treatment  of  every  subject  which  is  handled.  All  idea  of 
truth  has  been  thrown  overboard.  It  seems  to  bo  admitted  that 
the  only  object  is  to  produce  a  sensation,  and  that  it  is  admitted 
by  both  writer  and  reader  that  sensation  and  veracity  are  incom- 
patible. Falsehood  has  become  so  much  a  matter  of  course  with 
American  newspapers  that  it  has  almost  ceased  to  be  falsehood. 
Nobody  thinks  me  a  liar  because  I  deny  that  I  am  at  home  when 
I  am  in  my  study.  The  nature  of  the  arrangement  is  generally 
understood.     So  also  is  it  with  the  American  newspapers. 

But  American  newspapers  are  also  unreadable.  It  is  very  bad 
that  they  should  bo  false,  but  it  is  very  surprising  that  they  should 
be  dull.  Looking  at  the  general  intelligence  of  the  people,  one 
would  have  thought  that  a  readable  newspaper,  put  out  with  all 
pleasant  appurtenances  of  clear  type,  good  paper,  and  good  intern- 
al arrangement,  would  have  been  a  thing  specially  within  their 
reach.  But  they  have  failed  in  every  detail.  Though  their  pa- 
pers are  always  loaded  with  sensation  headings,  there  are  seldom 
sensation  paragraphs  to  follow.  The  paragraphs  do  not  fit  the 
headings.  Either  they  cannot  be  found,  or  if  found  they  seem  to 
have  escaped  from  their  proper  column  to  some  distant  and  remote 
portion  of  the  sheet.  One  is  led  to  presume  that  no  American 
editor  has  any  plan  in  the  composition  of  his  newspaper.  I  never 
know  whether  I  have  as  yet  got  to  the  very  heart's  core  of  the 
daily  journal,  or  whether  I  am  still  to  go  on  searching  for  that 
heart's  core.  Alas,  it  too  often  happens  that  there  is  no  heart's 
core  I  The  whole  thing  seems  to  have  been  put  out  at  hap-hazard. 
And  then  the  very  writing  is  in  itself  below  mediocrity ; — as  though 
a  power  of  expression  in  properly  arranged  language  was  not  re- 
quired by  a  newspaper  editor,  either  as  regards  himself  or  as  re- 
gards his  subordinates.  One  is  driven  to  suppose  that  the  writers 
for  the  daily  press  are  not  chosen  with  any  view  to  such  capabili- 
ty. A  man  ambitious  of  being  on  the  staff  of  an  American  news- 
paper should  bo  capable  of  much  work,  should  be  satisfied  with 
small  pay,  should  be  indifferent  to  the  world's  good  usage,  should 
be  rough,  ready,  and  of  long  sufferance ;  but,  above  all,  he  should 
be  smart.  The  type  of  almost  all  American  newspapers  is  wretch- 
ed— I  think  I  may  say  of  all ; — so  wretched  that  that  alone  for- 
bids one  to  hope  for  pleasure  in  reading  them.  They  are  ill-writ- 
ten, ill-printed,  ill-arranged,  and  in  fact  are  not  readable.  They 
are  bought,  glanced  at,  and  thrown  away. 

They  are  full  of  boastings, — not  boastings  simply  as  to  their 
country,  their  town,  or  their  party, — but  of  boastings  as  to  them- 


H 


f 


576 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


■,      I 


Vr 


I       i 


selves.  And  yet  they  possess  no  self-assurance.  It  is  always  ev- 
ident that  they  neither  trust  themselves,  or  expect  to  be  trusted. 
They  have  made  no  approach  to  that  omniscience  which  consti- 
tutes the  great  marvel  of  our  own  daily  press ;  but  finding  it  nec- 
essary to  write  as  though  they  possessed  it,  they  fall  into  blunders 
which  are  almost  as  marvellous.  Justice  and  right  judgment  are 
out  of  the  question  with  them.  A  political  party  end  is  always 
in  view,  and  political  party  warfare  in  America  admits  of  any 
weapons.  No  newspaper  in  America  is  really  powerful  or  popu- 
lar; and  yet  they  are  tyrannical  and  overbearing.  The  "New 
York  Herald"  has,  I  believe,  the  largest  sale  of  any  daily  news- 
paper ;  but  it  is  absolutely  without  political  power,  and  in  these 
times  of  war  has  truckled  to  the  Government  more  basely  than 
any  other  paper.  It  has  an  enormous  sale,  but  so  far  is  it  from 
having  achieved  popularity,  that  no  man  on  any  side  ever  speaks 
a  good  word  for  it.  All  American  newspapers  deal  in  politics  as 
a  matter  of  course ;  but  their  politics  have  ever  regard  to  men 
and  never  to  measures.  Vituperation  is  their  natural  political 
weapon;  but  since  the  President's  ministers  have  assumed  tlie 
power  of  stopping  newspapers  which  are  offensive  to  them,  they 
have  shown  that  they  can  descend  to  a  course  of  eulogy  which  is 
even  below  vituperation. 

I  shall  be  accused  of  using  very  strong  language  against  the 
newspaper  press  of  America.  I  can  only  say  that  I  do  not  know 
how  to  make  that  language  too  strong.  Of  course  there  are  news- 
papers as  to  which  the  editors  and  writers  may  justly  feel  that  my 
remarks,  if  applied  to  them,  are  unmerited.  In  writing  on  such  a 
subject,  I  can  only  deal  with  the  whole  as  a  whole.  During  my 
stay  in  the  country,  I  did  my  best  to  make  myself  acquainted  with 
the  natute  of  its  newspapers,  knowing  in  how  great  a  degree  its 
population  depends  on  them  for  its  daily  store  of  information. 
Newspapers  in  the  States  of  America  have  a  much  wider,  or  rath- 
er closer  circulation,  than  they  do  with  us.  Every  man  and  al- 
most every  woman  sees  a  newspaper  daily.  They  are  very  cheap, 
and  are  brought  to  every  man's  hand  without  trouble  to  himself, 
at  every  turn  that  he  takes  in  his  day's  work.  It  would  be  much 
for  the  advantage  of  the  country,  that  they  should  be  good  of  their 
kind ;  but,  if  I  am  able  to  form  a  correct  judgment  on  the  matter, 
they  are  not  good. 


r 


CONCLUSION. 


677 


ays  cv- 
Tustcd. 

COHSti- 

;  it  ncc- 
(lunilera 
icnt  arc 
1  always 
\  of  any 

31'  popU- 

e  "New 
ly  news- 
in  these 
3oly  than 
3  it  from 
2Y  speaks 
)oUtic8  as 
d  to  men 
I  political 
umed  the 
hem,  they 
f  which  is 

,gainst  the 
not  know 
are  news- 
|el  that  my 
on  such  a 
uring  my 
inted  with 
degree  its 
"ormation. 
!r,  or  rath- 
.n  and  al- 
lery  cheap, 
[o  himself, 
be  much 
,d  of  their 
te  matter, 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


CONCLUSION. 


In  ono  of  tho  previous  cliapters  of  this  volume, — now  somo 
seven  or  eiglit  chapters  past, — I  brought  myself  on  my  travels 
back  to  Boston.  It  was  not  that  my  way  homewards  lay  by 
that  route,  seeing  that  my  fate  required  me  to  sail  from  New 
York ;  but  I  could  not  leave  the  country  without  revisiting  my 
friends  in  Massachusetts.  I  have  told  how  I  was  there  in  tho 
sleigliing  time,  and  how  pleasant  were  the  mingled  slush  and 
frost  of  the  snowy  winter.  In  tho  morning  the  streets  would 
be  hard  and  crisp,  and  the  stranger  would  surely  fall  if  he  were 
not  prepared  to  walk  on  glaciers.  In  the  afternoon  he  would 
be  wading  through  rivers, — and  if  properly  armed  at  all  points 
with  india-rubber,  would  enjoy  the  rivers  as  ho  waded.  But 
the  air  would  be  always  kindly,  and  the  east  wind  there,  if  it 
was  east  as  I  was  told,  had  none  of  that  power  of  dominion 
which  makes  us  all  so  submissive  to  its  behests  in  London- 
For  myself,  I  believe  that  the  real  cast  wind  blows  only  in 
London. 

And  when  the  snow  went  in  Boston  I  went  with  it.  Tho 
evening  before  I  left  I  watched  them  as  they  carted  away  tho 
dirty  uncouth  blocks  which  had  been  broken  up  with  pickaxes 
in  Washington  Street,  and  was  melancholy  as  I  reflected  that  I 
too  should  no  longer  be  known  in  the  streets.  My  weeks  in 
Boston  had  not  been  very  many,  but  nevertheless  there  were 
haunts  there  which  I  knew  as  though  my  feet  had  trodden 
them  for  years.  There  were  houses  to  which  I  could  have 
gone  with  my  eyes  blindfold ;  doors  of  which  the  latches  were 
familiar  to  my  hands ;  faces  which  I  knew  so  well  that  they  had 
ceased  to  put  on  for  me  the  fictitious  smiles  of  courtesy.  Faces, 
houses,  doors,  and  haunts,  where  are  they  now?  For  me  they 
are  as  though  they  had  never  been.  They  are  among  the  things 
which  one  would  fain  remember  as  one  remembers  a  dream. 
Look  back  on  it  as  a  vision  and  it  is  all  pleasant.  But  if  you 
realize  your  vision  and  believe  your  dream  to  be  a  fact,  all  your 
pleasure  is  obliterated  by  regret. 

I  know  that  I  shall  never  again  be  at  Boston,  and  that  I  have 
said  that  about  the  Americans  which  would  make  me  unwel- 
come as  a  guest  if  I  were  there.  It  is  in  this  that  my  regret 
consists ; — for  this  reason  that  I  would  Avish  to  remember  so 
manv  social  hours 


f* 


though  they 
B  B 


passed  in  sleep. 


^ 


I 


578 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


^'■'. 


t 


i 


*  .v»f 


They  who  will  expect  blessings  from  me,  will  say  among  them- 
Bolvea  that  I  have  cursed  them.  As  I  read  the  pages  whiclj  I 
have  written  I  feel  that  words  which  I  intendea  for  blessings 
when  I  prepared  to  utter  them  have  gone  nigh  to  turn  them- 
Bolves  into  curses. 

I  have  over  admired  the  United  States  as  a  nation.  I  have 
loved  their  liberty,  their  prowess,  their  intelligence,  and  their 
progress.  I  have  sympathized  with  a  people  who  themselves 
nave  had  no  sympathy  with  passive  security  and  inaction.  I 
have  felt  confidence  in  them,  and  have  known,  as  it  were,  that 
their  industry  must  enable  them  to  succeed  as  a  people,  while 
their  freedom  would  insure  to  them  success  as  a  nation.  With 
these  convictions  I  went  among  them  wishing  to  write  of  them 
good  words, — words  which  might  be  pleasant  for  them  to  read, 
while  they  might  assist  perhaps  in  producing  a  true  impression 
of  them  here  at  homo.  But  among  my  good  words  there  are 
80  many  which  are  bitter,  that  I  fear  I  shall  have  failed  in  my 
object  as  regards  them.  And  it  seems  to  me,  as  I  read  once 
more  my  own  pages,  that  in  saying  evil  things  of  ray  friends,  I 
have  used  language  stronger  than  I  intended  ;  whereas  I  have 
omitted  to  express  myself  with  emphasis  when  I  have  attempted 
to  say  good  things.  Why  need  I  have  told  of  the  mud  of  Wash- 
ington, or  have  exposed  the  nakedness  of  Cairo  ?  Why  did  I 
speak  with  such  eager  enmity  of  those  poor  women  in  the  New 
York  cars,  who  never  injured  me,  now  that  I  think  of  it  ?  Ladies 
of  New  York,  as  I  write  this,  the  words  which  were  written 
among  you,  are  printed  and  cannot  be  expunged ;  but  I  tender 
to  you  my  apologies  from  my  home  in  England.  And  as  to 
that  Van  Wyck  committee !  Might  I  not  have  left  those  con- 
tractors to  be  dealt  with  by  their  own  Congress,  seeing  that  that 
Congress  committee  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  spare  them  ? 
I  might  have  kept  my  pages  free  from  gall,  and  have  sent  ray 
sheets  to  the  press  unhurt  by  the  conviction  that  I  was  hurting 
those  who  had  dealt  kindly  by  me !  But  what  then  ?  Was  any 
people  ever  truly  served  by  eulogy ;  or  an  honest  cause  furthered 
by  undue  praise  ? 

O  my  friends  with  thin  skins, — and  here  I  protest  that  a  thick 
skin  is  a  fault  not  to  be  forgiven  in  a  man  or  a  nation,  whereas 
a  thin  skin  is  in  itself  a  merit,  if  only  the  wearer  of  it  will  be  the 
master  and  not  the  slave  of  his  skin, — O,  my  friends  with  thin 
skins,  ye  whom  I  call  my  cousins  and  love  as  brethren,  will  ye 
not  forgive  me  these  harsh  words  that  I  have  spoken  ?  They 
have  been  spoken  in  love, — with  a  true  love,  a  brotherly  love, 
a  love  that  has  never  been  absent  from  the  heart  while  the  brain 


CONCLUSION. 


570 


was  coininpf  them.  I  had  my  task  to  do,  and  I  could  not  tako 
the  pleasant  and  ignore  the  painful.  It  may  perhaps  be  that  as 
a  fiicnd  I  had  better  not  have  written  eith.er  good  or  bad.  liut 
no !  To  say  that  would  indeed  bo  to  8i)eak  calumny  of  your 
country.  A  man  may  write  of  you  truly,  and  yet  write  that 
which  you  would  read  with  pleasure ; — only  that  your  skins  are 
80  thin!  The  streets  of  Washington  are  muddy  and  her  ways 
are  desolate.  The  nakedness  of  Cairo  is  very  naked.  And 
those  ladies  of  New  York ;  is  it  not  to  be  conlcssed  that  they 
are  somewhat  imperious  in  their  demands  ?  As  for  the  Van 
Wyck  committee,  have  I  not  repeated  the  tale  which  you  have 
told  yourselves  ?  And  is  it  not  well  that  such  talcs  should  bo 
told  •? 

And  yet  ye  will  not  forgive  me ;  because  your  skins  arc  thin, 
and  because  the  praise  of  others  is  the  breath  of  your  nostrils. 

I  do  not  know  that  an  American  as  an  individual  is  more 
thin-skinned  than  an  Englishman ;  but  as  the  representative  of 
a  nation  it  may  almost  bo  said  of  him  that  he  has  no  skin  at 
all.  Any  touch  comes  at  once  upon  the  net-work  of  his  nerves 
and  puts  in  operation  all  his  organs  of  feeling  with  the  violence 
of  a  dIow.  And  for  this  peculiarity  ho  has  been  made  the  mark 
of  much  ridicule.  It  shows  itself  in  two  ways ;  either  by  ex- 
treme displeasure  when  anything  is  said  disrespectful  of  his 
country ;  or  by  the  strong  eulogy  with  which  he  if  accustomed 
to  speak  of  his  own  institutions  and  of  those  of  his  countrymen 
whom  at  the  moment  he  may  chance  to  hold  in  high  esteem. 
The  manner  in  which  this  is  done  is  often  ridiculous.  *'  Sir, 
what  do  you  think  of  our  Mr.  Jefferson  Brick  ?  Mr.  Jefferson 
Brick,  sir,  is  one  of  our  most  remarkable  men."  And  again. 
"Do  you  like  our  institutions,  sir?  Do  you  find  that  philan- 
thropy, religion,  philosophy,  and  the  social  virtues  are  cultiva- 
ted on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  unequalled  liberty  and 
political  advancement  of  the  nation?"  There  is  something  ab- 
surd in  such  a  mode  of  address  when  it  is  repeated  often.  But 
hero-worship  and  love  of  country  are  not  absurd ;  and  do  not 
these  addresses  show  capacity  for  hero-worship  and  an  aptitude 
for  the  love  of  country?  Jefferson  Brick  may  not  be  a  hero; 
but  a  capacity  for  such  worship  is  something.  Indeed  the  ca- 
pacity is  everything,  for  the  need  of  a  hero  will  at  last  produce 
the  hero  needed.  And  it  is  the  same  with  that  love  of  country. 
A  people  that  are  proud  of  their  country  will  see  that  there  is 
something  in  their  country  to  justify  their  pride.  Do  we  not 
all  of  us  tee\  assured  by  the  intense  nationality  of  an  American 
that  he  will  not  desert  his  nation  in  the  hour  of  her  need?     I 


S 


f 


680 


NORTH   AMEHICA. 


'l  ?) 


,f 


feel  *hat  assurance  respecting  them;  and  at  those  moments 
in  which  I  am  moved  to  laughter  by  the  absurdities  of  their 
addresses,  I  feel  it  the  strongest. 

I  left  Boston  with  the  snow,  and  returning  to  New  York 
found  that  the  streets  there  were  dry  and  that  the  winter  was 
nearly  over.  As  I  had  passed  through  New  York  to  Boston 
the  streets  had  been  by  no  means  dry.  The  snow  had  lain  in 
small  mountains  over  which  the  omnibuses  made  their  way 
down  Broadway,  till  at  the  bottom  of  that  thoroughfare,  be- 
tween Trinity  Church  and  Bowling  Green,  alp  became  piled 
upon  alp,  and  all  traff  c  was  full  of  danger.  The  accursed  love 
of  gain  still  took  men  to  Wall  Street,  but  they  had  to  fight 
their  way  thither  through  physical  difficulties  which  must  have 
made  even  the  state  of  the  money  market  a  matter  almost  of 
indifference  to  them.  They  do  not  seem  to  me  to  manage  the 
winter  in  New  York  so  well  as  they  do  in  Boston.  But  now, 
on  my  last  return  thither,  the  alps  were  gone,  the  roads  were 
clear,  and  one  could  travel  through  the  city  with  no  other  im- 
pediment than  those  of  treading  on  women's  dresses,  if  one 
walkedj  or  having  to  look  after  women's  band-boxes  and  pay 
their  fares  and  take  their  change,  if  one  used  the  omnibuses. 

And  now  had  come  the  end  of  my  adventures,  and  as  I  set 
my  foot  once  more  upon  the  deck  of  the  Cunard  steamer  I  felt 
that  my  work  was  done.  Whether  it  were  done  ill  or  well,  or 
whether  indeed  any  approach  to  the  doing  of  it  had  been  at- 
tained, all  had  been  don?  that  I  could  accomplish.  No  further 
opportunity  remained  to  me  of  seeing,  hearing,  or  of  speaking. 
I  had  come  out  thither,  having  resolved  to  learn  a  little  that  I 
might  if  possible  teach  that  little  to  others;  and  now  the  lesson 
was  learned,  or  must  remain  unlearned.  But  in  carrying  out 
my  resolution  I  had  gradually  risen  in  my  ambition,  and  had 
mounted  from  one  stage  of  inquiry  to  another,  till  at  last  I  had 
found  myself  burdened  with  the  task  of  ascertaining  whether 
or  no  the  Americans  were  doing  their  work  as  a  nation  well  or 
ill ;  and  now  if  ever,  I  must  be  prepared  to  put  forth  the  result 
of  my  inquiry.  As  I  walked  up  and  down  the  deck  of  the 
steamboat  I  confess  I  felt  that  I  had  been  somewhat  arrogant. 

I  had  been  a  few  days  over  six  months  in  the  States,  and  I 
was  engaged  in  writing  a  book  of  such  a  nature  that  a  man 
might  well  engage  himself  for  six  years,  or  perhaps  for  sixty, 
in  obtaining  the  materials  for  it.  There  was  nothing  in  the 
form  of  government,  or  legislature,  or  manners  of  the  people, 
as  to  which  I  had  not  taken  upon  myself  to  say  something.  I 
Was  professing  to  understand  their  strength  and  their  weak- 


''    I  5 


CONCLUSION. 


681 


,v  York 
ter  was 
Boston 
I  lain  in 
eir  way 
fare,  be- 
ne piled 
sed  love 
to  fight 
Lust  have 
Imost  of 
,nage  the 
3ut  now, 
ads  were 
other  im- 
es,  if  one 
,  and  pay 
libuses. 
d  as  I  set 
^mer  I  felt 
)r  well,  or 
I  been  at- 
fo  further 
speaking, 
itle  that  I 
the  lesson 
Tying  out 
,  and  had 
last  I  had 
whether 
jn  well  or 
the  result 
Ick  of  the 
arrogant. 
,es,  and  I 
at  a  man 
for  sixty, 
ing  in  the 
le  people, 
ithing.    1 
|\cir  weak- 


ness ;  and  was  daring  to  censure  their  faults  and  to  eulogize 
their  virtues.  "  Who  is  he,"  an  American  would  say,  "  that 
he  comes  and  judges  us  ?  His  judgment  is  nothing."  "  Who 
IS  he,"  an  Englishman  would  say,  "  that  be  comes  and  teaches 
us?    His  teaching  is  of  no  value." 

*  In  answer  to  this  I  have  but  a  small  plea  to  make.  I  have 
done  my  best.  I  have  nothing  "  extenuated,  and  have  set  down 
nought  in  malice."  I  do  feel  that  my  volume  has  blown 
itself  out  into  a  proportion  greater  than  I  had  intended — 
greater  not  in  mass  of  pages,  but  in  the  matter  handled.  I 
am  frequently  addressing  my  own  muse,  who  I  am  well  aware 
is  not  Clio,  and  asking  her  whither  she  is  wending.  "  Cease, 
thou  wrong-headed  one,  to  meddle  with  these  mysteries."  I 
appeal  to  her  frequently,  but  ever  in  vain.  One  cannot  drive 
one's  muse,  nor  yet  always  lead  her.  Of  the  various  women 
with  which  a  man  is  blessed,  his  muse  is  by  no  means  the  least 
difficult  to  manage. 

But  again  I  put  in  my  slight  plea.  In  doing  as  I  have  done, 
I  have  at  least  done  my  best.  I  have  endeavoured  to  judge 
without  prejudice,  and  to  hear  with  honest  ears,  and  to  see 
with  honest  eyes.  The  subject,  moreover,  on  which  I  have 
written,  is  one  which,  though  great,  is  so  universal  in  its  bear- 
ings, that  it  may  be  said  to  admit  of  being  handled  without 
impropriety  by  the  unlearned  as  well  as  the  learned ; — ^by  those 
who  have  grown  gray  in  the  study  of  constitutional  lore,  and 
by  those  who  have  simply  looked  on  at  the  government  of  men 
as  we  all  look  on  at  those  matters  which  daily  surround  us. 
There  are  matters  as  to  which  a  man  should  never  take  a  pen 
in  hand  unless  he  has  given  to  them  much  labour.  The  bota- 
nist must  have  learned  to  trace  the  herbs  and  flowers  before  ho 
can  presume  to  tell  us  how  God  has  formed  them.  But  the 
death  of  Hector  is  a  fit  subject  for  a  boy's  verses  though  Ho- 
mer also  sang  of  it.  I  feel  that  there  is  scope  for  a  book  on 
the  United  States'  form  of  government  as  it  was  founded,  and 
as  it  has  since  framed  itself,  which  might  do  honour  to  the  life- 
long studies  of  some  one  of  those  great  constitutional  pundits 
whom  we  have  among  us ;  but,  nevertheless,  the  plain  words 
of  a  man  who  is  no  pundit  need  not  disgrace  the  subject,  if 
they  be  honestly  written,  and  if  he  who  writes  them  has  in  his 
heart  an  honest  love  of  liberty.  Such  were  my  thoughts  as  I 
walked  the  deck  of  the  Cunard  steamer.  Then  I  descended  to 
my  cabin,  settled  my  luggage,  and  prepared  for  the  continu- 
ance of  my  work.  It  was  fourteen  days  from  that  time  before 
I  reached  London,  but  the  fourteen  days  to  me  were  not  un- 


W 


582 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


ii 


'\ 


/i'^P' 


pleasant.  Tho  demon  of  seasickness  usually  spares  me,  and  if 
1  can  find  on  board  one  or  two  who  are  equally  fortunate — who 
can  eat  with  me,  drink  with  me,  and  talk  with  me — I  do  not 
know  that  a  passage  across  the  Atlantic  is  by  any  means  a  ter- 
rible evil. 

In  finishing  this  volume  after  the  fashion  in  which  it  has 
been  written  throughout,  I  feel  that  I  am  bound  to  express  a 
final  opinion  on  two  or  three  points,  and  that  if  I  have  not 
enabled  myself  to  do  so,  I  have  travelled  through  the  country 
in  vain.  I  am  bound  by  the  very  nature  of  my  undertaking  to 
say  whether,  according  to  such  view  as  I  have  enabled  myself 
to  take  of  them,  the  Americans  have  succeeded  as  a  nation  po- 
litically and  socially ;  and  in  doing  this  I  ought  to  be  able  to 
explain  how  far  slavery  has  interfered  with  such  success.  I  am 
bound  also,  writing  at  the  present  moment,  to  express  some 
opinion  as  to  the  result  of  this  war,  and  to  declare  whether  the 
North  or  the  South  may  be  expected  to  be  victorious, — explain- 
ing in  some  rough  way  what  may  be  the  results  of  such  victory, 
and  how  such  results  will  affect  the  question  of  slavery.  And 
I  shall  leave  my  task  unfinished  if  I  do  not  say  what  may  be 
the  possible  chances  of  future  quarrel  between  England  and  the 
States.  That  there  has  been  and  is  much  hot  blood  and  angry 
feeling  no  man  double ;  but  such  angry  feeling  has  existed 
among  many  nations  without  any  probability  of  war.  In  this 
case,  with  reference  to  this  ill-will  that  has  certainly  established 
itself  between  us  and  that  other  people,  is  there  any  need  that 
it  should  be  satisfied  by  war  and  allayed  by  blood  ? 

No  one,  I  think,  can  doubt  that  the  founders  of  the  great 
American  Commonwealth  made  an  error  in  omitting  to  provide 
some  means  for  the  gradual  extinction  of  slavery  throughout 
the  States.  That  error  did  not  consist  in  any  liking  for  slavery. 
There  was  no  feeling  in  favour  of  slavery  on  the  part  of  those 
who  made  themselves  prominent  at  the  political  birth  of  the 
nation.  I  think  I  shall  be  justified  in  saying  that  at  that  time 
the  opinion  that  slavery  is  itself  a  good  thing,  that  it  is  an  in- 
stitution of  divine  origin  and  fit  to  be  perpetuated  among  men 
as  in  itself  excellent,  had  not  found  that  favour  in  the  southern 
States  in  which  it  is  now  held.  Jefferson,  who  has  been  re- 
garded as  the  leader  of  the  southern  or  democratic  party,  has 
left  ample  testimony  that  he  regarded  slavery  as  an  evil.  It  is, 
I  think,  true  that  he  gave  such  testimony  much  more  freely 
when  he  Avas  speaking  or  writing  as  a  private  individual  than 
he  ever  allowed  himself  to  do  when  his  words  were  armed  with 
the  weight  of  public  authority.    But  it  is  clear  that,  on  the 


'"f^t 


CONCLUSION. 


583 


whole,  he  was  opposed  to  slavery,  and  I  think  there  can  be  lit- 
tle doubt  that  he  and  his  party  looked  forward  to  a  natural 
death  for  that  evil.  Calculation  was  made  that  slavery  when 
not  recruited  afresh  from  Africa  could  not  maintain  its  num- 
bers, and  that  gradually  the  negro  population  would  become 
extinct.  This  was  the  error  made.  It  was  easier  to  look  for- 
ward to  such  a  result  and  hope  for  such  an  end  of  the  difficulty, 
than  to  extinguish  slavery  by  a  great  political  movement,  which 
must  doubtless  have  been  difficult  ancl  costly.  The  northern 
States  got  rid  of  slavery  by  the  operation  of  their  separate 
legislatures,  some  at  one  date  and  some  at  othqrs.  The  slaves 
wore  less  numerous  in  the  North  than  in  the  South,  and  the 
feeling  adverse  to  slaves,  was  stronger  in  the  North  than  in  the 
South.  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  which  now  separates  slave  soil 
from  free  soil,  merely  indicates  the  position  in  the  countiy  at 
which  the  balance  turned.  Maryland  and  Virginia  were  not 
inclined  to  make  great  immediate  sacrifices  for  the  manumission 
of  their  slaves ;  but  the  gentlemen  of  those  States  did  not  think 
that  slavery  was  a  divine  institution,  destined  to  flourish  for 
ever  as  a  blessing  in  their  land. 

The  maintenance  of  slavery  was,  I  think,  a  political  mistake ; 
— a  political  mistake,  not  because  slavery  is  politically  wrong, 
but  because  the  politicians  of  the  day  made  erroneous  calcula- 
tions as  to  the  probability  of  its  termination.  So  the  income 
tax  may  be  a  political  blunder  with  us ; — not  because  it  is  in  it- 
self a  bad  tax,  but  because  those  who  imposed  it  conceived  that 
they  were  imposing  it  for  a  year  or  two,  whereas,  now,  men  do 
not  expect  to  see  the  end  of  it.  The  maintenance  of  slavery 
was  a  political  mistake ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  the  Americans 
in  any  way  lessen  the  weight  of  their  own  error,  by  protesting, 
as  they  occasionally  do,  that  slavery  was  a  legacy  made  over  to 
them  from  England.  They  might  as  well  say,  that  travelling 
in  Carts  without  springs,  at  the  rate  of  three  miles  an  hour,  was 
a  legacy  made  over  to  them  by  England.  On  that  matter  of 
travelling  they  have  not  been  contented  with  the  old  habits  left 
to  them,  but  have  gone  ahead  and  made  railroads.  In  creating 
those  railways  the  merit  is  due  to  them ;  and  so  also  is  the  de- 
merit of  maintaining  those  slaves. 

That  demerit  and  that  mistake  have  doubtless  brought  upon 
the  Americans  the  grievances  of  their  present  position ;  and 
will,  as  I  think,  so  far  be  accompanied  by  ultimate  punishment 
that  they  will  be  the  immediate  means  of  causing  the  first  dis- 
integration of  their  nation.  I  will  leave  it  to  the  Americans 
themselves  to  say,  whether  such  disintegration  must  necessari- 


:'i;; 


■  -1^; 


I^i . 


'Ill 


584 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


J 


I         # 


* .,. 


ly  imply  that  they  have  failed  in  their  political  undertaking. 
The  most  loyal  citizens  of  the  northern  States  would  have  de- 
clared a  month  or  two  since, — and  for  aught  I  know  would  de- 
clare now, — that  any  disintegration  of  the  States  implied  abso- 
lute failure.  One  stripe  erased  from  the  banner,  one  star  lost 
from  the  firmament,  would  entail  upon  them  all  the  disgrace  of 
national  defeat !  It  had  been  their  boast  that  they  would  al- 
ways advance,  never  retreat.  They  had  looked  forward  to  add 
ever  State  upon  State,  and  territory  to  territory,  till  the  whole 
continent  should  be  bound  together  in  the  same  union.  To  go 
back  from  that  now,  to  fall  into  pieces  and  be  divided,  to  be- 
come smaller  in  the  eyes  of  the  nations, — to  be  absolutely  half- 
ed,  as  some  would  say  of  such  division,  would  be  national  dis- 
grace, and  would  amount  to  political  failure.  "Let  us  fight 
for  the  whole,"  such  men  said,  and  probably  do  say.  "  To  lose 
anything  is  to  lose  all  !'* 

But  the  citizens  of  the  States  who  speak  and  think  thus, 
though  they  may  be  the  most  loyal,  are  perhaps  not  politically 
the  most  wise.  And  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  that  defiant 
claim  of  every  star,  that  resolve  to  possess  every  stripe  upon 
the  banner,  had  become  somewhat  less  general  when  I  was 
leaving  the  country  than  I  had  found  it  to  be  at  the  time  of 
my  arrival  there.  While  things  were  going  badly  with  the 
North, — while  there  was  no  t£ue  of  any  battle  to  be  told  ex- 
cept of  those  at  Bull's  Run  and  Springfield,  no  northern  man 
would  admit  a  hint  that  secession  might  ultimately  prevail  in 
Georgia  or  Alabama.  But  the  rebels  had  been  driven  out  of 
Missouri  when  I  was  leaving  the  States,  they  had  retreated  al- 
together from  Kentucky,  having  been  beaten  in  one  engage- 
ment there,  and  from  a  great  portion  of  Tennessee,  having  been 
twice  beaten  in  that  State.  The  coast  of  North  Carolina,  and 
many  points  of  the  southern  coast,  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
northern  army,  while  the  army  of  the  South  was  retreating 
from  all  points  into  the  centre  of  their  country.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  strategical  merits  or  demerits  of  the  north- 
ern generals,  it  is  at  any  rate  certain  that  their  apparent  suc- 
cesses were  greedily  welcomed  by  the  people,  and  created  an 
idea  that  things  were  going  well  with  the  cause.  And,  as  all 
this  took  place,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  heard  less  about  the 
necessary  integrity  of  the  old  flag.  While  as  yet  they  were 
altogether  unsuccessful,  they  were  minded  to  make  no  surren- 
der. But  with  their  successes  came  the  feeling,  that  in  taking 
much  they  might  perhaps  allow  themselves  to  yield  something. 
This  was  clearly  indicated  by  the  message  sent  to  Congress  by 


CONCLUSION. 


585 


the  President  in  February  (1862),  in  which  he  suggested  that 
Congress  should  make  arrangements  for  the  purchase  of  the 
slaves  in  the  border  States ;  so  that  in  the  event  of  secession — 
accomplislied  secession — in  the  gulf  States,  the  course  of  those 
border  States  might  be  made  clear  for  them.  They  might  hes- 
itate as  to  going  willingly  with  the  North,  while  possessing 
slaves, — as  to  setting  themselves  peaceably  down  as  a  small 
slave  adjunct  to  a  vast  free  soil  nation,  seeing  that  their  prop- 
erty would  always  be  in  peril.  Under  such  circumstances  a 
slave  adjunct  to  the  free  soil  nation  would  not  long  be  possible. 
But  if  it  could  be  shown  to  them  that  in  the  event  of  their  ad- 
hering to  the  North,  compensation  would  be  forthcoming; 
then,  indeed,  the  difficulty  in  arranging  an  advantageous  line 
between  the  two  future  nations  might  be  considerably  modified. 
This  message  of  the  President's  was  intended  to  signify,  that 
secession  on  favourable  terms  might  be  regarded  by  the  North 
as  not  undesirable.  Moderate  men  were  beginning  to  whisper 
that,  after  all,  the  gulf  States  were  no  source  either  of  national 
wealth  or  of  national  honour.  Had  there  not  been  enough  at 
Washington  of  cotton  lords  and  cotton  laws  ?  When  I  have 
suggested  that  no  senator  from  Georgia  would  ever  again  sit 
in  the  United  States  senate,  American  gentlemen  have  received 
my  remark  with  a  slight  demur,  and  have  then  proceeded  to 
argue  the  case.  Six  months  before  they  would  have  declaimed 
against  me  and  not  have  argued. 

I  will  leave  it  to  Americans  themselves  to  say  whether  that 
disintegration  of  the  States,  should  it  ever  be  realized,  will  im- 
ply that  they  have  failed  in  their  political  undertaking.  If  they 
do  not  protest  that  it  argues  failure,  their  feelings  will  not  be 
hurt  by  any  such  protestations  on  the  part  of  others.  I  have 
said  that  the  blunder  made  by  the  founders  of  the  nation  with 
regard  to  slavery  has  brought  with  it  this  secession  as  its  pun- 
ishment. But  such  punishments  come  generally  upon  nations 
as  great  mercies.  Ireland's  famine  was  the  punishment  of  her 
imprudence  and  idleness,  but  it  has  given  to  her  prosperity  and 
progress.  And  indeed,  to  speak  with  more  logical  correctness, 
the  famine  was  no  punishment  to  Ireland,  nor  will  secession  be 
a  punishment  to  the  Northern  States.  In  the  long  result  step 
will  have  gone  on  after  step,  and  effect  will  have  followed 
cause,  till  the  American  people  will  at  last  acknowledge,  that 
all  these  matters  have  been  arranged  for  their  advantage  and 
promotion.  It  may  be  that  a  nation  now  and  then  goes  to  the 
wall,  and  that  things  go  from  bad  to  worse  with  a  large  peo- 
ple.   It  has  been  so  with  various  nations  and  with  many  peo- 

Bb2 


580 


NORTH   AMERICA. 


I 


tr-  y 


pie  since  history  was  first  written.  But  when  it  has  been  so, 
the  people  thus  punished  have  been  idle  and  bad.  They  have 
not  only  done  evil  in  their  generation,  but  have  done  more  evil 
than  good,  and  have  contributed  their  power  to  the  injury  rath- 
er than  to  the  improvement  of  mankind.  It  may  be  that  this 
or  that  national  fault  may  produce  or  seem  to  produce  some 
consequent  calamity.  But  the  balance  of  good  or  evil  things 
which  fall  to  a  people's  share  will  indicate  with  certainty  their 
average  conduct  as  a  nation.  The  one  will  be  the  certain  con- 
sequence of  the  other.  If  it  be  that  the  Americans  of  the 
Northern  States  have  done  well  in  their  time,  that  they  have 
assisted  in  the  progress  of  the  world,  and  made  things  better 
for  mankind  rather  than  worse,  then  they  will  come  out  of  this 
trouble  without  eventual  injury.  That  which  came  in  the  guise 
of  punishment  for  a  special  fault,  will  be  a  part  of  the  reward 
resulting  from  good  conduct  in  the  general.  And  as  to  this 
matter  of  slavery,  in  which  I  think  that  they  have  blundered 
both  politically  and  morally, — has  it  not  been  found  impossible 
hitherto  for  them  to  cleanse  their  hands  of  that  taint  ?  But 
that  which  they  could  not  do  for  themselves  the  course  of 
events  is  doing  for  them.  If  secession  establish  herself,  though 
it  be  only  secession  of  the  Gulf  States,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  will  soon  be  free  from  slavery. 

In  judging  of  the  success  or  want  of  success  of  any  political 
institutions  or  of  any  form  of  government,  we  should  be  guided, 
I  think,  by  the  general  results,  and  not  by  any  abstract  rules  as 
to  the  right  or  wrong  of  those  institutions  or  of  that  form.  It 
might  be  easy  for  a  German  lawyer  to  show  that  our  system  of 
trial  by  jury  is  open  to  the  gravest  objections,  and  that  it  sins 
against  common  sense.  But  if  that  system  gives  us  substantial 
justice,  and  protects  us  from  the  tyranny  of  men  in  office,  the 
German  lawyer  will  not  succeed  in  making  us  believe  that  it  is 
a  bad  system.  When  looking  into  the  matter  of  the  schools 
at  Boston,  I  observed  to  one  of  the  committee  of  management 
that  the  statements  with  which  I  was  supplied,  though  they 
told  me  how  many  of  the  children  went  to  school,  did  not  tell 
me  how  long  they  remained  at  school.  The  gentleman  replied 
that  that  information  was  to  be  obtained  from  the  result  of  the 
schooling  of  the  population  generally.  Every  boy  and  girl 
around  us  could  read  and  write,  and  could  enjoy  reading  and 
writing.  There  was  therefore  evidence  to  show  that  they  re- 
mained at  school  sufficiently  long  for  the  required  purposes. 
It  was  fair  that  I  should  judge  of  the  system  from  the  results. 
Hero  in  England,  we  generally  object  to  much  that  the  Araer- 


CONCLUSION.     • 


687 


icans  have  adopted  into  their  form  of  government,  and  think 
that  many  of  their  political  theories  are  wrong.  We  do  not 
like  universal  suffrage.  We  do  not  like  a  periodical  change  m 
the  first  magistrate;  and  wo  like  quite  as  little  a  periodical 
permanence  in  the  political  officers  immediately  under  the  chief 
magistrate.  We  are,  in  short,  wedded  to  our  own  forms,  and 
therefore  opposed  by  judgment  to  forms  differing  from  our 
own.  But  1  think  we  all  acknowledge  that  the  United  States, 
burdened  as  they  are  with  these  political  evils, — as  we  think 
them,  have  grown  in  strength  and  material  prosperity  with  a 
celerity  of  growth  hitherto  unknown  among  nations.  We  may 
dislike  Americans  personally,  we  may  find  ourselves  uncom- 
fortable when  there,  and  unable  to  sympathize  with  them  when 
away ;  we  may  believe  them  to  be  ambitious,  unjust,  self  idola- 
trous, or  irreligious.  But,  unless  we  throw  our  judgment  alto- 
gether overboard,  we  cannot  believe  them  to  be  a  weak  peo- 
ple, a  poor  people,  a  people  with  low  spirits,  or  a  people  with 
idle  hands.  To  what  is  it  that  the  government  of  a  country 
should  chiefly  look  ?  What  special  advantages  do  we  expect 
from  our  own  government?  Is  it  not  that  we  should  be  safe 
at  home  and  respected  abroad ; — that  laws  should  be  maintain- 
ed, but  that  they  should  be  so  maintained  that  they  should  not 
be  oppressive  ?  There  are,  doubtless,  countries  in  which  the 
government  professes  to  do  much  more  than  this  for  its  peo- 
ple,— countries  in  which  the  government  is  paternal ;  in  which 
it  regulates  the  religion  of  the  people,  and  professes  to  enforce 
on  all  the  national  children  respect  for  the  governors,  teachers, 
spiritual  pastors,  and  masters.  But  that  is  not  our  idea  of  a 
government.  That  is  not  what  we  desire  to  see  established 
among  ourselves  or  established  among  others.  Safety  from 
foreign  foes,  respect  from  foreign  foes  and  friends,  security  un- 
der the  law  and  security  from  the  law, — this  is  what  we  expect 
from  our  government ;  and  if  I  add  to  this  that  we  expect  to 
have  these  good  things  provided  at  a  fairly  moderate  cost,  I 
think  I  have  exhausted  the  list  of  our  requirements. 

And  if  the  Americans  with  their  form  of  government  have 
done  for  themselves  all  that  we  expect  our  government  to  do 
for  us  ;  if  they  have  with  some  fair  approach  to  general  excel- 
lence obtained  respect  abroad,  and  security  at  home  from  for- 
eign foes ;  if  they  have  made  life,  liberty,  and  property  safe  un- 
der their  laws,  and  have  also  so  written  and  executed  their  laws 
as  to  secure  their  people  from  legal  oppression, — I  maintain  that 
they  are  entitled  to  a  verdict  in  their  favour,  let  us  object  as  we 
may  to  universal  suffrage,  to  four  years'  Presidents,  and  four 


i^  :-\ 


i'« 


b 


588 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


1^ 


K'rr 


years'  presidential  cabinets.  What,  after  all,  matters  the  theory 
or  the  system,  whether  it  bo  King  or  President,  universal  siit- 
frago  or  ten-pound  voter,  so  long  as  the  people  bo  free  and  pros- 
perous ?  King  and  President,  suftVage  by  poll  and  suffrage  by 
property,  are  but  the  means.  If  the  end  be  there,  if  the  thing 
has  been  done.  King  and  President,  open  suffrage  and  close 
s\iffrago  may  alike  bo  declared  to  have  been  successful.  The 
Americans  have  been  in  existence  as  a  nation  for  seventy-fivo 
years,  and  have  achieved  an  amount  of  foreign  respect  during 
that  period  greater  than  any  other  nation  ever  obtained  in 
double  the  time.  And  this  has  been  given  to  them,  not  in  def- 
erence to  the  statesman-like  craft  of  their  diplomatic  and  other 
officers,  but  on  grounds  the  very  opposite  of  those.  It  has  been 
given  to  them  because  they  form  a  numerous,  wealthy,  brave, 
and  self-asserting  nation.  It  is,  I  think,  unnecessary  to  prove 
that  such  foreign  respect  has  been  given  to  them :  but  were  it 
necessary,  nothing  would  prove  it  more  strongly  than  the  re- 
gard which  has  been  universally  paid  by  European  govern- 
ments to  the  blockade  placed  during  this  war  on  the  southern 
ports,  by  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Had  the  Unit- 
ed States  been  placed  by  general  consent  in  any  class  of  nations 
below  the  first,  England,  France,  and  perhaps  Russia,  would 
have  taken  the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and  have  settled 
for  the  States,  either  united  or  disunited,  at  any  rate  that  ques- 
tion of  the  blockade.  And  the  Americans  have  been  safe  at 
home  from  foreign  foes ;  so  safe,  that  no  other  strong  people 
but  ourselves  have  enjoyed  anything  approaching  to  their  se- 
curity since  their  foundation.  Nor  has  our  security  been  equal 
to  theirs  if  we  are  to  count  our  nationality  as  extending  beyond 
the  British  Isles.  Then  as  to  security  under  their  laws  and 
from  their  laws  I  Those  laws  and  the  system  of  their  manage- 
ment have  been  taken  almost  entirely  from  us,  and  have  so 
been  administered  that  life  and  property  have  been  safe,  and 
the  subject  also  has  been  free  from  oppression.  I  think  that 
this  may  be  taken  for  granted,  seeing  that  they  who  have  been 
most  opposed  to  American  forms  of  government,  have  never 
asserted  the  reverse.  I  may  be  told  of  a  man  being  lynched  in 
one  State,  or  tarred  and  feathered  in  another,  or  of  a  duel  in  a 
third  being  "  fought  at  sight."  So  I  may  be  told  also  of  men 
being  garroted  in  London,  and  of  tithe  proctors  buried  in  a  bog 
without  their  ears  in  Ireland.  Neither  will  seventy  years  of 
continuance  nor  will  seven  hundred  secure  such  an  observance 
of  laws  as  will  prevent  temporary  ebullition  of  popular  feeling, 
or  save  a  people  from  the  chance  disgrace  of  occasional  out- 


CONCLUSION. 


580 


rage.  Taking  the  general,  life  and  limb  and  property  liave 
been  as  safe  in  the  States  as  in  other  civilized  countries  with 
■which  we  are  acquainted. 

As  to  their  personal  liberty  under  their  laws,  I  know  it  will  bo 
said  that  they  have  surrendered  all  claim  to  any  such  precious 
possession  by  the  facility  with  which  they  have  now  surrendered 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  It  has  been  taken 
from  them,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  show,  illegally,  and  they 
have  submitted  to  the  loss  and  to  the  illegality  without  a  mur- 
mur! But  in  such  a  matter  I  do  not  think  it  fair  to  Judge  them 
by  their  conduct  in  such  a  moment  as  the  present.  That  this  is 
the  very  moment  in  which  to  judge  of  the  efficiency  of  their  in- 
stitutions generally,  of  the  aptitude  of  those  institutions  for  the 
security  of  the  nation,  I  readily  acknowledge.  But  when  a 
ship  is  at  sea  in  a  storm,  riding  out  all  that  the  winds  and 
wavef  can  do  to  her,  one  does  not  condemn  her  because  a  yard- 
arm  gives  way,  nor  even  though  the  mainmast  should  go  by 
the  board.  If  she  can  make  her  port,  saving  life  and  cargo,  slie 
is  a  good  ship,  let  her  losses  in  spars  and  rigging  be  what  they 
may.  In  this  aflair  of  the  habeas  corpus  we  will  wait  a  while 
before  wo  come  to  any  final  judgment.  If  it  be  that  the  peo- 
ple, when  the  war  is  over,  shall  consent  to  live  under  a  military 
or  other  dictatorship, — that  they  shall  quietly  continue  their 
course  as  a  nation  without  recovery  of  their  rights  of  freedom, 
then  wc  shall  have  to  say  that  their  institutions  were  not  found- 
ed in  a  soil  of  sufficient  depth,  and  that  they  gave  way  before 
the  first  high  wind  that  blew  on  them.  I  myself  do  not  expect 
such  a  result. 

I  think  we  must  admit  that  the  Americans  have  received 
from  their  government,  or  rather  from  their  system  of  policy, 
that  aid  and  furtherance  which  they  required  from  it;  and, 
moreover,  such  aid  and  furtherance  as  we  expect  from  our  sys- 
tem of  government.  We  must  admit  that  they  have  been 
great,  and  free,  and  prosperous,  as  we  also  have  become.  And 
we  must  admit,  also,  that  in  some  matters  they  have  gone  for- 
ward in  advance  of  us.  They  have  educated  their  people,  as 
we  have  not  educated  ours.  They  have  given  to  their  millions 
a  personal  respect,  and  a  standing  above  the  abjectness  of  pov- 
erty, which  with  ns  are  much  less  general  than  with  them. 
These  things,  I  grant,  have  not  come  of  their  government,  and 
have  not  been  produced  by  their  written  constitution.  They 
are  the  happy  results  of  their  happy  circumstances.  But  so, 
also,  those  evil  attributes  which  we  sometimes  assign  to  them 
are  not  the  creatures  of  their  government,  or  of  their  constitu- 


ill' 


ri 


600 


NOBTH  AMERICA. 


i 


\l 


iil  ''{ 


*mA 


tion.     Wo  acknowledge  thera  to  bo  well  educated,  intelligent, 
philanthropic,  and  industrious ;  but  wo  say  that  they  are  ambi- 
tious, unjust,  self-idolatrous,  and  irreligious.     If  so,  let  us  at  any 
rate  balance  the  virtues  against  the  vices.     As  to  their  ambi- 
tion, it  is  a  vice  that  leans  so  to  virtue's  side,  that  it  hardly 
needs  an  apology.    As  to  their  injustice,  or  rather  dishonesty, 
I  have  said  what  I  have  to  say  on  that  matter.    I  am  not 
going  to  flinch  from  the  accusation  I  have  brought,  though  I 
am  aware  that  in  bringing  it  I  have  thrown  away  any  hope 
that  I  might  have  had,  of  carrving  with  me  the  good  will  of 
the  Americans  for  my  book.    The  \o\e  of  money, — or  rather 
of  making  money, — carried  to  an  extreme,  has  lessened  that 
instinctive  respect  for  the  rights  of  meum  and  tuum  which 
all  men  feel  more  or  less,  and  which,  when  encouraged  within 
the  human  breast,  finds  its  result  in  perfect  honesty.    Other 
nations,  of  which  I  will  not  now  stop  to  name  even  one|  have 
had  their  periods  of  natural  dishonesty.    It  may  be  that  oth- 
ers are  even  now  to  be  placed  in  the  same  category.    But  it 
is  a  fault  which  industry  and  intelligence  combined  will  after 
a  while  serve  to  lessen  and  to  banish.    The  industrious  man 
desires  to  keep  the  fruit  of  his  own  industry,  and  the  intelli, 
gent  man  will  ultimately  be  able  to  do  so.    That  the  Ameri- 
cans are  self-idolaters  is  perhaps  true, — with  a  difference.    An 
American  desires  you  to  worship  his  country,  or  his  brother ; 
but  he  does  not  often,  by  any  of  the  usual  signs  of  conceit,  call 
upon  you  to  worship  himself.    As  an  American,  treating  of 
America,  he  is  self-idolatrous  ;  but  that  is  a  self-idolatry  which 
I  can  endure.    Then,  as  to  his  want  of  religion^ — and  it  is  a 
very  sad  want — I  can  only  say  of  him,  that  I,  as  an  English- 
man, do  not  feel  myself  justified  in  flinging  the  first  stone  at 
him.    In  that  matter  of  religion,  as  in  the  matter  of  education, 
the  American,  I  think,  stands  on  a  level  higher  than  ours. 
There  is  not  in  the  States  so  absolute  an  ignorance  of  religion 
as  is  to  be  found  in  some  of  our  manufacturing  and  mining  dis- 
tricts, and  also,  alas !  in  some  of  our  agricultural  districts ;  but 
also,  I  think,  there  is  less  of  respect  and  veneration  for  God's 
word  among  their  educated  classes,  than  there  is  with  us ;  and, 
perhaps,  also  less  knowledge  as  to  God's  word.    The  general 
religious  level  is,  I  think,  higher  with  them ;  but  there  is  with 
us,  if  J  am  right  in  my  supposition,  a  higher  eminence  in  re- 
ligion, as  there  is  also  a  deeper  depth  of  ungodliness. 

I  think  then  that  we  are  bound  to  acknowledge  that  the 
Americans  have  succeeded  as  a  nation,  politically  and  socially. 
When  I  speak  of  social  success,  T  do  not  mean  to  say  that  their 


CONCLUSION. 


501 


gent, 

iiubi- 

t  any 

ixmbi- 

ardly 

[icsty, 

n  not 

ugh  I 

'  hope 

vill  of 

rather 

id  that 

which 

■within 
Other 

i6^  have 

lat  otli- 
But  it 

iU  after 

>U9  man 

e  intellU 

5  Amcri- 

ice.    An 

brother ; 

ceit,  call 

iting  of 
y  which 

a  it  is  a 
English- 
stone  at 
lucation, 
Ian  ours, 
religion 
Ining  dis- 
,cts ;  but 
pr  God's 
[us;  and, 
general 
is  with 
Ice  in  re- 

I  that  the 

socially- 
Ihat  their 


manners  are  correct  Recording  to  this  or  that  standard.  I  will 
not  say  that  tliey  are  correct,  or  arc  not  correct.  In  that  mat- 
tor  of  manners  I  have  found  tliat  those  with  whom  it  seemed 
to  mo  natural  that  I  should  associate,  were  very  pleasant  ac- 
cording to  my  standard.  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  a  good 
critic  on  such  a  subject,  or  that  I  have  ever  thought  much  of 
it  with  the  view  of  criticising.  I  have  been  happy  and  com- 
fortable with  them,  and  for  me  that  has  been  sufficient.  In 
speaking  of  social  success  I  allude  to  their  success  in  private 
life  as  distinguished  from  that  which  they  have  achieved  in 
public  life ; — to  their  successes  in  commerce,  in  mechanics,  in 
the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life,  in  medicine  and  all  that  leads 
to  the  solace  of  affliction,  in  literature,  and  I  may  add  also, 
considering  the  youth  of  the  nation,  in  the  arts.  Wo  arc,  I 
think,  bound  to  acknowledge  that  they  have  succeeded.  And 
if  they  have  succeeded,  it  is  vain  for  us  to  say  that  a  system  is 
wrong  which  has,  at  any  rate,  admitted  of  such  success.  That 
which  was  wanted  from  some  form  of  government,  has  been 
obtained  with  much  more  than  average  excellence ;  and  there- 
fore the  form  adopted  has  approved  itself  as  good.  You  may 
explain  to  a  farmer's  wife  with  indisputable  logic,  that  her 
churn  is  a  bad  churn ;  but  as  long  as  she  turns  out  butter  in 
greater  quantity,  in  better  quality,  and  with  more  profit  than 
her  neighbours,  you  will  hardly  mduce  her  to  change  it.  It 
may  be  that  with  some  other  churn  she  might  have  done  even 
better ;  but,  under  such  circumstances,  she  will  have  a  right  to 
think  well  of  the  churn  she  uses. 

The  American  constitution  is  now,  I  think,  at  the  crisis  of 
its  severest  trial.  I  conceive  it  to  be  by  no  means  perfect,  even 
for  the  wants  of  the  people  who  use  it ;  and  I  have  already 
endeavoured  to  explain  what  changes  it  seems  to  need.  And 
it  has  had  this  defect, — that  it  has  permitted  a  falling  away 
from  its  intended  modes  of  action,  while  its  letter  has  been 
kept  sacred.  As  I  have  endeavoured  to  show,  universal  suf- 
frage and  democratic  action  in  the  Senate  were  not  intended 
by  the  framers  of  the  constitution.  In  this  respect,  the  consti- 
tution has,  as  it  were,  fallen  through,  and  it  is  needed  that  its 
very  beams  should  be  re-strengthened.  There  are  also  other 
matters  as  to  which  it  seems  that  some  change  is  indispensa- 
ble. So  much  I  have  admitted.  But,  not  the  less,  judging  of 
it  by  the  entirety  of  the  work  that  it  has  done,  I  think  that  we 
are  bound  to  own  that  it  has  been  successful. 

And  now,  with  regard  to  this  tedious  war,  of  which  from 
day  to  day  we  are  still,  in  this  month  of  May,  1862,  hearing 


1        t 


602 


NORTII    AMRRICA. 


•■  I 


dot.iils  whicli  teach  \\a  to  think  that  it  can  hardly  an  yet  bo 
near  its  end; — to  what  may  wo  rationally  look  as  its  result? 
Of  one  thinj^  I  myself  feel  tolerably  certain, — that  its  result 
will  not  be  nothing,  as  some  among  us  have  seemed  to  suppose 
may  bo  probable.  I  cannot  believe  that  all  this  energy  on  the 
l)art  of  the  North  will  bo  of  no  avail,  more  than  I  8uj)poso  that 
southern  i)er8everanco  will  bo  of  no  avail.  Tlicro  are  those 
among  us  who  say  tliat  as  secession  will  at  last  be  accom- 
plished, the  North  should  have  yielded  to  the  South  at  once, 
and  that  nothing  will  bo  gained  by  their  great  expenditure  of 
lifo  and  treasure.  I  can  bv  no  means  bring  myself  to  agree 
with  these.  I  also  look  to  tho  establishment  of  secession.  See- 
ing how  essential  and  thorough  are  tho  points  of  variance  be- 
tween tho  North  and  the  South,  how  unliko  the  one  people  is 
to  tho  other,  and  how  necessary  it  is  that  their  policies  should 
bo  different ;  seeing  how  deep  aro  their  antipathies,  and  how 
fixed  is  each  side  in  the  belief  of  its  own  rectitude  and  in  the 
belief  also  of  the  other's  political  baseness,  I  cannot  believe 
that  tho  really  southern  States  will  ever  again  be  joined  in  ami- 
cable  union  with  those  of  tho  North.  They,  the  States  of  tho 
Gulf,  may  bo  utterly  subjugated,  and  the  North  may  hold  over 
them  military  power.  Georgia  and  her  sisters  may  for  a  while 
belong  to  the  Union,  as  one  conquered  country  belongs  to  an- 
other. But  I  do  not  think  that  they  will  ever  act  with  tho 
Union ; — and,  as  I  imagine,  the  Union  before  long  will  agree  to 
a  separation.  I  do  not  mean  to  prophesy  that  the  result  will 
bo  thus  accomplished.  It  may  be  that  tho  South  will  effect 
their  own  independence  before  they  lay  down  their  arms.  I 
think,  however,  that  we  may  look  forward  to  such  indepen- 
dence, "whether  it  be  achieved  in  that  way,  or  in  this,  or  in 
some  other. 

But  not  on  that  account  will  the  war  have  been  of  no  avail 
to  the  North.  I  think  it  must  be  already  evident  to  all  those 
who  have  looked  into  the  matter,  that  had  the  North  yielded 
to  the  first  call  made  by  the  South  for  secession  all  the  slave 
States  must  have  gone.  Maryland  would  have  gone,  carrying 
Delaware  in  its  arras ;  and  if  Maryland,  all  south  of  Maryland. 
If  Maryland  had  gone,  the  capital  would  have  gone.  If  the 
Government  had  resolved  to  yield,  Virginia  to  the  east  would 
assuredly  have  gone,  and  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Missouri,  to  the  West,  would  have  gone  also.  The  feeling  for 
the  Union  in  Kentucky  was  very  strong,  but  I  do  not  think 
that  even  Kentucky  could  have  saved  itself.  To  have  yielded 
to  tho  southern  demands  would  liave  been  to  have  yielded 


CONCLUSION. 


003 


everything.  "Rut  no  man  now  boliovcR,  let  tho  contest  go  m 
it  will,  that  IMurylund  and  Dolawaro  will  p^o  with  tho  South. 
Tho  secessionists  of  Haltinioro  do  not  think  so,  nor  tho  ponlle- 
men  and  ladies  of  Washington,  whoso  whole  hearts  are  in  tho 
southern  cause.  No  mati  thinks  that  Maryland  will  go ;  and 
few,  I  believe,  imagine  that  either  Missouri  or  Kentucky  will 
bo  divided  from  tho  North.  I  will  not  pretend  what  may  bo 
tho  exact  line,  but  I  myself  feel  confident  that  it  will  run  south 
both  of  Virginia  and  of  Kentucky. 

If  tho  North  do  conquer  tho  South,  and  so  arrange  their 
matters  that  tho  southern  States  shall  again  become  members 
of  tho  Union,  it  will  bo  admitted  that  they  have  done  all  that 
they  sought  to  do.  If  they  do  not  do  this ; — if  instead  of  do- 
ing this,  which  would  bo  all  that  they  desire,  they  were  in 
truth  to  do  nothing ; — to  win  finally  not  one  foot  of  ground 
from  tho  South, — a  supposition  which  I  regard  as  impossible; 
— I  think  that  we  should  still  admit  after  a  while  that  they  had 
done  their  duty  in  endeavouring  to  maintain  tho  integrity  of  tho 
empire.  But  if,  as  a  thini  .d  more  probable  alternative,  they 
succeed  in  rescuing  from  ' '  o  South  and  from  slavery  four  or 
five  of  the  finest  States  of  tue  old  Union, — a  vast  portion  of  tho 
continent,  to  be  beaten  by  none  other  in  salubrity,  fertility, 
beauty,  and  political  importance, — will  it  not  then  be  admitted 
that  the  war  has  done  some  good,  and  that  the  life  and  treas- 
ure have  not  been  spent  in  vam  ? 

That  is  the  termination  of  the  contest  to  which  I  look  for- 
ward. I  think  that  there  will  be  secession,  but  that  the  terms 
of  secession  will  be  dictated  by  the  North,  not  by  tho  South ; 
and  among  these  terms  I  expect  to  see  an  escape  from  slavery 
for  those  border  States  to  which  I  ha'^e  alluded.  In  that  prop- 
osition which,  in  February  last  (1862),  was  made  by  the  Pres- 
ident, and  which  has  since  been  sanctioned  by  the  Senate,  I 
think  we  may  see  the  first  step  towards  this  measure.  It  may 
probably  be  tho  case  that  many  of  the  slaves  will  be  driven 
south ;  that  as  the  owners  of  those  slaves  are  driven  from  their 
holdings  in  Virginia  they  will  take  their  slaves  with  them,  or 
send  them  before  them.  The  manumission,  when  it  reaches 
Virginia,  will  not  probably  enfranchise  the  lialf  million  of  slaves 
who,  in  1860,  were  counted  among  its  population.  But  as  to 
that  I  confess  myself  to  be  comparatively  careless.  It  is  not 
the  concern  which  I  have  now  at  heart.  For  myself,  I  shall 
feel  satisfied  if  that  manumission  shall  reach  the  million  of 
whites  by  whom  Virginia  is  populated ;  or  if  not  that  million 
m  its  integrity  then  that  other  million  by  which  its  rich  soil 


!.: 


594 


NORTH  AMBBICA. 


1^ 


P. 


would  soon  be  tenanted.  There  are  now  about  four  millions 
of  white  men  and  women  inhabiting  the  slave  States  which 
I  have  described,  and  I  think  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  the 
northern  States  will  have  done  something  with  their  armies  if 
they  succeed  in  rescuing  those  four  millions  from  the  staLu  and 
evil  of  slavery. 

There  is  a  third  question  which  I  have  asked  myself,  and  to 
which  I  have  undertaken  to  g've  some  answer.  When  this 
war  be  over  between  the  northern  and  southern  States  will 
there  come  upon  us  Englishmen  a  necessity  of  fighting  with 
the  Americans  ?  If  there  do  come  such  necessity,  arising  out 
of  our  conduct  to  the  States  during  the  period  of  their  civil 
war,  it  will  indeed  be  hard  upon  us,  as  a  nation,  seeing  the 
struggle  that  we  have  made  to  be  just  in  our  dealings  towards 
the  States  generally,  whether  they  be  North  or  South.  To  be 
just  in  such  a  period,  and  under  such  circumstances,  is  very 
difficult.  In  that  contest  between  Sardinia  and  Austria  it  was 
all  but  impossible  to  be  just  to  the  Ita)''>n8  without  being  un- 
just to  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  To  have  been  strictly  just  at 
the  moment  one  should  have  begun  by  confessing  the  injustice 
of  so  much  that  had  -^one  before !  But  in  this  American  con- 
test such  justice,  though  difficult,  was  easier.  Affairs  of  trade 
rather  than  of  treaties  chiefly  interfered ;  and  these  affairs,  by 
a  total  disregard  of  our  own  pecuniary  interests,  could  be  so 
managed  t!iat  justice  might  be  done.  Thif  I  think  was  effect- 
ed. It  may  be,  of  course,  iiat  I  am  prejudiced  on  the  side  of 
my  own  nation ;  but  striving  to  judge  of  the  matter  as  best  I 
may  without  prejudice,  I  cannot  see  that  we,  as  a  nation,  have 
in  aught  offended  against  the  strictest  justice  in  our  dealings 
with  America  during  this  contest.  But  justice  has  not  sufficed. 
I  do  not  know  that  our  bitterest  foes  in  the  northern  States 
have  accused  us  of  acting  unjustly.  It  is  not  justice  which 
they  have  looked  for  at  our  hands,  and  looked  for  in  vain ; — 
not  justice,  but  generosity !  We  have  not,  as  they  say,  sym- 
pathized with  them  in  their  trouble !  It  seems  to  me  that  such 
a  complaint  is  unworthy  of  them  as  a  nation,  as  a  people,  or  as 
individuals.  In  such  a  matter  generosity  is  another  name  for 
injustice, — as  it  too  often  is  in  all  matters.  A.  generous  sym- 
pathy with  the  North  would  have  been  an  oste  lible  and 
crushing  enmity  to  the  South.  We  could  not  have  sympa- 
thized with  the  North  without  condemning  the  South,  and 
telling  to  the  world  that  the  South  were  our  enemies.  In  or- 
dering his  own  household  a  man  should  not  want  generosity  or 
sympathy  from  the  outside ;  and  if  not  a  man,  then  certainly 


CONCLUSION. 


595 


not  a  nation.  Generosity  between  nations  must  in  its  very  na- 
ture be  wrong.  One  nation  may  be  just  to  another,  courteous 
to  another,  even  considerate  to  another  with  propriety.  But 
no  nation  can  be  generous  to  another  without  injustice  either 
to  some  third  nation,  or  to  itself. 

But  though  no  accusation  of  unfairness  has,  as  far  as  I  am 
aware,  ever  been  made  by  the  government  of  Washington 
against  the  government  of  London,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
a  very  strong  feeling  of  antipathy  to  England  has  sprung  up  in 
America  during  this  war,  and  that  it  is  even  yet  so  intense  in 
its  bitterness,  that  were  the  North  to  become  speedily  victori- 
ous in  their  present  contest  very  man^  Americans  would  be 
anxious  to  turn  their  arms  at  once  against  Canada.  And  I  fear 
that  that  fight  between  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac  has 
strengthened  this  wish  by  giving  to  the  Americans  an  unwar- 
ranted confidence  in  their  capability  of  defending  themselves 
against  any  injury  from  British  shipping.  It  may  be  said  by 
them,  and  probably  would  be  said  by  many  of  them,  that  this 
feeling  of  enmity  had  not  been  engendered  by  any  idea  of  na- 
tional injustice  on  our  side ; — that  it  might  reasonably  exist, 
though  no  suspicion  of  such  injustice  had  arisen  in  the  minds 
of  any.  They  would  argue  that  the  hatred  on  their  part  had 
been  engendered  by  scorn  on  ours, — ^by  scorn  and  ill  words 
heaped  upon  them  in  their  distress. 

They  would  say  that  slander,  scorn,  and  uncharitable  judg- 
ments create  deeper  feuds  than  do  robbery  and  violence,  and 
produce  deeper  enmity  and  worse  rancour.  "  It  is  because  we 
have  been  scorned  by  England,  that  we  hate  England.  We 
have  been  told  from  week  to  week,  and  from  day  to  day,  that 
we  were  fools,  cowards,  knaves,  and  madmen.  We  have  been 
treated  with  disrespect,  and  that  disrespect  we  will  avenge." 
It  is  thus  that  they  speak  of  England,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  opinion  so  expressed  is  very  general.  It  is  not 
my  purpose  here  to  say  whether  in  this  respect  England  has 
given  cause  of  offence  to  the  States,  or  whether  either  country 
has  given  cause  of  offence  to  the  other.  On  both  sides  have 
many  hard  words  been  spoken,  and  on  both  sides  also  have 
good  words  been  spoken.  It  is  unfortunately  the  case  that  hard 
words  are  pregnant,  and  as  such  they  are  read,  digested,  and 
remembered ;  while  good  words  are  generally  so  dull  that  no- 
body reads  them  willingly,  ijnd  vhen  read  they  are  forgotten. 
For  many  years  there  have  been  hard  words  bandied  backwards 
and  forwards  between  England  and  the  United  States,  showing 
mutual  jealousies  and  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  each  nation 


_j 


506 


XOBTU  AMEBICA. 


'■      .     .' 


V 


p'  ^•if: 


I 


to  spare  no  fault  committed  by  the  other.  This  has  grown  of 
rivalry  between  the  two,  Jind  in  fact  proves  the  respect  which 
each  has  for  the  other's  power  and  wealth.  I  will  not  now  pre- 
tend to  say  with  which  side  has  been  the  chiefest  blame,  if  there 
has  been  chiefest  blame  on  either  side.  But  I  do  say  that  it  is 
monstrous  in  any  people  or  in  any  person  to  suppose  that  such 
bickerings  can  afford  a  proper  ground  for  war.  I  am  not  about 
to  dilate  on  the  horrors  of  war.  Horrid  as  war  may  be,  and  full 
of  evil,  it  is  not  so  horrid  to  a  nation,  nor  so  full  of  evil,  as  na- 
tional insult  unavenged,  or  as  national  injury  unredressed.  A 
blow  taken  by  a  nation  and  taken  without  atonement  is  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  national  inferiority  than  which  any  war  is 
preferable.  Neither  England  nor  the  States  are  inclined  to  take 
such  blows.  But  such  a  blow,  before  it  can  be  regarded  as  a 
national  insult,  as  a  wrong  done  by  one  nation  on  another,  must 
be  inflicted  by  the  political  entity  of  the  one  on  the  political  en- 
tity of  the  other.  No  angry  clamours  of  the  press,  no  declama- 
tions of  orators,  no  voices  from  the  people,  no  studied  criticisms 
from  the  learned  few  or  unstudied  censures  from  society  at 
large,  can  have  any  fair  weight  on  such  a  question  or  do  aught 
towards  justifying  a  national  quarrel.  They  cannot  form  a  casus 
belli.  Those  two  Latin  words,  which  we  all  understand,  explain 
this  with  the  utmost  accuracy.  Were  it  not  so,  the  peace  of 
the  world  would  indeed  rest  upon  sand.  Causes  of  national 
difference  will  arise, — for  governments  will  be  unjust  as  are  in- 
dividuals. And  causes  of  difference  will  arise  because  govern- 
ments are  too  blind  to  distinguish  the  just  from  the  unjust. 
But  in  such  cases  the  government  acts  on  some  ground  which 
it  declares.  It  either  shows  or  pretends  to  show  some  casus 
belli.  But  in  this  matter  of  threatened  war  between  the  States 
and  England  it  is  declared  openly  that  such  war  is  to  take  place 
because  the  English  have  abused  the  Americans,  and  because, 
consequently,  the  Americans  hate  the  English.  There  seems 
to  exist  an  impression  that  no  other  ostensible  ground  for  fight- 
ing need  be  shown,  although  such  an  event  as  that  of  war  be- 
tween the  two  nations  would,  as  all  men  acknowledge,  be  ter- 
rible in  its  results.  "  Your  newspapers  insulted  us  when  we 
were  in  our  difficulties.  Your  writers  said  evil  things  of  us. 
Your  legislators  spoke  of  us  with  scorn.  You  exacted  from  us 
a  disagreeable  duty  of  retribution  just  when  the  pei*formance  of 
sucn  a  duty  was  most  odious  to  us.  You  have  shown  symp- 
toms of  joy  at  our  sorrow.  And,  therefore,  as  soon  as  our 
hands  are  at  liberty,  we  will  fight  you."  I  have  known  school- 
boys to  argue  in  that  way,  and  the  irguments  have  been  intel- 


k^- 


I     ; 


CONCLUSION. 


697 


ligible.    But  I  cannot  understand  that  any  government  should 
admit  such  an  argument. 

Nor  will  the  American  government  willingly  admit  it.  Ac- 
cording to  existing  theories  of  government  the  armies  of  na- 
tions are  but  the  tools  of  the  governing  powers.  If  at  the  close 
of  the  present  civil  war  the  American  government, — the  old 
civil  government  consisting  of  the  President  with  such  checks 
as  Congress  constitutionally  has  over  him, — shall  really  hold 
the  power  to  which  it  pretends,  I  do  not  fear  that  there  will  be 
any  war.  No  President,  and  I  think  no  Congress,  will  desire 
such  a  war.  Nor  will  the  people  clamour  for  it,  even  should 
the  idea  of  such  a  war  be  popular.  The  people  of  America  are 
not  clamorous  against  their  government.  If  there  be  such  a 
war  it  will  be  because  the  army  shall  have  then  become  more 
powerful  than  the  Government.  If  the  President  can  hold  his 
own  the  people  will  support  him  in  his  desire  for  peace.  But 
if  the  President  do  not  hold  his  own, — if  some  General  with 
two  or  three  hundred  thousand  men  at  his  back  shall  then  have 
the  upper  hand  in  the  nation, — it  is  too  probable  that  the  peo- 

Ele  may  back  him.  The  old  game  will  be  played  again  that 
as  so  often  been  played  in  the  history  of  nations,  and  some 
wretched  military  aspirant  will  go  forth  to  flood  Canada  with 
blood,  in  order  that  the  feathers  in  his  cap  may  flaunt  in  men's 
eyes  and  that  he  may  be  talked  of  for  some  years  to  come  as 
one  of  the  great  curses  let  loose  by  the  Almighty  on  mankind. 
I  must  confess  that  there  is  dang-ji*  of  this.  To  us  the  dan- 
ger is  very  great.  It  cannot  be  good  for  us  to  send  ships  laden 
outside  with  iron  shields  instead  of  inside  with  soft  goods  and 
hardware  to  those  thickly  thronged  American  ports.  It  can- 
not be  good  for  us  to  have  to  throw  millions  into  those  harbours 
instead  of  taking  millions  out  from  them.  It  cannot  be  good 
for  us  to  export  thousands  upon  thousands  of  soldiers  to  Cana- 
da of  whom  only  hundreds  would  return.  The  whole  turmoil, 
cost,  and  paraphernalia  of  such  a  course  would  be  injurious  to 
us  in  the  extreme,  and  the  loss  of  our  commerce  would  be  near- 
ly ruinous.  But  the  injury  of  such  a  war  to  us  would  be  as 
nothing  to  the  injury  which  it  would  inflict  upon  the  States. 
To  them  for  many  years  it  would  be  absolutely  ruinous.  It 
would  entail  not  only  all  those  losses  which  such  a  war  must 
bring  with  it ;  but  that  greater  loss  which  would  arise  to  the 
nation  from  the  fact  of  its  having  been  powerless  to  prevent  it. 
Such  a  war  would  prove  that  it  had  lost  the  freedom  for  which 
it  had  struggled,  and  which  for  so  many  years  it  has  enjoyed. 
For  the  sake  of  that  people  as  well  as  for  our  own, — and  for 


]     '' 


^ 


698 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


i 


'\ 


'ih: 


I  y 


i 

I  4 


l\ 


their  sakes  rather  than  for  our  own, — let  us,  as  far  as  may  be, 
abstain  from  words  which  are  needlessly  injurious.  They  have 
done  much  that  is  great  and  noble,  even  since  this  war  has  be- 
gun, and  we  have  been  slow  to  acknowledge  it.  They  have 
made  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  their  country  which  we  have 
ridiculed.  They  have  struggled  to  maintain  a  good  cause,  and 
we  have  disbelieved  in  their  earnestness.  They  have  been  anx- 
ious to  abide  by  their  constitution,  which  to  them  has  been  as 
it  were  a  second  gospel,  and  we  have  spoken  of  that  constitu- 
tion as  though  it  had  been  a  thing  of  mere  words  in  which  life 
had  never  existed.  This  has  been  done  while  their  hands  were 
very  full  and  their  back  heavily  laden.  Such  words  coming 
from  us,  or  from  parties  among  us,  cannot  justify  hose  threats 
of  war  which  we  hear  spoken ;  but  that  they  should  make  the 
hearts  of  men  sore  and  their  thoughts  bitter  against  us  can 
hardly  be  matter  of  surprise. 

As  to  the  result  of  any  such  war  between  us  and  them,  it 
would  depend  mainly,  I  think,  on  the  feelings  of  the  Canadians. 
Neither  could  they  annex  Canada  without  the  good-will  of  the 
Canadians,  nor  could  we  keep  Canada  without  that  good-will. 
At  present  the  feeling  in  Canada  against  the  northern  States  is 
80  strong  and  so  universal  that  England  has  little  to  fear  on 
that  head. 

I  have  now  done  my  task,  and  may  take  leave  of  my  readers 
on  either  side  of  the  water  with  a  hearty  hope  that  the  existing 
war  between  the  North  and  South  may  soon  be  over,  and  that 
none  other  may  follow  on  its  heels  to  exercise  that  new-fledged 
military  skill  which  the  existing  quarrel  will  have  produced  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I  have  written  my  book  in  ob- 
scure language  if  I  have  not  shown  that  to  me  social  successes 
and  commercial  prosperity  are  much  dearer  than  any  greatness 
that  can  be  won  by  arms.  The  Americans  had  fondly  thought 
that  they  were  to  be  exempt  from  the  curse  of  war, — at  any 
rate  from  the  bitterness  of  the  curse.  But  the  days  for  such 
exemption  have  not  come  as  yet.  While  we  are  hurrying  on 
to  make  twelve-inch  shield-plates  for  our  men-of-war,  we  can 
hardly  dare  to  think  of  the  days  when  the  sword  shall  be  turn- 
ed into  the  ploughshare.  May  it  not  be  thought  well  for  us  if, 
with  such  work  on  our  hands,  any  scraps  of  iron  shall  be  left  to 
us  with  which  to  pursue  the  purposes  of  peace  ?  But  at  least 
let  us  not  have  war  with  these  children  of  our  own.  If  we 
must  fight,  let  us  fight  the  French,  "  for  King  George  upon  the 
throne."  The  doing  so  will  be  disagreeable,  but  it  will  not  be 
antipathetic  to  the  nature  of  an  Englishman.    For  my  part. 


CONCLUSION. 


590 


when  an  American  tells  me  that  he  wants  to  fight  with  me,  I 
regard  his  offence  as  compared  with  that  of  a  Frenchman  un- 
der the  same  circumstances,  as  I  would  compare  the  offence  of 
a  parricide  or  a  fratricide  with  that  of  a  mere  common-place 
murderer.  Such  a  war  would  be  plus  quam  civile  bellum. 
Which  of  us  two  could  take  a  thrashmg  from  the  other  and  af- 
terwards go  about  our  business  with  contentment  ? 

On  our  return  to  Liverpool,  we  stayed  for  a  few  hours  at 
Queenstown,  taking  in  coal,  and  the  passengers  landed  that  they 
might  stretch  their  legs  and  look  about  them.  I  also  went 
ashore  at  the  dear  old  place  which  I  had  known  well  in  other 
days,  when  the  people  were  not  too  grand  to  call  it  Cove,  and 
were  contented  to  run  down  from  Cork  in  river  steamers,  be- 
fore the  Passage  railway  was  built.  I  spent  a  pleasant  summer 
there  once  in  those  times ; — God  be  with  the  good  old  days ! 
And  now  I  went  ashore  at  Queenstown,  happy  to  feel  that  I 
should  be  again  in  a  British  isle,  and  happy  also  to  know  that 
I  was  once  more  in  Ireland.  And  when  the  people  came  around 
me  as  they  did,  I  seemed  to  know  every  face  and  to  be  famil- 
iar with  every  voice.  It  has  been  my  fate  to  have  so  close  an 
intimacy  with  Ireland,  that  when  I  meet  an  Irishman  abroad,  I 
always  recognize  in  hira  more  of  a  kinsman  than  I  do  in  an  En- 
glishman. I  never  ask  an  Englishman  from  what  county  ho 
comes,  or  what  was  his  town.  To  Irishmen  I  usually  put  such 
questions,  and  I  am  generally  familiar  with  the  old  haunts  which 
they  name.  I  was  happy  iherefore  to  feel  myself  again  in  Ire- 
land, and  to  walk  round  from  Queenstown  to  the  river  at  Pas- 
sage by  the  old  way  that  had  once  been  familiar  to  my  feet. 

Or  rather  I  should  have  been  happy  if  I  had  not  found  my- 
self instantly  disgraced  by  the  importunities  of  my  friends ! 
A  legion  of  women  surrounded  me,  imploring  alms,  begging 
my  honour  to  bestow  my  charity  on  them  for  the  love  of  the 
Virgin,  using  the  most  holy  names  in  their  adjurations  for  half- 
pence, clinging  to  me  with  that  half  joking,  half  lachrymose  air 
of  importunity  which  an  Iiish  beggar  has  assumed  as  peculiar- 
ly her  own.  There  were  men  too,  who  begged  as  well  as 
women.  And  the  women  were  sturdy  and  fat,  and,  not  know- 
ing me  as  well  as  I  knew  them,  seemed  resolved  that  their  im- 
portunities should  be  successful.  After  all,  I  had  an  old  world 
liking  for  them  in  their  rags.  They  were  endeared  to  me  by 
certain  memories  and  associations  which  I  cannot  define.  But 
then  what  would  those  Americans  think  of  them ; — of  them 
and  of  the  country  which  produced  them  ?  That  was  the  re- 
flection which  troubled  me.    A  legion  of  women  in  rags  clam- 


l#ij 


1   r. 


600 


NOBTH   AMERICA. 


%A 


h 


U'-- 


orous  for  bread,  protesting  to  heaven  that  they  are  starving, 
importunate  with  voices  and  with  hands,  surrounding  the 
stranger  when  be  puts  his  foot  on  the  soil  so  that  he  cannot  es- 
cape, does  not  afford  to  the  cynical  American  who  then  first 
visits  us, — and  they  all  are  cynical  when  they  visit  us, — a  bad 
opportunity  for  his  sarcasm.  He  can  at  any  rate  boast  that  he 
sees  nothing  of  that  at  home.  I  myself  am  fond  of  Irish  beg- 
gars. It  is  an  acquired  taste, — which  comes  upon  one  as  does 
that  for  smoked  whisky,  or  Limeiick  tobacco.  But  I  certainly 
did  wish  that  there  were  not  so  many  of  them  at  Queenstown. 

I  tell  all  this  here  not  to  the  disgrace  of  Ireland ; — not  for 
the  triumph  of  America.  The  Irishman  or  American  who 
thinks  rightly  on  the  subject  will  know  that  the  state  of  each 
country  has  arisen  from  its  opportunities.  Beggary  does  not 
prevail  in  new  countries,  and  out  few  old  countries  have  man- 
aged to  exist  without  it.  As  to  Ireland  we  may  rejoice  to  say 
that  there  is  less  of  it  now  than  there  was  twenty  years  since. 
Things  are  mending  there.  But  though  such  excuses  may  be 
truly  made, — although  an  Englishman  when  he  sees  this  squal- 
or and  poverty  on  the  quays  at  Queenstown,  consoles  himself 
with  reflecting  that  the  evil  has  been  unavoidable,  but  will  per- 
haps soon  be  avoided, — nevertheless  he  cannot  but  remember 
that  there  is  no  such  squalor  and  no  such  poverty  in  the  land 
from  which  he  has  returned.  I  claim  no  credit  for  the  new 
country.  I  impute  no  blame  to  the  old  country.  But  there  is 
the  fact.  The  Irishman  when  he  expatriates  himself  to  one  of 
those  American  States  loses  much  of  that  affectionate,  confid- 
ing, master-worshipping  nature  which  makes  him  so  good  a 
fellow  when  at  home.  But  he  becomes  more  of  a  man.  He 
assumes  a  dignity  which  he  never  has  known  before.  He  learns 
to  regard  his  labour  as  his  own  property.  That  which  he  earns 
he  takes  without  thanks,  but  he  desires  to  take  no  more  than 
he  earns.  To  me  personally  he  has  perhaps  become  less  pleas- 
ant than  he  was.  But  to  himself — !  It  seems  to  me  that  such 
a  man  must  feel  himself  half  a  god,  if  he  has  the  power  of  com- 
paring what  he  is  with  what  he  was. 

It  is  right  that  all  this  should  be  acknowledged  by  us.  When 
we  speak  of  America  and  of  her  institutions  we  should  remem- 
ber that  she  has  given  to  our  increasing  population  rights  and 
privileges  which  we  could  not  give ; — which  as  an  old  country 
we  probably  can  never  give.  That  self-asserting,  obtrusive  in- 
dependence which  so  often  wounds  us,  is,  if  viewed  aright,  but 
an  outward  sign  o*^  those  good  things  which  a  new  country 
has  produced  for  its  people.     Men  and  women  do  not  beg  in 


"T| 


CONCLUSION. 


601 


rving, 

g  the 

lot  es- 

n  first 

-a  bad 

hat  he 

h  beg- 

ks  does 

rtainly 

stown. 

not  for 

n  who 

of  each 

oes  not 

re  man- 

5  to  say- 
's since. 

may  be 

is  squal- 

himself 

will  per- 

member 

the  land 

the  new 
there  is 

)  one  of 
,  confid- 
good  a 
an.    He 
le  learns 
he  earns 
jre  than 
ss  pleas- 
at  such 
of  com- 

When 
remem- 
rbts  and 
[country 
isive  in- 
Ight,  but 
1  country 
It  beg  in 


the  States ; — tiioy  do  not  offend  you  with  tattered  rags ;  they 
do  not  complain  to  heaven  of  starvation ;  they  do  not  croucn 
to  the  ground  for  halfpence.  If  poor,  they  are  not  abject  in 
their  poverty.  They  read  and  write.  They  walk  like  numan 
beings  made  in  God's  form.  They  know  that  they  are  men 
and  women,  owinc  it  to  themselves  and  to  the  world  that  they 
should  earn  their  bread  by  their  labour,  but  feeling  that  when 
earned  it  is  their  own.  If  this  be  so, — if  it  be  acknowledged 
that  it  h  so, — should  not  such  knowledge  in  itself  be  sufficient 
testimony  of  the  success  of  the  country  and  of  her  institutions? 

C  0 


',1 


\. 


\ 


>■>' 


'Ml 


APPENDICES. 


A. 

DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people 
to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and 
to  assume,  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to 
which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect 
to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which 
impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all  men  are  created  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That,  to  secure 
these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  and  that,  whenever  any  form  of  govern- 
ment becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter 
or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  government,  laying  its  foundations  on  such 
principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem 
most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dic- 
tate that  governments,  long  established,  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and 
transient  causes ;  and,  accordingly,  all  experience  hath  shown,  that  mankind 
are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  them- 
selves by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But,  when  a 
long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the  same  object, 
evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right, 
it  is  their  duty,  ^o  throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for 
their  future  security.  Such  has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  the  colonies, 
and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former 
systems  of  government.  The  history  of  the  present  king  of  Great  Britain  is 
a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having,  in  direct  object,  the 
establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these  States.  To  prove  this,  let 
facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary  for 
the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  bis  governoi's  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing  im- 
portance, unless  suspended  in  their  operations  till  his  assent  should  be  ob- 
tained ;  and,  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation  of  large  districts 
of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  representation  in 
the  legislature — a  right  inestimable  to  them,  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfoitable, 
and  distant  from  the  repository  of  their  public  recorda,  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for  opposing  with  manly 
firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 


Il 


^ 


604 


APPENDICES. 


<.. 


p  - 


IIo  has  refused,  for  n  lonR  time  after  such  dissolutions,  to  cnuso  others  to 
bo  elected ;  whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation,  have 
returned  to  the  people  at  largo  for  their  exercise ;  the  State  remaining,  in  the 
meantime,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without,  and  convul- 
sions within. 

Ho  has  endeavoured  to  prevent  tho  population  of  these  States ;  for  that  pur- 
pose, obstructing  tho  laws  of  naturalization  of  foreigners,  refusing  to  pass 
othors  to  encourage  their  migration  thither,  and  raising  tho  conditions  of  new 
appropriations  of  lands. 

Ho  has  obstructed  tho  administration  of  justice,  by  refusing  his  assent  to 
laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone  for  tho  tenure  of  their 
offices,  and  tho  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

Ho  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of  officers 
to  harass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  timo  of  peace,  standing  armies,  without  tho  con- 
sent of  our  legislatures. 

Ho  has  affected  to  render  tho  military  independent  of,  and  superior  to,  tho 
civil  power. 

Ho  has  combined,  with  others,  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our 
constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws ;  giving  his  assent  to  their  acts 
of  pretended  legislation. 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us. 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any  murders 
which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these  States. 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world. 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent. 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  coses,  of  the  benefit  of  trial  by  jury. 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas,  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offences. 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighbouring  province, 
establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its  boundaries, 
so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the 
same  absolute  rule  into  these  colonies. 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  alter- 
ing, fundamentally,  the  forms  of  our  governments. 

For  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves  invested 
with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of  his  protection 
and  waging  war  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our  towns,  and  de- 
stroyed the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is,  at  this  time,  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to 
complete  the  works  of  dpath,  desolation,  and  tyrannv,  already  begun,  with 
circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous 
ages,  and  totally  unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken  captive  on  the  high  seas,  to 
bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their  friends, 
and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has  endeavoured  to 
bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  merciless  Indian  savages,  whose 
known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes, 
and  conditions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions,  we  have  petitioned  for  redress  in  the 


.*a^ 


DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


605 


mo8t  htimblo  terms.  Onr  repented  petitions  have  Iwcn  imswered  only  by  re- 
peated injuries.  A  ])rince,  wIiohu  chnracter  is  tliiis  niuriced  by  every  act 
whicli  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  tlio  ruler  uf  a  free  people. 

Nor  bavo  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our  British  brethren.  We  have 
warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  attempts  by  their  leKislaturo,  to  ox- 
tend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  Wo  have  reminded  them  of  tho 
circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  Wo  have  appealed  to 
their  native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  wo  have  conjured  them,  bv  tho  tics 
of  our  common  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations,  which  would  inevita- 
bly interrupt  our  connections  and  correspondence.  They,  too,  have  been 
deaf  to  tho  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  Wo  must,  therefore,  ac- 
quiesce in  tho  necessity  which  denounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them  as 
we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in  peace,  fricnd.s. 

Wo,  therefore,  tho  Representatives  of  tho  United  States  of  America,  in 
General  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  tho  world 
for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  tho  mime  and  by  tho  authority  of 
tho  good  peoplo  of  these  colonics,  solemnly  publish  and  declare  that  these 
Uniied  Colonies  a:e,  and  of  right  ought  to  bo,  free  and  independent  States; 
that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  all 
political  connection  between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought 
to  be,  totally  dissolved  ;  and  that,  as  free  and  independent  States,  they  have 
full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  com> 
merce,.and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent  States  may  of 
right  do.  And,  for  the  support  of  his  declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on 
the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we  mutually  plexlgc  to  each  other  our 
lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honour. 


I* 
it 


The  foregoing  declaration  was,  by  order  of  Congress,  engrossed,  and  signed 
by  the  following  members : 


JOHN  HANCOCK. 


Neur  Hampshire. 

JOSIAH  BaRTLETT, 

William  Whipple, 
Matthew  Thornton. 

Massachusetts  Bay. 

Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams, 
Robert  Treat  Paine, 
Elbridoe  Gerry. 

Rhode  Island. 

Stephen  Hopkins, 
William  Ellert. 

Connecticut. 
Roger  Sherman, 
Samuel  Huntington, 
William  Williams, 
Oliver  Wolcott. 


New  York. 

William  Floyd, 
Philip  Livingston, 
Francis  Lewis, 
Lewis  Morris. 

New  Jersey. 

Richard  Stockton, 
John  Witherspoon, 
Francis  Hopkinson, 
John  Hart, 
Abraham  Clark. 

Pennsylvania. 

Robert  Morris, 
Benjamin  Rush, 
Benjamin  Franklin, 
John  Morton, 
George  Clymer, 
James  Smith, 


■  s 


006 


▲PPEMDICKB. 


u  ■ 


'K 


I 


A 


Qkorok  Tatlor, 
Jamk8  Wilson, 
Gkouou  Ko8S. 

Delaware. 

CxHkR  Rodney, 
GUOROB  Kkai), 
Thomas  M'Kean. 


Maryland. 


Samut 
Will 


'TA8B, 
AC  A, 

TiioMA^  Stone, 

CiiAULES  CAnROLL,  of  CaiTollton. 


Virginia. 
Georob  Wythe, 

lilCHARD  HeNKY  LEB, 

Thomas  Jefferson, 
Benjamin  Harrison, 

4  Julify  1776. 


Thomas  Nelson,  Jr., 
Francis  TiioHTKooT  Lkr, 

CahTEH   liUAXTON. 

North  Carolina. 

WiLLIA&I  IIooi'Eit, 
Joseph  IIewes, 
John  Penn. 

South  Carolina. 

Edward  Hiitlkdor, 
Thomas  IIeyward,  Jr., 
Thomas  Lynch,  Jr., 
Arthur  Middlkton. 

Georgia. 

Button  Gwinnett, 
Lyman  Hall, 
Geobob  Walton. 


t 


ARTICLES  OP  CONFEDERATION,  ETC. 

TO  ALL  TO  WHOM  THESE  PRESENTS  SHALL  COME: 

We,  1  krsigned,  delegates  of  the  States,  affixed  to  our  names,  send  greeting  .• 

Whereas,  the  delegates  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  as- 
sembled did,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  and  in  the  second  year  of  the  in- 
dependence of  America,  agree  to  certain  articles  of  confederation  and  per- 
petual union  between  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay, 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia,  in  the  words  following,  viz. : 

Articles  of  confedorntion  and  peipetunl  union  between  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Mas- 
eachuaetta  Bay,  Rliode  laland  and  Prpvidenco  riantationa,  Connecticut,  New  Yorlc,  New 
Jeraey,  Pennaylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia. 

Article  1.  The  style  of  this  confederacy  shall  be,  "The  United  States  of 
America." 

Art.  2.  Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence,  and 
every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  this  confederation  ex- 
pressly delegated  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

Art.  3.  The  said  States  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league  of  friend- 
ship with  each  other  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their  liberties, 
and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare ;  binding  themselves  to  assist  each 
other  against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks  made  upon  them,  or  any  of  them, 
on  account  of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or  any  other  pretext  whatever. 

Art.  4.  The  better  to  secure  and  perpetuate  mutual  friendship  and  inter- 
course among  the  people  of  the  different  States  in  this  union,  the  free  inhab- 


ARTICLES    OF  CONFEDERATION. 


607 


itants  of  cftch  of  thcBO  Stnten,  pnui)cni,  vngalnjiuls,  nnd  fuKitivcs  from  justice 
excepted,  hIiuU  bu  entitled  to  all  privilcKCH  and  imniiiniticH  of  free  citizenit 
in  the  H4!verftl  States ;  und  tho  people  of  ench  Stnto  hIiuII  Imvo  free  in^rcNH 
and  regi'osH  to  ami  from  any  other  State,  and  hIuiU  enjoy  therein  uU  the  priv- 
ilef^bi  of  trade  and  commerce,  subject  to  the  oamo  duticR,  impositions,  and 
restrictions,  a8  the  inhabitants  thereof  respectively,  provided  that  such  re- 
strictions shall  not  extend  so  far  as  to  prevent  the  removal  of  property  im- 
ported into  any  State  to  any  other  State,  of  which  the  owner  is  an  inhabi- 
tant; provided,  also,  that  no  imposition,  duties,  or  restriction,  shall  bo  laid 
by  any  State  on  the  property  of  the  United  States,  or  cither  of  them. 

If  any  person  Ruilty  of  or  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  hif^h  misde- 
meanor, in  anv  State,  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  bo  found  in  any  of  the  United 
States,  ho  shall  upon  demand  of  the  Governor,  or  executive  power  of  the  State 
from  which  ho  fled,  bo  delivered  up,  and  removed  to  the  Stato  having  juris- 
diction of  his  ofTence. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  bo  given  in  each  of  these  States  to  the  records, 
acts,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  tho  courts  and  magistrates  of  every  other 
State. 

Art.  5.  For  tho  more  convenient  management  of  tho  general  interests  of 
the  United.  Stages,  delegates  shall  bo  annually  appointed  in  such  manner  as 
tho  legislature  of  each  State  shall  direct,  to  meet  in  Congress  on  the  first 
Monday  in  November,  in  every  year,  with  a  power  reserved  to  each  State  to 
recall  its  delegates  or  any  of  them,  at  any  time  within  tho  year,  and  to  send 
others  in  their  stead  for  tho  remainder  of  tho  year. 

No  State  shall  bo  represented  in  Congress  by  less  than  two  nor  more  than 
seven  members ;  and  no  person  shall  bo  capable  of  being  a  delegate  for  more 
than  throe  years  in  any  term  of  six  years;  nor  shall  any  pcraon,  being  a  del- 
egate, bo  capable  of  holding  an  office  under  tho  United  States,  for  which 
he,  or  another  for  his  benefit,  receives  any  salary,  fees,  or  emolument  of  any 
kind. 

Each  State  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates  in  n  meeting  of  the  States,  and 
i/vhilo  they  act  as  members  of  the  committee  of  the  States. 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  each 
State  shall  have  one  vote. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  debate  in  Congress  shall  not  be  impeached  or  ques- 
tioned in  any  court  or  place  out  of  Congress ;  and  tho  members  of  Congress 
shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  from  arrests  and  imprisonments,  during  tho 
time  of  their  going  to  and  from  and  attendance  on  Congress,  except  for  trea- 
son, felony,  or  breach  of  the  peace. 

Art.  6.  No  State,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  shall  send  an  embassy  to,  or  receive  any  embassy  from,  or  enter 
into  any  conference,  agreement,  alliance,  or  treaty,  with  any  king,  prince,  or 
State ;  nor  shall  any  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  the 
United  States  or  any  of  them,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or 
title  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  State ;  nor  shall 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  or  any  of  them,  grant  any  title  of 
nobility. 

No  tw^o  or  more  States  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  confederation,  or  alli- 
ance whatever  between  them,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  specifying  accurately  the  purpose  for  which  the  same  is 
to  be  entered  into,  and  how  long  it  shall  continue. 

No  State  shall  lay  any  imposts  or  duties,  which  may  interfere  with  any 
stipulations  in  treaties  entered  into  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assem- 


I     I 


608 


APPENDICES. 


■A 


1       ' 


kl 


1^ 

i 

I 

"■If 

|L 

^L- 

bled,  with  any  king,  prince,  or  State,  in  pni'snance  of  any  treaties  already 
proposed  by  Congress  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain. 

No  vessels  of  war  shall  be  kept  up  in  t;me  of  peace,  by  any  State,  except 
such  number  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  for  the  defence  of  such  State  or  its  trade ;  nor  shall  any  body  of 
forces  be  kept  up  by  any  State  in  time  of  peace,  except  such  number  only  as, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  deemed 
requisite  to  garrison  the  forts  necessary  for  the  defence  of  such  State ;  but 
every  State  shall  always  keep  up  a  well-regulated  and  disciplined  militia,  suf- 
ficiently armed  and  accoutred,  and  shall  provide  and  have  constantly  ready 
for  use,  in  public  stores,  a  number  of  field  pieces  and  tents,  and  a  j^roper 
quantity  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  camp  equipage. 

No  State  shall  engage  in  any  war  witkiout  the  consent  of  'he  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  unless  such  State  be  actually  invadod  by  enemies,  or 
shall  have  received  certain  advice  of  a  resolution  being  formed  by  some  nation 
of  Indian^"  to  invade  such  State,  and  the  danger  is  so  imminent  as  not  to  ad- 
mit of  a  delay  till  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  can  be  consulted ; 
nor  shall  any  State  grant  commissions  to  any  ships  or  vessels  of  war,  or  let- 
ters of  marque  or  reprisal,  except  it  be  after  a  declaration  of  war  by  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  then  only  against  the  Kingdom  or  State, 
and  the  subjects  thereof,  against  which  war  has  been  so  declared,  and  under 
such  regulations  as  shall  be  established  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, unless  such  State  be  infested  by  pirates,  in  which  case  vessels  of  war 
may  be  fitted  out  for  that  occasion,  and  kept  so  long  as  the  danger  shall  con- 
tinue, or  until  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  determine  oth- 
erwise. 

Art.  7.  When  land  forces  are  raised  by  any  State  for  the  common  defence, 
all  officers  of  or  under  the  rank  of  colonel,  shall  be  appcrinted  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  each  State  respectively,  by  whom  such  forces  shall  be  raised,  or  in  such 
manner  as  such  State  shall  direct ;  and  all  vacancies  shall  be'fiUed  up  by  the 
State  which  first  made  the  appointment. 

Art.  8.  AIT  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  expenses  that  shall  be  incurred 
for  the  common  defence  or  general  welfare,  and  allowed  by  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  a  common  treasury  which 
shall  be  supplied  by  the  several  States  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  all  land 
within  each  State  granted  to  or  surveyed  for  any  person,  as  such  land  and  the 
buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  estimated,  according  to  such 
mode  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  from  time  to  time  di- 
rect and  appoint. 

The  taxes  for  paying  that  proportion  shall  be  laid  and  levied  by  the  au- 
thority and  direction  of  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States,  within  the  time 
agreed  upon  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

Art.  9.  The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have  the  sole  and 
exclusive  right  and  power  of  determining  on  peace  and  war,  except  in  the 
cases  meiltioned  in  the  sixth  Article :  of  sendin'^  and  receiving  ambassadors: 
entering  into  treaties  and  alliances;  provider^  that  no  treaty  of  commerce 
shall  be  made  whereby  the  legislative  power  of  the  respective  States  shall  be 
restrained  from  imposing  such  imposts  and  duties  on  foreigners  as  their  own 
people  are  subjected  to,  or  from  prohibiting  the  exportation  or  importation 
of  any  species  of  goods  or  commodities  whatsoever :  of  establishing  rules  for 
deciding  in  all  cases,  what  captures  on  land  or  water  shall  be  legal,  and  in 
what  manner  prizes  taken  by  land  or  naval  forces  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  divided  or  appropriated:  of  granting  letters  of  marc  le  and 


already 

e,  except 
Congress 
body  of 
•  only  as, 
}  deemed 
bate;  but 
;iitia,  suf- 
tly  ready 
a  proper 

ted  States 
lemies,  or 
me  nation 
not  to  ad- 
;onsulted ; 
ar,  or  let- 
;he  United 
.  or  State, 
and  under 
>ngres8  as- 
iels  of  war 
shall  con- 
rmioe  oth- 

m  defence, 

he  legisla- 

or  in  such 

up  by  the 

e  incurred 
lited  States 
iury  which 
>f  all  land 
id  and  the 
ig  to  such 
[o  time  di- 

Ly  the  aii- 
the  time 

sole  and 
ept  in  the 
lassadors : 
Ipommerce 
Is  shall  be 
Itheir  own 
Iportation 
;  rules  for 
al,  and  in 
Jie  United 
Ire  le  and 


ARTICLES    OF   CONFEDERATION. 


609 


reprisal,  in  times  of  peace :  appointing  courts  for  the  trial  of  piracies  and  fel- 
onies committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  establishing  courts  fur  receiving  and 
determining  finally  appeals  in  all  cases  of  captures ;  provided,  that  no  mem- 
ber of  Congress  shall  be  apiH>intcd  a  judge  of  any  of  the  said  courts. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  be  the  last  resort  on 
appeal  in  all  disputes  and  ditferences  now  subsisting,  or  that  hereafter  may 
arise  between  two  or  more  States  concerning  boundary,  jurisdiction,  or  any 
other  cause  whatever ;  which  authority  shall  always  be  exercised  in  the  man- 
ner following :  whenever  the  legislative  or  executive  authority  or  lawful  agent 
of  any  State  in  controversy  with  another  shall  present  a  petition  to  Congress, 
stating  the  matter  in  question,  and  praying  for  a  hearing,  notice  thereof  shall 
be  given  by  order  of  Congress  to  the  legislative  or  executive  authority  of  the 
other  State  in  controversy,  and  a  day  assigned  for  the  appearance  of  the  par- 
ties, by  their  lawful  agents,  who  shall  then  be  directed  to  appoint  by  joint  con- 
sent commissionei-8  or  judges  to  constitute  a  court  for  hearing  and  determin- 
ing the  matter  in  question ;  but  if  they  cannot  agree.  Congress  shall  name 
three  persons  out  of  each  of  the  United  States,  and  from  the  list  of  such  per- 
sons each  party  shall  alternately  strike  out  one,  the  petitioners  beginning,  un- 
til the  number  shall  be  reduced  to  thirteen ;  and  from  that  number  not  less 
than  seven  nor  more  than  nine  names,  as  Congress  shall  direct,  shall,  in  the 
presence  of  Congress,  be  drawn  out  by  lot ;  and  the  persons  whose  names 
shall  be  so  drawn,  or  any  five  of  them,  shall  be  commissioners  or  judges,  to 
hear  and  finally  determine  the  controversy,  so  always  as  a  major  part  of  the 
judges,  who  shall  hear  the  cause,  shall  agree  in  the  determination ;  and  if 
either  party  shall  neglect  to  attend  at  the  day  appointed,  without  showing 
reasons  which  Congress  shall  judge  sufidcient,  or  being  present  shall  refuse  to 
strike,  the  Congress  shall  proceed  to  nominate  three  persons  out  of  Cich  State, 
and  the  Secretary  of  Congress  shall  strike  in  behalf  of  such  party  absent  or 
refusing ;  and  the  judgment  and  sentence  of  the  court  to  be  appointed  in  the 
manner  before  prescribed,  shall  be  final  and  conclusive ;  and  if  any  of  the 
parties  shall  refuse  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  such  court,  or  to  appear,  or 
defend  their  claim  or  cause,  the  court  shall  nevertheless  proceed  to  pronounce 
sentence  or  judgment,  which  shall  in  like  manner  be  final  and  decisive,  the 
judgment  or  sentence,  and  other  proceedings,  being  in  either  case  transmitted 
to  Congress,  and  lodged  among  the  acts  of  Congress  for  the  security  of  the 
parties  concerned :  provided,  that  eveiy  commissioner,  before  he  sits  in  judg- 
ment, shall  take  an  oath,  to  be  administered  by  one  of  the  judges  of  the  su- 
preme or  superior  court  of  the  State,  where  the  cause  shall  be  tried,  "well 
and  truly  to  hear  and  determine  the  matter  in  question,  according  to  the  best 
of  his  judgment,  without  favour,  affection,  or  hope  of  reward ;"  provided 
also,  that  no  State  shall  be  deprived  of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United 
States. 

All  controversies  concerning  the  private  right*of  soi!,  claimed  under  differ- 
ent grants  of  two  or  more  States,  whose  jurisdiction  as  they  may  respect  such 
lands  and  the  States  which  passed  such  grants  are  adjusted,  the  said  grants 
or  either  of  them  being  at  the  same  time  claimed  to  have  originated  anteced- 
ent to  such  settlement  of  jurisdiction,  shall,  on  the  petition  of  either  party  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  finally  determined,  as  near  as  may  be, 
in  the  same  manner  as  is  before  prescribed  for  deciding  disputes  respecting  ter- 
ritorial jurisdiction  between  different  States. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  have  the  sole  and  ex- 
clusive right  and  power  of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value  of  coin  struck  by 
their  own  authority,  or  by  that  of  the  respective  States ;  fixing  the  standard 

Cc2 


i 


f^ 


610 


APPENDICES. 


I  ' 


i 


V. 


It  ' 


•\. 


'J6"| 


of  weights  and  mcnsures  throughout  the  United  States :  regulating  the  trade 
and  managing  all  utfuiis  with  Indians  not  members  of  any  of  the  States ; 
provided,  that  the  legislative  right  of  any  State  within  its  own  limits  be  not 
infringed  or  violated :  establishing  and  regulating  post-oflices  from  one  State 
to  another,  throughout  all  the  United  States,  and  exacting  such  postage  on 
the  papers  passing  through  the  same  as  may  be  requisite  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  the  said  office :  appointing  all  officers  of  the  land  forces  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States,  excepting  regimental  officers :  appointing  all 
the  officers  of  the  naval  forces,  and  commissioning  all  officers  whatever  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States :  making  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation 
of  the  said  land  and  naval  forces,  and  directing  their  operations. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have  authority  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  to  be  denominated  *'  a  Commit- 
tee of  the  States ;"  and  to  consist  of  one  delegate  from  each  State,  and  to  ap- 
point such  other  committees  and  civil  officers  as  may  be  necessary  for  man- 
aging the  general  affivirs  of  the  United  States,  under  their  direction :  to  ap- 
point one  of  their  number  to  preside,  provided  that  no  person  be  allowed  to 
serve  in  the  office  of  President  more  than  one  year  in  any  term  of  three 
years :  to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money  to  be  raised  for  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  appropriate  and  apply  the  same  for  defraying 
the  public  expenses :  to  borrow  money  or  emit  bills  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,  transmitting  every  half  year  to  the  respective  States  an  account  of  the 
sums  of  money  so  borrowed  or  emitted :  to  build  and  equip  a  navy :  to  agree 
upon  the  number  of  land  forces,  and  to  make  requisitions  from  each  State  for 
its  quota,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  white  inhabitants  in  each  State ; 
which  requisition  shall  be  binding,  and  thereupon  tha  legislature  of  each 
State  shall  appoint  the  regimental  officers,  raise  the  men,  and  clothe,  arm, 
and  equip  them  in  a  soldier-like  manner,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States ; 
and  the  officers  and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  shall  march  to 
the  place  appointed,  and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled :  but  if  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall, 
on  consideration  of  circumstances,  judge  proper  that  any  State  should  not 
raise  men,  or  should  raise  a  smaller  number  than  its  quota,  and  that  any 
other  State  should  raise  a  greater  number  of  men  than  the  quota  thereof, 
such  extra  number  shall  be  raised,  officered,  clothed,  armed,  and  equippcJ, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  quota  of  such  State,  unless  the  legislature  of  such 
State  shall  judge  that  such  extra  number  cannot  safely  be  spared  out  of  the 
same ;  in  which  case  they  shall  raise,  officer,  clothe,  arm,  and  equip,  as  many 
of  such  extra  number  as  they  judge  can  safely  be  spared.    And  the  officers 
and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  shall  march  to  the  place  appoint- 
ed, and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  &^ 
sembled. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  never  engage  in  a  war,  nor 
grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  time  of  peace,  nor  enter  into  any 
treaties  or  alliances,  nor  coin  money,  nor  regulate  the  value  thereof,  nor  as- 
ceiLain  the  sums  and  expenses  necessary  for  the  defence  and  welfare  of  the 
United  States  or  any  of  them,  nor  emit  bills,  nor  borrow  money  on  the  credit 
of  the  United  States,  nor  appropriate  money,  nor  agree  upon  the  number  of 
vessels  of  war  to  be  built  or  purchased,  or  the  number  of  land  or  sea  forces 
to  be  raised,  nor  appoint  a  commander  in  chief  of  the  army  or  navy,  unless 
nine  States  assent  to  the  same ;  nor  shall  a  question  on  any  other  point,  ex- 
cept for  adjourning  from  day  to  day,  be  determined,  unless  by  the  votes  of 
a  majority  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 


ARTICLES   OF   CONFEDERATION. 


611 


The  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  have  power  to  adjourn  to  any  time 
within  the  year,  and  to  any  place  within  the  United  States,  so  that  no  period 
of  adjournment  be  for  a  longer  duration  than  the  space  of  six  months ;  and 
shall  publish  the  journal  of  their  proceedings  monthly,  except  such  parts 
thereof  relating  to  treaties,  alliances,  or  military  operations,  as  in  their  judg- 
ment require  secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  delegates  of  each  State 
on  any  question  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  when  it  is  desired  by  any  del- 
egate ;  and  the  delegates  of  a  State,  or  any  of  them,  at  his  or  their  request, 
shall  be  furnished  with  a  transcript  of  the  said  journal,  except  such  parts  as 
are  above  excepted,  to  lay  before  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States. 

Art.  10.  The  Committee  of  the  States,  or  any  nine  of  them,  shall  be  au- 
thorized to  execute  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  such  of  the  powers  of  Congress 
as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  by  the  consent  of  nine  States, 
shall,  from  time  to  time,  think  expedient  to  vest  them  with ;  provided  that 
no  power  be  delegated  to  the  said  committee,  for  the  exercise  of  which,  by  the 
articles  of  confederation,  the  voice  of  nine  States  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  assembled  is  requisite. 

Art.  11.  Canada,  acceding  to  this  confederation,  and  joining  in  the  meas- 
ures of  the  Unlied  States,  shall  be  admitted  into,  and  entitled  to,  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  this  union :  but  no  other  colony  shall  be  admitted  into  the  same 
unless  such  admission  be  agreed  to  by  nine  States. 

Art.  12.  All  bills  of  credit  emitted,  moneys  borrowed,  debts  contracted,  by 
or  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  before  the  assembling  of  the  United  States, 
in  pursuance  of  the  present  confederation,  shall  be  deemed  and  considered  as 
a  charge  against  the  United  States,  for  payment  and  satisfaction  whereof  the 
said  United  States  and  the  public  faith  are  hereby  solemnly  pledged. 

Art.  13.  Every  State  shall  abide  by  the  determination  of  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions  which,  by  this  confederation,  are 
submitted  to  them.  And  the  Articles  of  this  confederation  shall  be  inviola- 
bly observed  by  every  State,  and  the  union  shall  be  perpetual ;  nor  shall  any 
alteration  at  any  time  hereafter  be  made  in  any  of  them,  unless  such  altera- 
tion be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  be  afterwards  con- 
firmed by  the  legislature  of  every  State. 

And  whereas  it  has  pleased  the  Great  Governor  of  the  world  to  incline  the 
hearts  of  the  legislatures  we  respectively  represent  in  Congress,  to  approve  of 
and  to  authorize  us  to  ratify  the  said  Articles  of  confederation  and  perpetual 
union :  Know  ye.  That  we,  the  undersigned  delegates,  by  virtue  of  the  power 
and  authority  to  us  given  for  that  purpose,  do,  by  these  presents,  in  the  name 
and  in  behalf  of  our  respective  constituents,  fully  and  entirely  ratify  and  con- 
firm each  and  every  of  the  said  Articles  of  confederation  and  perpetual  union, 
and  all  and  singular  the  matters  and  things  therein  contained ;  and  we  do 
further  solemnly  plight  and  engage  the  faith  of  our  respective  constituents, 
that  they  shall  abide  by  the  determinations  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  on  all  questions  v  iiich,  by  the  said  confederation,  are  submitted 
to  them ;  and  that  the  Articles  thereof  shall  be  inviolably  observed  by  the 
States  we  respectively  represent ;  and  that  the  union  shall  be  perpetual. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  in  Congress.  Done 
at  Philadelphia,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  the  ninth  day  of  July,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  and 
in  the  third  year  of  the  independence  of  America. 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 
Josi AH  Bartlett,  John  Wentworth,  jun. ,  August  8, 1 778. 


if 


r.A 


T^ 


612 


APPENDICES. 


,     t 


)i 


% 


I  i 


♦  .*4; 


On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  o/Massa  .usetts  Bay. 

John  Hakcock,  Francis  Dana, 

Samuel  Adamr,  James  Lovell, 

Elbridob  Gerry,  Samuel  Holten. 

On  the  part  and  in  behalf  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 

Plantations. 

William  Ellert,  John  Collins. 

Henry  Marchant, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

Boger  Sherman,  Titus  Hosmer, 

Samuel  Huntington,  Andrew  Adams. 

Oliver  Wolcott, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  New  Yorl: 

Jas.  Duane,  Wm.  Duer, 

Fba.  Lewis,  Gouv.  Morris. 

On  the  part  and  in  behalf  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 
Jno.  Witherspoon,  Nath.  Scudder,  Nov.  26, 1778. 

On  the  part  andbehalfofthe  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

RoBT.  Morris,  William  Clingan, 

Daniel  Roberdbau,  Joseph  Reed,  22d  July,  1778. 

JoNA.  Bayard  Smith, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 

Tho.  !R^.'Kean,  Feb.  13, 1779,  Nicholas  Van  Dyke. 

John  Dickinson,  May  5  h,  1779, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  Maryland. 
John  Hanson,  March  1, 1781,  Daniel  Carroll,  March  1, 1781. 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Richard  Henry  Lee,  Jno.  Harvie, 

John  Banister,  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee. 

Thomas  Adams, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina. 

John  Penn,  July  21, 1778,  Jno.  Williams. 

Corns.  Harnett, 

On  the  part  andbehalfofthe  State  of  South  Carolina. 

Henry  Laurens,  Richard  Hutson, 

William  Henry  Drayton,  Thos.  Heywood,  jun. 

Jno.  Mathews, 

On  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 

Jno.  Walton,  24th  July,  1778.  Edwd.  Langworthy. 

Edwd.  Telfair, 

NoTB.— From  the  circnmstance  of  delegates  fiom  the  same  State  having  signed  the  Articles 
of  confederation  at  different  times,  as  appears  by  the  dates,  it  is  probable  they  affixed  their 


Vr    „     t.' 


CONSTITUTION    OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


613 


cnmea  as  they  happened  to  be  present  in  Congress,  after  they  had  been  authorized  by  their 
constituents. 

The  above  Articles  of  confederation  continued  in  force  until  the  4th  day  of  March,  1789, 
when  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  toolc  effect. 


c. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

PREAMBLE. 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 
Of  the  Legislature. 

SECTION  I. 

1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall  be  vested  in  a  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Kepresenta- 
tives. 

SECTION   II. 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  members  chosen 
every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States :  and  the  electors  in 
each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  nu- 
merous branch  of  the  State  legislature. 

2.  No  person  shall  be  a  representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  bo  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which  he 
shall  be  chosen. 

3.  Repres&iitatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  which  may  be  included  within  this  union,  according  to  their  respective 
numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free 
persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding 
Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons.  The  actual  enumeration 
shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  fii-st  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such  man- 
ner as  they  sh»ll  by  law  direct.  The  number  of  representatives  shall  not  ex- 
ceed one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but  each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  rep- 
resentative ;  and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose  three;  Massachusetts,  eight;  Rhode 
Island,  and  Providence  Plantations,  one ;  Connecticut,  five ;  New  York,  six ; 
Neio  Jersey,  four ;  Pennsylvania,  eight ;  Delaware,  one ;  Maryland,  six ;  Vir- 
ginia, ten ;  North  Carolina,  five ;  South  Carolina,  five ;  and  Georgia,  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  State,  the  ex- 
ecutive authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  up  such  vacancies. 

5.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and  other 
officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

SECTION  III. 

1.  The  Senate  of  the  Uni'^sd  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  senators  tcom 


i^ 


614 


APPENDICES. 


II* 


li  ) 


i:|    \ 


ir.i 


it  .vf 


*. .  *>• 


each  State,  chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof,  for  six  years,  and  each  senator 
shall  have  one  vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  bo  assembled  in  consequence  of  the  first 
election,  they  shall  be  divided,  as  equally  as  way  be,  into  three  classes.  The 
seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the 
second  year,  of  the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth,  and  of  the 
third  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one-third  may  be  chosen 
every  second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen,  by  resignation  or  otherwise, 
during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any  State,  the  executive  thereof  may 
make  temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature,  which 
shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

3.  No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of 
thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall 
not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

4.  The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of  the  Sen- 
ate, but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

5.  The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  president  pro 
tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

6.  The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments.  When 
sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  chief  justice  shall  preside ;  and  no 
person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers present. 

7.  Judgment  in  case  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to  re- 
moval from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of  honour, 
trust,  or  profit,  under  the  United  States ;  but  the  party  convicted  shall,  nev- 
ertheless, be  liable  and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment,  and  punishment 
according  to  law. 

SECTION  IV. 

1.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives, shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  legislature  thereof;  but 
the  Congress  may  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except 
as  to  the  place  of  choosing  senators. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  such  meet- 
ing  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  law  appoint 
a  different  day. 

SECTION  V. 

1 .  Each  House  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and  qualifica- 
tions of  its  own  members ;  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  constitute  a  quorum 
to  do  business ;  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may 
be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner 
and  under  such  penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

2.  Each  House  may  determine  the  rule  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its  mem- 
bers for  disorderly  behaviour,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds,  expel 
a  member. 

3.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  require 
secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  House,  on  any 
question,  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the 
journal. 

4.  Neither  House  during  the  Sessioa  of  Congress  shall,  without  the  consent 


CONSTITtJTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


615 


i  consent 


of  the  other,  ttdjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place  than 
that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  bo  sitting. 

SECTION   VI. 

1.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a  compensation  for  their 
services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States.  They  shall  in  all  cases,  except  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the 
peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session  of 
their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  or  returning  from  the  same ;  and  for 
any  speech  or  debate  in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any 
other  place. 

2.  No  senator  or  representative  rhall,  during  the  time  for  which  he  was 
elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  have  betn  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have 
been  increased,  during  such  time ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under 
the  United  States  shall  be  a  member  of  either  House  during  his  continuance 
in  office. 

SECTION  VII. 

1.  All  Bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives :  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  amendments,  as  on  other 
Bills. 

2.  Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
the  Senate  shall,  before  it  become  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  if  he  approve,  he  shall  sign  it ;  but  if  not,  he  shall  return  it, 
with  his  objections,  to  that  House  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall 
enter  the  objection  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it. 
If,  after  such  reconsideration,  two-thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the 
Bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other  House,  by 
which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two-thirds  of  that 
House,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases  the  votes  of  both  Houses 
shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting 
for  and  against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  House  respect- 
ively. If  any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  days 
(Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall 
be  a  law  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their 
adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

3.  Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  a  question  of  adjourn- 
ment), shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States;  and  before 
the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by 
him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two4hird8  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  Bill. 

SECTION  VIII, 

The  Congress  shall  have  power — 

1.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ; 
but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United 
States : 

2.  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States: 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes  i 


I'i'i 


:4 


616 


APPENDICES. 


)ii 


4.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on  tlio 
subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout  the  United  States : 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures : 

6.  To  provide  for  the  piuiishmcnt  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  United  States : 

7.  To  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads : 

8.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing  for  lim- 
ited times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries : 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court : 

10.  To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
and  offences  against  the  law  of  nations : 

11.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  water : 

12.  To  raise  and  support  armies ;  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that 
use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years : 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy : 

14.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces : 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions : 

16.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  for 
governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the  officers  and 
the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 
Congress : 

17.  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation,  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such  dis- 
trict (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular  States 
and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  purchased,  by  the  con- 
sent of  the  legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erection 
of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and  other  needful  buildings  :  and, 

18.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Constitu- 
tion in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  "ny  department  or  officer 
thereof. 


SECTION  IX. 

1.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  now 
existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress 
prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty 
may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each 
person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended  unless 
when,  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

8.  No  Bill  o^  attainder,  or  ex-post-facto  law,  shall  be  passed. 

4.  No  capitation  or  other  direct,  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to 
the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken. 

5.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  State.  No 
preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue  to  the 
ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another ;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to  or  from 
one  State  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


617 


6.  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  consequence  of  ap- 
propriations made  by  law ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from  time  to 
time. 

7.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States,  and  no  person 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them  shall,  without  the  consent  of 
Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or  title  of  any  kind  what- 
ever, from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  State. 

SECTION   X. 

1 .  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confederation ;  grant 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money;  emit  bills  of  credit;  make  any- 
thing but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts ;  pavss  any  Bill  of 
attainder,  ex-post-facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts ;  or 
grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

2.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or  du- 
ties on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  exe- 
cuting its  inspection  laws  ;  and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts  laid 
by  any  State  on  imports  or  exports  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States,  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control 
of  Congress.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty 
on  tonnage,  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agree- 
ment or  compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in 
war,  unless  actually  invaded,  ov  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit 
of  delay. 

ARTICLE  n. 
Of  the  Executive. 

SECTION  I. 

1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years,  and,  to- 
gether with  the  Vice-President,  chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  fol- 
lows : — 

2.  Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may 
direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  Congress ;  but  no  senator 
or  representative,  or  person  holding  any  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the 
United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

3.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  lea.st  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State 
with  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and 
of  the  number  of  votes  for  each ;  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and 
transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed 
to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates, 
and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  person  having  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed ;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such 
a  majority,  and  have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives shall  immediately  choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if 
no  person  have  a  majority,  then,  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list,  the  said 


ji 


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618 


APPENDICBS. 


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House  shall  in  like  mnnnor  choose  tho  President.  Bnt  in  choosing  the  Pres- 
ident, the  vot?s  shall  bo  taken  by  States ;  tho  rcprcHcntation  from  each  State 
having;  one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or 
members  from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall 
be  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  case,  after  tho  choice  of  the  President,  tho 
person  having  tho  greatest  number  of  votes  of  tho  electors  shall  bo  Vice-Pres- 
ident. But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal  votes,  tho 
Senate  shall  chooso  from  them  by  ballot  the  Vice-President. 

4.  Tho  Congress  may  determine  tho  time  of  choosing  tho  electors  and  the 
day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes,  which  day  shall  bo  tho  same  through- 
out the  United  States. 

6.  No  person  except  a  naturnl-bom  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  tho  United  States 
at  the  time  of  tho  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  bo  eligible  to  the  office 
of  President ;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not 
have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident 
within  the  United  States. 

6.  In  case  of  tl  o  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his  death,  resig- 
nation, or  inability  to  discharge  tho  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office,  tho 
same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President ;  and  the  Congress  may  by  law  pro- 
vide *'"r  tho  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  both  of  the  Pres- 
ident and  Vice-President,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act  as  President : 
and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be  removed  or  a 
President  shall  be  elected. 

7.  The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services  a  compensa- 
tion, which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  period  for 
which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  period 
any  other  emolument  from  tho  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

8.  Bcfor..  he  enter  on  tho  execution  of  his  office,  ho  shall  take  the  following 
oath  or  affirmation. 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfuiiy  execute  the  office  of 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

SECTION  II. 

1.  The  President  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
"United  States  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when  called  into  the 
actual  service  of  the  United  States ;  he  may  require  the  opinion  in  writing 
of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon  any  subject 
relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices ;  and  he  shall  have  power  to 
grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in 
cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  Ho  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  senators  present  concur :  and  he 
shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall 
appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by  law. 
But  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior  officers  as 
they  think  proper  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads 
of  departments. 

3.  The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  happen 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commissions,  which  shall  expire 
at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 


CONSTITUTION   OF  TUB   UNITED  STATICS. 


019 


SECTION   III. 

I.  IIo  shall,  from  time  to  time,  Rive  to  Conpjress  information  of  the  stnto 
of  tho  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  hucIi  nieusurcH  aH  ho  hIiuII 
judge  necessary  and  ex{)edient ;  ho  may,  on  extraordinary  occasiourt,  convene 
both  Houses,  ur  cither  of  them ;  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between  them, 
with  respect  to  tho  time  of  adjournment,  ho  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time 
as  ho  shall  think  proper ;  he  shall  receive  ambassadors  and  other  public  min- 
isters ;  he  shall  take  care  that  tho  laws  be  faithfully  oxccutod ;  and  Hhall  com- 
mission all  tho  officers  of  tho  United  States. 

8ECTION   IV. 

1.  Tho  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United  States, 
shall  bo  removed  from  offico  on  impeachment  for  and  conviction  of  treason, 
bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Of  the  Judiciary. 

SECTION  I. 

1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one  Supremo 
Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as  Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,  order 
and  establish.  The  judges,  both  of  tho  Supremo  and  inferior  courts,  shall 
hold  their  offices  during  good  behaviour ;  and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive 
for  their  services  a  compensation,  which  shall  not  bo  diminished  during  their 
continuance  in  office. 

SECTION  II. 

1.  The  judicial  power  shall  Extend  to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity  arising 
under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority ;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassa- 
dors, other  public  ministers,  and  consuls ;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  mari- 
time  jurisdiction ;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party; 
to  controversies  between  two  or  more  States ;  between  a  State  and  citizens  of 
another  State ;  between  citizens  of  diffiirent  States  ;  between  citizens  of  the 
same  S..ate  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different  States ;  and  between  a 
State,  or  the  citizens  thereof  and  foreign  States,  citizens  or  subjects. 

2.  In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and  consuls, 
and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supremo 
Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  ex- 
ceptions, and  under  such  regulations  as  Congress  shall  make. 

3.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury, 
and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall  have  been 
committed;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  State,  the  trial  shall  be  at 
such  place  or  places  as  Congress  may  by  law  have  dii'ected. 

SECTION  III. 

1.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war 
against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort. 
No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason,  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  wit- 
nesses to  the  same  overt  act,  or  confession  in  open  court. 


} 


620 


APPENDICES. 


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2.  CongroM  shall  Iiavo  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason ;  but  no 
Attnindcr  of  trcaHon  Hhnll  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture,  except  dur- 
ing the  life  of  the  j)erH0ii  attuintod. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Miscellaneotis. 

SECTION  I. 

1.  Full  faith  nnd  credit  shall  bo  given  in  each  State  to  the  public  octs,  rec- 
ords, and  judicial  proccodinRS  of  every  other  State.  And  Congress  may,  by 
general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceed- 
ings shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

SECTION  II. 

1.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  bo  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  im- 
munities of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  who 
shall  flee  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of  tho 
executive  autliurity  of  tho  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  re- 
moved to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

8.  No  person  held  to  service  or  labour  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  there- 
of, escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  there- 
in, be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labour;  but  shall  bo  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  tho  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may  be  due. 

SECTION  III. 

1.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  Congress  into  this  Union ;  but  no  new 
State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State, 
nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  nvo  or  more  States,  or  parts  of 
States,  without  the  consent  of  tho  legislatures  of  the  States  concerned,  as  well 
as  of  Congress. 

2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and 
regulations  respecting  tho  territory,  or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United 
States ;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice 
any  claims  of  the  United  States  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SECTION  IV. 

1.  Tho  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  union  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion ; 
and,  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  of  the  executive  (when  the  legisla- 
ture cannot  bo  convened),  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 
0/  Amendments. 

1 .  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Honses  shall  deem  it  necessary, 
shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution ;  or,  on  the  application  of  the 
legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  convention  for  pro- 
posing amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratifled  by  the  legislatures  of 
three-fourtlis  of  the  several  States,  or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths  there- 
of, as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  Congress ; 


CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


621 


provided,  that  no  amendment  which  may  bo  made  prior  in  the  year  one  thou- 
sand cigiit  tiundrcd  and  eight,  nhali  in  any  manner  uftuct  the  firat  and  fourth 
chiuses  in  the  ninth  Heotion  of  the  first  Article ;  and  that  no  State,  without 
itit  consent,  shall  bo  deprived  of  its  equal  sutfrugo  in  the  iScnato. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

Miacellaneoua. 

1.  All  debts  contracted  and  engogements  entered  into,  before  the  adoption 
of  this  Constitution,  shall  bo  ns  valid  against  the  United  States  under  this 
Constitution,  as  under  the  confederation. 

2.  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supremo  law  of  tho 
land ;  and  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  bo  bound  thereby,  anything  in  tho 
constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

8.  Tho  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  tho  members  of 
the  several  State  legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers,  both  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirm- 
ation to  support  this  Constitution;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  re- 
quired as  a  qualification  to  any  office,  or  public  trust,  under  tho  United  States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 
0/the  Ratification. 

1.  The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for 
the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  Convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  tlie  States  present,  the 
seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-seven,  ond  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States 
of  America  the  twelfth.     In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  subscribed 


our  names. 


New  Hampshire. 

John  Lakgdon. 
Nicholas  Gilman. 

Massachusetts. 

Nathaniel  Gorman, 
RuFDS  Kino. 

Connecticut, 

William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman. 

New  York. 
Alexander  Hamilton. 

New  Jersey. 
William  Livingston, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 
President  and  Deputy  from  Virginia, 

David  Brearlt, 
William  Patterson, 
Jonathan  Dayton. 

Pennsylvania. 

Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflin, 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer, 
Thomas  Fitzsimons, 
Jared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouverneitr  Morris. 

Delaware. 

George  Read, 
Gunning  Bedford,  Jan., 
John  Dickinson, 


^m 


4 


!^ 


h 


'•\ 


622 

Richard  Basset^, 
Jacob  Bkoom. 

Maryland. 

James  M'Hbnry, 

Daniel  of  St.  Tiio.  Jenifeb, 

Daniel  Carboll. 

Virginia. 

John  Blair, 
James  Madison,  jr. 

North  Carolina. 

William  Blount, 

Attest^ 


APPENDICES. 


Richard  Dobbs  Spaioht, 
Hugh  Williaaison. 

South  Carolina. 

John  Rutledqe, 

Chas.  Cotbswortu  Pincknet, 

ClL\RLES  PiNCKNEY, 

Pierce  Butleb. 

Georgia. 

William  Few, 
Abraham  Baldwin. 

WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

Art.  1.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  pe- 
tition the  government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

Art.  2.  A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free 
State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

Art.  3.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  pre- 
scribed by  law. 

Art.  4.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated ; 
and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  af- 
firmation, and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  per- 
sons or  things  to  be  seized. 

Art.  5.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infa- 
mous crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except  in 
cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in  actual  serv- 
ice in  time  of  war,  or  public  danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the 
same  offence,  to  be  put  twice  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled, 
in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  witness  against  himself;  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  lib- 
erty, or  property,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall  private  property  be 
taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 

Art.  6.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  wherein 
the  cr'me  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previous- 
ly ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  ac- 
cusation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him ;  to  have  corpul- 
Bory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favour ;  and  to  have  the  assistance 
of  counsel  for  his  defence. 

Art.  7.  In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  ex- 
ceed twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved ;  t  nd  no  fact 
tried  by  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  court  of  the  United  States 
than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

Art.  8.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 


CONSTITUTION    OF   THK   UNITED   STATES. 


C23 


Art.  9.  The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be 
construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

Art.  10.  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively, 
or  to  the  people. 

Art.  II.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to 
extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of 
the  United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  an- 
other State,  or  by  citizens  or  sulijccts  of  any  foreign  State. 

Art.  12.  §  1.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  voto 
by  ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be 
an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  as  themselves ;  they  shall  name  in  their  bal- 
lots the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted 
for  as  Vice-President ;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted 
for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vi  c-President,  and  of  the 
number  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit 
sealed  to  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate :  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  in  the  presence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes 
shall  then  be  counted ;  the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  Pres- 
ident shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have  such  a  majority,  then  from  the 
persons  having  the  highest  numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  thoso 
voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  immediately 
by  ballot  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having  one  vote  ;  a  quo- 
rum for  this  purr''  ,e  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds 
of  the  States,  anu  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever 
the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March 
next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  President. 

2.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President,  shall 
be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  bo  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 
electors  appointed ;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  high- 
est numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President :  a  quoium 
for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  senators, 
and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

3.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall 
be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

NoTS. — At  the  fourth  presidential  election,  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  were  the 
democratic  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President.  By  the  electoral  returns  they  had 
an  even  number  of  votes.  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Burr,  by  intrigue,  got  up  a  party 
to  vote  for  him  for  President ;  and  the  House  was  so  divided  that  there  was  a  tie.  A  con- 
test was  carried  on  for  several  days,  and  so  warmly,  that  even  sick  members  v/ere  brought 
to  the  House  on  their  beds.  Finally  one  of  Burr's  adherents  withdrew,  and  Jefiferson  wan 
elected  by  one  majority— which  was  the  occasion  of  thia  trelfth  article. 


THE  END. 


I 


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Itineraries  of  the  Principal  Routes  between  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Pacific.  By  Colonel  Ran- 
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Thornbury's  Life  in  Spain.     Life  in 

Spain :  Past  and  Present.  By  Walteb  Thoen- 
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Mackay's  Travels  in  America.     Life 

and  Liberty  in  America ;  or,  Sketches  of  a  Tour 
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Maokay,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.  With  Ten  lUustra- 
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Wood's  Fankwei.     Fankwei ;  or,  The 

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Japan.  By  Wiixiam  Maxwell  Wood,  M.D., 
U.S.N.,  late  Surgeon  of  the  Fleet  to  the  United 
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Land  and  the  liook ;  or,  Biblical  IIIustrationH 
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W.  M.  TuoMBOM,  D.I).,  Twonty-flvo  Years  a 
Missionary  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.  in  Syria  and  Pal- 
estine. With  two  elaborate  Maps  of  Palestine, 
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Hundred  Engravings^  representing  the  Scene- 
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Claiborne's  Life  of  Gen.  Sam.  Dale. 

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Page's  La  Plata.     La  Plata  :  The  Ar- 

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under  the  Ordei-s  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
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Earth's  Africa.  Travels  and  Discov- 
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Journal  of  an  I'jcpedition  undertaken  under 
the  Auspices  of  H.  B.  M.'s  Government,  in  the 
Years  1849-1855.  By  Henry  Bartu,  Ph.D., 
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Livingstone's  South  Africa.  Mission- 
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the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Loando  on  the  West 
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Fred.  Markham  in  Russia;  or.  The 

Boy  Travellers  in  the  Land  of  the  Czar.  By 
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nture. 

in  Brazil ;  or, 

jund  of  the  Cocoa 
pendix,  containing 
th  American  ArU, 
emontB  and  Pi-od< 
id  WorlcB  in  Stone, 
,  &.C.  By  Thomas 
ilustrations.    8to, 


>e.  Principally 

By  Rev.  J.  P. 
2   TolB.  12mo, 


n. 


ast.     By  Rev. 

ngfl.    2  vol8. 12mo, 

or.  Sketches 

(1,  Switzerland,  It- 
Britain,  and  Ire- 
ontalning  Observa- 
and  Medical  Insti- 
M.D.    12mo,  MuB. 


jife  in  Africa. 

life  in  tlie  Interior 
ices  of  the  Native 
Gliasc  of  tlie  Lion, 
irafTc,  liliinooeros, 
rols.  12mo,  Mualin, 


\ 


•R  IN  Europe. 


ITusef :  A  Cru- 

rative  of  Personal 
tlie  Sliores  of  the 

lor,  Palestine,  and 
With  numerous 
$1  25. 

I.     A  Year  on 

irkey,  and  Persia. 
N.  With  Map  and 
SI  00. 

lilippines.    By 

vised  and  Extended 
r  this  Translatioa 
,  $1 00. 


